Legal Question in Business Law in California

My case is basically like this. My dad went to a dealer asking for pricing on the new 2012 Rav4. He spent quite a bit there talking to the salemen and sale managers there. They are all Vietnamese so it clicked and good time and whatnot.

Sometime passes, they came to an agreement on the price of the Rav4 - 31k as long as he gets to trade in the Corolla for 9k toward it. He made this stipulation very clear and also must be 9k no more no less. He almost walk out like twice when the dealer lowballed the trade-in. Then while they process the paperwork, my dad went outside for a smoke. According to him, the sale manager's responsible for that deal at the time went out soon after and out of the blue asked him, and I quote, "lower the price of the car for tax's purpose". Of course this was in Vietnamese, but this translation is verbatim. Now I must mention this also, my dad is not a sophisticate man so when the sale manager said this he assumed the Rav4 and not the Corolla. As a result dad responded back "sure, as long as you're not shorting me" - also verbatim translation. Afterward they came in and my dad sign for the car and went home. Of course once my dad got home then it hit him that the trade in has been put down for only 6k instead of 9k.

What the sale manager did in a nutshell was subtract 3k from the 31k AND the 9k, effectively lowered the price of the Rav4 AND the trade-in. So what they agreed orally on 31k w/ 9k, turned into 29k w/ 6k expressively.

----

Now here is my issue, the sale manager did not clarify which car's prices he was asking for the deduction. When I ask him about it later, he said he meant the Corolla at the time. So could if I file a suit against him and/or the dealer for Fraudulent & Misrepresentation to rescind the purchase and recoveries??

We have been trying to get this rescind in-house with the dealer, but due to their schedule my dad had to skip several workdays, could I demand Lost Wages from them for recovery??

Additional info, the Corolla was under my name. I was not there during the paperwork but I was in touch with my dad and several of the salemen and gen manager via phone. I even talked to them via phone and several times asked them of the price before taxes and final price, but for some reason they passed me around instead of giving me a straight answer. It was not then later one guy told me 256XX before taxes but of course it was not very clear; regardless I took that to heart anyway. Later they sent someone to our place to get my signatures for the trade in. The whole time during my signing, I was under the belief that the car was going to be traded in for 9k and not 6k. I even asked the guy that came why on the DMV paper it read 6k, but he just brushed it off as nothing and told me to hurry up as it was also quite late then.

This bring me to my 2nd issue: Could I force the Rav4 contract to be rescinded under the premise of Misrepresentation of the trade in for my part??

Lastly, is filling the suit against the dealer directly under the premise of Respondeat Superior a more viable choice??


Asked on 2/25/12, 10:07 pm

2 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

Sue who, for what? Next time Read The Friendly Contract -before- signing.

Read more
Answered on 2/25/12, 10:10 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Business Law questions and answers in California