Legal Question in Business Law in New Jersey

Dealer took my money and ran.

I had bought a car from a used car dealer. Something happened to the car where i needed to call the warranty corp so they can fix it. When i called the warranty corp they had no record of my name in their system.They had the dealer in there and the last tim ethey submitted a contract was 11/04/03. I boughtmy car 11/17/03. Now the dealer is out of business and all their phones are shut off. They took my money and ran. How can i get the money back that i paid for the warranty if they went out of business and theres no way to get in touch with them?


Asked on 1/29/04, 2:28 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Glen Chulsky Law Office of Glen H. Chulsky

Re: Dealer took my money and ran.

It may be possible to sue the owner of the dealership personally. Sounds like the dealer violated the NJ Consumer Fraud Act. If he can be located and sued, you could recover up to 3 times the damages, costs and attorney's fees. If you need additional info, feel free to call me at 973-659-9045.

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Answered on 1/29/04, 3:41 pm

Re: Dealer took my money and ran.

You can answer your own question...

Contact the Dept. of Community Affairs and Better Business Bureau to investigate them. Also go to the NJ Business website to see if they are incorperated (https://www.accessnet.state.nj.us/home.asp), and contact the local tax office to get the owner of the property. It may be the dealership or it's owner. If not, find out from the landlord who the owner on the lease was.

You may find so many judgments that suibg won't be worth your time. If you think is IS worth your time, then files suit, and as Mr. Chulsky stated, you can sue under the NJ Consumer Fraud Act. BEFORE YOU SUE,try to contact the company and ask they pay for the fix, and give you the warranty you paid for. This probably won't work, but ALWAYS try the easy way first!

Now, suing is NOT fun... do it IF it makes financial sense, not because you are mad. It might help is you knew if the dealer was an a__hole, or a guy with some bad luck, or is a bad businessman, but I don't know how you find that out.

Good luck to you.

Kevin J. Begley

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Answered on 1/30/04, 11:57 am


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