Ask Me Help Desk - Bad car purchase

I posted before regarding this situation, but I was curious about the legal aspect of the situation. I bought a 745i BMW about 2 weeks ago from a non BMW dealership. While negotiating the sticker price of the vehicle I asked if they had the kelley blue book value of the car. About 4 sale men were talking to me at the same time. I was shown a printout supposedly from kelley blue book which had a price range from the high 30s to mid 40s. Base on that information I decided what the dealership was asking for was not a bad deal.

I bought the car for $29,999. However, I a couple days after I went to the Kelly Blue book to verify whether what they had shown me was accurate, after seeing the same car on numerous websites for a considerably lower cost. The kelley blue book has the car valued at $24,375 in excellent condition. The car is not in excellent condition, there are minor, but irritating imperfections, such as a small cig burn on one of the seats, and scratches on the windshield. Can car salemen show you bogus kelly blue book info to try to pursued you to buy a car. I guess I should also mention I am a woman.

You can't trust a car salesman to be honest and totally up front with you, I though everyone knew this.

You HAVE to do your research BEFORE you buy the car.

What proof do you have now, of the price they showed you?

I'd be willing to bet, none.

Your word against his or theirs, a judge would have to decide who is telling the truth, you may prevail, and you may not.

I'm afraid that you may have learned one of life's lessons, unfortunately, the hard way.

Woman or not, it is your job to look into any concerns you may have in regards to a vehicle that you're considering for purchase.

They may have shown you a printoff from a similar website. Personally, I don't care for KBB because I have seen far too many vehicles that are either severely under-priced or over-priced by their standards.

What year is the vehicle and how many miles are on it?

If you still have the Kelly Blue Book print-out, and it is somehow incorrect, then you may have a case for misrepresentation. If you do not have the print-out we would defer to progunr comments.

In most jurisdictions there is a regulatory body for car dealerships and you could always file a complaint and see if the regulator can help with some type of settlement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAP1981

I posted before regarding this situation, but I was curious about the legal aspect of the situation. I bought a 745i BMW about 2 weeks ago from a non BMW dealership. While negotiating the sticker price of the vehicle I asked if they had the kelley blue book value of the car. About 4 sale men were talking to me at the same time. I was shown a printout supposedly from kelley blue book which had a price range from the high 30s to mid 40s. Base on that information I decided what the dealership was asking for was not a bad deal.

I bought the car for $29,999. However, I a couple days after I went to the Kelly Blue book to verify whether what they had shown me was accurate, after seeing the same car on numerous websites for a considerably lower cost. The kelley blue book has the car valued at $24,375 in excellent condition. The car is not in excellent condition, there are minor, but irritating imperfections, such as a small cig burn on one of the seats, and scratches on the windshield. Can car salemen show you bogus kelly blue book info to try to pursued you to buy a car. I guess I should also mention I am a woman.

Unless you can PROVE that they were lying to you I see no recourse. Even then it's "buyer beware." You had a responsibility, at least under NYS law, to verify whatever was said to you and not rely on the dealership's "puffery."

And weren't you at least a bit suspicious that they were selling a used car for approximately 10K under its Blue Book value? My experience has been that you can cut some deals on new cars, but used ones tend to go close to the KBB value.

At the end of the day, the car is worth what someone will pay for it. You decided that it was worth that much to you. You had the option of sleeping on the deal, and doing some research and going back if you were really interested in the car.