QOTD: Can You Blame the Dealer For Your Defect?

Several times in the last few weeks I have had a friend come up to me and tell me that they bought a used car, there is some problem with it, and now they want to sue the dealer. And if not a lawsuit, then at least they want some sort of compensation, like a free replacement car.

I generally listen intently to their problem, and confirm that I’m understanding it, and make eye contact to show that I care, and then tell them something along the lines of the fact that this is the single stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

Here’s a newsflash for everyone out there who bought a used car with a problem: You bought your vehicle in as-is condition. This means you must accept it “as it is,” even if how it “is” is fitted with brake pads that are actually USB sticks. Even if its mirrors are sun visor mirrors taped on the mirror housings. Even if it is a Pontiac G6. You now own this car and you signed the papers saying so. The dealership held up its part of the obligation in selling you the car. Now you must hold up your part of the obligation in getting the thing the hell off the dealer’s lot.

When people come to me and ask me about buying a used car, I almost always tell them to get a mechanical inspection before they give the dealer any money. “Get a mechanical inspection,” I always say. “For God’s sake, get a mechanical inspection.” When pressed for more advice, it’s usually along the lines of, “If you don’t get a mechanical inspection, then you have the IQ of dishwashing soap.”

A few months later, they come back to me and tell me that the dealer didn’t want them to get a mechanical inspection, so they bought the car anyway, and now they discovered that the transmission only powers the front left tire and the windshield wipers are actually felt-tip pens tied to the wiper arms with rubber bands. It is at this moment when I ask them never to speak to me again.

No, what I really tell them is they’re screwed. Not sort of screwed; not kind of screwed. They’re totally, completely, 100-percent screwed. They own the car, it’s now theirs, and if they come to the dealer with their problem, the dealer is going to laugh in their face and tell them to please leave, because they are busy selling a car made entirely of sandpaper to another person who didn’t get a mechanical inspection.

This doesn’t seem fair. After all, doesn’t the dealer have an obligation to sell a quality product to everyone? In my mind, the answer is no.

Cars are complicated and dealerships are possibly even more complicated. When a car is bought by a dealership or traded in, the idealistic customer probably thinks it’s inspected top to bottom for mechanical issues, fixed perfectly, then placed on the lot at the lowest possible dollar amount required to make a profit. If a disabled veteran comes in, they give him the car for free.

In reality, the dealer has no time to inspect every single used car that comes in on trade or from an auction. Instead, the dealer just cleans the thing, sticks it on its front line, and hopes you buy it. They have no idea what’s wrong with it. They don’t care what’s wrong with it. If you want to know what’s wrong with it, you have to figure that out for yourself.

And that’s why smart shoppers get a mechanical inspection. It takes a while and it’s a pain in the ass, since you have to take the car from the dealer to a mechanic, wait while it’s being inspected, then drive back to the dealer to retrieve your own car — but it’s necessary. Once, when I took a car for a mechanical inspection, the service advisor walked up to me at the end of the inspection. “Anything serious?” I asked. “Nothing ten grand can’t fix,” he replied.

Ten grand.

So in my opinion, buying a used car is a risky proposition — and if you take the risk, you have to be prepared to face the consequences. Am I wrong? Do you think a dealer has an obligation to fix its used cars, or buy them back if they’re awful? And what about a private seller? Let me know your thoughts below.