Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New Jersey

I leased a new 2010 Mazda 3 this past Monday 7/5/2010. The car had 383 miles on it which I didn't find out about until right before I left the dealership. I asked the salesperson about it; however, he conveniently skipped past this detail and because I had been there almost 4 hours and desperately wanted to leave it also slipped my mind. Now, the problem is this ... My insurance company needs a copy of the lease and bill of sale ... while going through my paperwork I found another person's credit information and temporary tag (I figured they put this in with my paperwork by mistake and it belonged to another person buying a car that day) WRONG! I soon realized that the brand new car I just purchased was previously sold to someone else. The dealership was dumb enough to accidentally give me this woman's paperwork. So, I took the chance and called the phone number ... to my surprise my new car had been sold to her daughter a month earlier. The daughter told me that the dealership sold her the car, let her take the car home, and then 2 weeks later said that her financing didn't go through and made her return the car (well now we know where the 383 miles came from.) I want to know if this is illegal? Shouldn't they have told me this .. and what can I do now? I just found this all out today (7/7/10) and am headed to the dealership after work. Any information would be greatly appreciated.


Asked on 7/07/10, 10:07 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Jef Henninger, Esq Law Offices of Jef Henninger, Esq.

I guess it depends on what you really want. You knew it had 383 miles on it before you left. Whether someone else had it or there were just a whole lot of test drives doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

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Answered on 7/07/10, 2:48 pm
John Corbett Corbett Law Firm LLC

A prior sale means that you bought a used car, not a new one. If the dealer told you that the car was new, fraud was committed and you may have the right to recover. The critical question will be whether you can show any ascertainable economic damage. That will be difficult to prove because you knew about the mileage and completed the sale anyway. A similar logic would govern any right you might have to rescind the contract. � See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

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Answered on 7/07/10, 8:10 pm


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