Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Iowa

I purchused a vehicle from a dealership and the clutch went out within 5 months. The dealership had it towed to thier shop and charged us $700 for the repairs. We couldnt pay the full amount so they accepted $260 and released the vehicle. A few days later we recieved an invoice stating that the parts, repairs, and tow totaled $0.00 The invoice, to my knowledge, states the repairs were free. Are we entitled to a refund of the $260 down payment that they took before sending the invoice? We still have the original receipt from the initial payment.


Asked on 11/01/13, 3:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Lombardi Lombardi Law Firm

This is a fact dependent issue and you haven't provided enough of the facts for any lawyer to be able to answer your question. You haven't provided the purchase agreement so we can't know if the agreement for purchase was "as-is". Lawyers need to read the terms of the purchase agreement to be able to express opinions about things affecting the terms of purchase. There may be other provisions that either provide or don't provide for any warranty. If there is a warranty what are the terms of the warranty. Warranties are not open ended but have limitations. What limitations does your agreement provide? And then probably more important than any other issue is whether this car was new or used/pre-owned. We would read the purchase agreement and the terms of warranty before considering state and federal consumer protection laws. Lastly, how do you drive and did you cause the damage to the clutch assembly rather than it being defective. If defective how and was the defect covered under the warranty.

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Answered on 11/02/13, 4:11 am


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