Hello, my wife and I went looking for a trade in of our previous vehicle (2003 Ford Windstar) a couple of months ago, while at the dealership, we explained to the salesman we are looking for something smaller that is going to give us much better fuel mileage. He proceeds to show us a 2007 Ford Taurus, upon showing us this car, he tells both me and my wife that by trading in the van for the taurus, we will save from $80-$100 a month in fuel alone... Now, this doesn't sound right to me, but he repeats it several times and all and all when it came down to it, we went with the trade based mostly on what the salesman had told us. Now that we have the Taurus and have driven it the same places/amount as we did the Windstar, we can obviously see that we were told a large, both-faced lie. This car maybe gets 1 or 2 miles better than the van did and is no where near the $80-$100 monthly savings that the salesman told us over and over we would have. I've contacted the dealership and asked that they either trade the Taurus back with a car that will have better fuel mileage like we asked for first without the price going up, or to buy back the Tuaras for what we own on it and we will go shopping elsewhere. They have since replied saying they won't do either and we are basically stuck with the Taurus. My question is, do I have a leg to stand on with this matter or are w SOL? I am willing to hire an attorney if I think we have a chance, but I'm just not sure what to do at this point.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You must know that a used car salesman will say anything to make a sale. No, I don't think you have a leg to stand on in this case. Just chalk it up to experience. I don't even believe fuel economy promises with new cars.

I think it's called "puffery" - making things sound better than they actually are.

You would have the responsibility to research the vehicle, make your own determination as to mileage. Did he guarantee how many miles a gallon the new vehicle would get (vs how many miles per gallon you were getting)? Doesn't sound like it.

Various Internet sites say Windstar gets "around" 17 mpg City and 22 mpg open driving; Taurus gets "around" 20 and 27. You'd have to do a LOT of driving to save the kind of money the salesman was quoting. Did you work through the figures before buying the car?

The amount of going to be way over the Small Claims Court jurisdiction (and I don't think you could win in Small Claims) so your only recourse is a full lawsuit and I don't think you can win there, either. I don't see a material misrepresentation of fact unless this "guarantee" was somehow written into the contract. What did the window sticker say about miles per gallon - is it vastly different from what you actually get?

I think you were very possibly misled and perhaps shouldn't have taken everything the sales person said on face value but I don't see it rising to the level of a lawsuit. You could always file with the Better Business Bureau and see what they say.

Well it will save you 100 dollars a month if you drive enough miles,?
So if you drive 30,000 miles a moth or something like that, most liekly you would save it.

Ok, he lied but did you ask him the MPG, since you should know how many MPG you were getting.

Also if you were only spending 40 dollars a week on gas, how could you save 100, a person has to take some common sense. But yes salesmen do this, by giving a vague statement that "could" be true.

One rule of thumb I always try to stick to in any type of situation where I'm supposed to believe what someone is telling me, especially if it involves a large purchase or the spending of a great deal of money, or signing any long term contractual obligation.

If it is not in writing, it doesn't exist.

Someone says, "this thing will save you $100 per month" and I say great! Put that in writing for me please.

If they are not willing to put it in writing, then they are just blowing smoke up your yazoo.

Any type of promise or guarantee that's worth anything at all, will be in writing.

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Originally Posted by progunr

One rule of thumb I always try to stick to in any type of situation where I'm supposed to believe what someone is telling me, especially if it involves a large purchase or the spending of a great deal of money, or signing any long term contractual obligation.

If it is not in writing, it doesn't exist.

Someone says, "this thing will save you $100 per month" and I say great! Put that in writing for me please.

If they are not willing to put it in writing, then they are just blowing smoke up your yazoo.

Any type of promise or guarantee thats worth anything at all, will be in writing.

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Writing or no writing in many - if not all - of these cases I do my own research. If the OP had looked at the mileage figures the "truth" of the salesman's statements would have registered immediately.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Writing or no writing in many - if not all - of these cases I do my own research. If the OP had looked at the mileage figures the "truth" of the salesman's statements would have registered immediately.

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I agree, you have to do your own research.

My point is, if the salesman had put this in writing, THEN he would have some type of recourse.

Without it being written down, he said, she said, will do you no good if you decide to go to court.