Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Unless the cosigner agreed to indemify you from liability, which is unlikely, you have no remedy. Rather, you are simply liable for the debt. One option for those who have difficulty paying debts is to consider a bankruptcy.

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You can bring a small claims action in your local district justice court against the person you cosigned for, however lots of luck collecting on the judgment

Any legal action against who?

First, NEVER co-sign a loan for anyone. What you are saying to the lender is "go ahead and loan funds to primary borrower because if he/she fails to pay, I will pay." If someone needs a co-signer, it means that either the borrower does not have any credit established or, more likely, he/she has bad credit. If the latter, the need for a co-signer is a red flag for you because the chances are very good that the borrower will default on the loan and move on to the next victim.

Second, car dealers lie all the time in order to make the sale. If it was not written in the loan documents, its not part of the contract. You cannot sue the car dealer or salesperson if that is what you are asking.

Since the primary borrower defaulted and the car was repossessed, the lender is going to come after you for the money. You will have to settle or pay the lender. Once that is done, then you can sue the borrower who defaulted. However, if he/she could not pay for the car how is he/she going to pay you? There generally is no wage garnishment in PA. Does the primary borrower have assets? As suggested by Attorney Brown, its going to be difficult. If there is a string of delinquencies and judgments, get in line - you will not see a dime. If the person had no credit, then go ahead and sue if you can do so in small claims court and recover a judgment. The judgment is good for 20 years on personal property and 5 years on real property but it can be revived any number of times. The judgment will be on the primary borrower's credit report. So if the primary borrower ever does decide to get his/her act together and wants to buy a home or has significant money in the bank, the judgment will allow you to collect on that. I would suggest hiring a lawyer to enforce your judgment.