Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

I found a 2009 Infiniti G37X coupe with 4,700 miles advertised online from an Infiniti dealership. Price looked good so I gave them a call to discuss the overall condition of the vehicle. The very first thing I asked the salesmen was if the car had ever been in an accident or had any body/paint. He referred back to the Carfax report which was clean and showed only having one owner. This particular salesman went on to say that he personally took this car on in a trade and he inspected the car himself and claimed it was like brand new with nothing wrong with no knowledge of prior paint or body work. Being that the car only had 4,700 miles I took his word for it and bought the car. Sent a cashiers check to them for the agreed upon amount and had the car delivered to me about 8 days later.

I was not personally able to be home for the delivery of the car since it was during work hours but had a friend there to pick it up for me. He called me after it was dropped off and said that at a quick glance it looked ok except for a fairly large dent in the drivers side fender. When I got home I saw the dent and also noticed that the tires were in horrible condition. They looked almost like they were melted on they were also severely cracked and dry rotted. I immediately called the dealership back to inform them of these problems I found. During this process they tried to blame the shipping company for the dent but after 7 days of back and fourth they agreed to have the dent fixed. I sent him pictures of the tires and he verbally said to me" yes it appears that there is something wrong with those tires". However he said they would not put new ones on.

While this did aggravate me I decided to move on and figured I would have to buy new tires. After about two weeks of having the car I decided to have it detailed inside and out. What I found was shocking and lead me to believe there was some kind of bad history that went along with this car that I was not told about. This is what I found.

1. There is a dent in the front drivers side fender that will require repainting.

2. All four tires look melted and are severely cracked.

3. The drivers seat has been repainted - Tan over spray paint on center console, tape lines where the Infiniti logo was masked off, paint cracking and flaking off top of seat.

4. Red over spray on exhaust tips, muffler, and bumper foam.

5. Heavy clear coat drippings on bumper and over all wavy paint.

6. Front bumper has tape lines where it was masked off - Paint has hundreds of tiny pinholes all through it and red over spray in front grille.

7. All four wheels are dull and tarnished - Looks like silver spray paint on wheels that won't come off.

8. Oil was supposedly literally just changed but looks dark and dirty.

9. Driver's side door jam is very rough and has lots of orange peel as if it were repainted.

10. Corners of dash gauge pod were peeling up.

I called them back after finding this out and immediately skipped over the salesmen knowing they weren't going to be of any help and talked to the general sales manager. He claimed he did not know any of this but would look through their records for the car and see if they had anything about paintwork. As you would expect, they had "RO's" for extensive paintwork that were done to the car fairly recently. He claimed that it was purely cosmetic and from scratches.

I said this was unacceptable and that I did not want the car. I feel that this was fraud since they knew about the paint work that was done but denied anything about it when I asked them during the initial phone call. I have now been dealing with the general sales manager and he said they would take the car back and fix the horrible paint work, seat, and tires. However I turned this down since they are 350 miles away from me and I don't want a car with all kinds of paint work on it. If and when I go to sell the car somewhere down the line, I don't want to have explain to someone why there is all kinds of paint work done to the car. This would obviously lower the overall value of the car as well.

Where I am at right now, is that I am still in contact with the GM but he is trying to push me into a "new" car for an additional $8,000 - $10,000. All I want is a refund and to move on or a similair car to the one I bought to replace it. They have the same exact car in their pre owned stock with the same options and mileage except for a diferent color. It is currently priced about $10,000 higher then what I paid for my car even though it is difficult. They will not take the car back. Today I contacted Infiniti consumer affairs and made a claim with them. I also filed a claim with the Better Business Bureau this evening. I don't want to but it seems like I may have to get legal advice as well. I have been very level headed about this entire ordeal and have avoided losing my cool.

**Now keep in mind, I have not driven this car 1 mile since it has been dropped off in my driveway. It has been in my garage and has not moved since the day it was dropped off. This back and fourth has been going on since the day it was delivered to my house on October 31st. Pictures of the defects can be found below.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v455/feelgood/2009%20G37X%20defects/

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Business Law questions and answers in Pennsylvania

Looking for something else?