Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Mileage wrong on used car bought from an individual
I bought a used car from an individual who advertised in the paper that it had 40,000 miles on it. The car only has a 5 digit odometer so you can not tell if the accumulated mileage is over 100,000. It was in very good shape and my mechanic thought it was in good shape when he looked at it.

After I bought the car, I did a search on the mileage and found a previous record showing that it had 80,000 miles on it a few years ago. The car therefore is worth less than I paid for it. I did not use a contract of sale, just a DMV pink slip transfer.

I asked the seller why they had listed it for 40,000 miles and they said that the dealer they bought it from listed it "as is" but the seller thought that it had only had 40,000 miles on it because of its condition and the fact that when the seller registered it with the DMV, they put it down as having 40,000 miles on it.

What were the obligations of the seller? What kind of recourse do I have for recovering the difference in value, which is over a thousand dollars.

Asked on 4/12/00, 4:21 pm

Ken Koury Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

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Re: Mileage wrong on used car bought from an individual

you will not be able to recover anything unless you can prove the seller knew and lied to you.

Answered on 4/24/00, 12:43 am

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