Car purchase fraud issue.....what's next course of action

So I guess I'm the only one thinking the buyer didn't do his due diligence, tough shit and welcome to the world of 15 year old car sales? Pulling a Carfax after you buy the vehicle is a rookie move.

 

If I forget to lock the front door and someone steals my tv then yeah I fucked up. But that doesn’t mean the Dick bag that’s got my tv gets a free ride.

 

In hindsight it was a mistake on my part...deceiving people is not the way I prefer to live my life...
Guarantee you it won't happen again....
I honestly had no idea fraud was so rampant in the used car business....lesson learned
Have only purchased 2 vehicles over the last 15 years....one from a friend and a new lariat from the dealer.
Have bought and sold many different motos over the years and was not so much an issue....

 

Not locking your door isnt a fuck-up. I know society likes demonizing victims more than the defendant because of politics.

 

I get it. I guess I was taught the lesson in used car sales pretty early in my youth when my mother got screwed on couple of her purchases.

I will say I've heard of rolling back by 50K or maybe 75K before. 200K is a pretty bold move there cotton.

It'd be fun if you could at least give the guy some grief. In the end I think you might end up having to take this one on the chin.

 

Yes, that social mores has definitely flipped in recent decades…

 

Yep. Another reason I retired early.

 

Tough shit would apply if the cops could not be involved. But they can be, which means he has options other then to just take it.

 

Let’s face it, the cops could be involved if you opened the ashtray and found a Lucky Strike in there when the owner claimed the car was never smoked in.

People are

 

So what you’re saying is that the OP should go open up a can of . . .

 

Autumn Fizz works much better.

 

Was this sold to you as actual miles or not? That makes all the difference. I don't see a way possible that it could be, seeing as how there is a long record of mileage history in CA. The DMV would kick this immediately. What this scumbag likely did was purchase it as real miles (330k+) swapped the cluster with a 125K unit and then sold it to you TMU (true miles unknown) or EXEMPT from odometer disclosure being that it's older than 10 years old. I know in PA odometers can be exempted from disclosure on anything 10 model years or older and I'm pretty sure that is a federal rule also.
Sadly, if this guy had you sign documents that indicate it's exempt or TMU, you likely don't have a legal leg to stand on. He technically skirted illegality by effectively rolling back the odometer, but then sold it to you as unverified and not the actual miles. Definitely a dick move though and I'd press him to buy it back or you're going to the authorities. You may not have a case, but the threat may rattle him to make you whole without the police targeting him. That or he's a real crook and does this frequently and knows he's not in danger because he's been pressed before and gotten away with it. Check their Google reviews and see if others have had this issue dealing with them. That will give you a tip of what you're fighting.
Good luck. Scumbags like this give the industry as a whole a bad rep and those of us that take care of customers really want them gone.

 

He advertised it on Craigslist as having 125000 miles. Unless he claims he was the one that initially got suckered, that should be fairly good proof of duplicity.

 

And car fox catches everything? I have a 2000 GMC one owner truck with 15K on it, worth at least 20K due to the low mileage.

 

Missed that part of the story, but it still remains if the purchaser signed documentation that states it is NOT the actual mileage, he'll have an uphill battle. The ad certainly is evidence of malfeasance though.

 

I did not sign any documents or documentation of any kind stating it WAS NOT the actual mileage…

Craigslist ad stated car had 125k and was in perfect condition…

I posted screen shot of his ad earlier in this thread…
Bought the vehicle base on stated mileage in his ad…

 

Well to be fair , Carfax only works or is valid if you take your vehicle in for service to a reporting dealer or service shop . I have NEVER ... taken any of my vehicles in for service . I’ve done all my own maintenance and have had a couple of trucks with 300,000. Miles plus on them . Now days vehicles are becoming more sophisticated and I’m almost pushing 66 years old , so that will most likely change soon . But they are not a tell all of a vehicles maintenance history .

 

Have you recieved the title and registration yet? In today's age of mileage being documented to history via computer DMV records, there's essentially zero ability to do what this guy did, provided you recieve a title with 125,000 actual miles on it.