Grandparents bought a car from private party, and it broke down already...

[MikeTheVike]

My grandparents are practically poor. They wrecked their car and didn't have full coverage, so they were looking for a cheap car. I tried to help them find something cheap and reliable, but they ended up paying $3700 for a Ford Focus. I "loaned" them some money to help pay, pretty much knowing I probably won't see it again. The sellers sold it "as-is" but said there was nothing wrong with the car. A week later the car won't start.

Does anyone know if there are any laws regarding shit like this? it would be nice to be able to get their money back, or at least have the previous owners pay for the repairs or something. I know a little about fixing cars, but I don't really know how to diagnose problems, only fix them. So it has to be towed somewhere and back anyway. Pretty messed up for this guy to take advantage of an elderly couple.

[D-Frag]

I know here in AZ we have a lemon law thingy, basically if someone sells you a car, and tells you everything is peachy keen, and you take it to an "honest" mechanic afterward and find out there is a ton of crap wrong with it, you can get your money back, or take them to court. I would call someone, preferably NOT ghostbusters though, they wont be able to help you here.

sorry about the crappy luck

[jessicam]

Oh man I hate my focus. One thing that has consistently gone wrong since it was about a year old is every few months to a year the starter gets all pancaked up and the key won't even turn. This is a known focus issue and they just replace the starter each time.

I hope they are able to get it fixed without too much cost or could even get their money back. I will never own another ford. What a piece of crap.

[Blahzay]

Probally would be hard to make a case when its sold as it but laws vary with the state so who knows.

[cornfed]

My state has a lemon law, too. It's worth checking into. Sorry about all this - sucks.

[Patrick Shannon]

I dunno....if the "as-is" was pretty apparent, that may be their defense right there. But look up the laws, and I guess it depends on the situation too. On the flip side, hopefully the car can be repaired for a reasonable price.

[Logo-Mechanix]

Sorry about the bad luck Mike, I would check your states website they may have something on their regarding this. People who take advantage of the elderly should be horse whipped in my book but maybe these people did think the car was okay.

[John G]

Isn't that more of the point when selling your car? Usually you try and sell it right when it gets to the point where it's just getting old or in need of work (62-75k miles). Make it someone else's problem not yours.

Could be just a coincidence as well.
My brother's focus was bought used, a week after he had it, the fuel line sprung a leak where it met the tank, and he's had all sorts of weird problems every now and then. And then you had my escort that went from 68k to 136k and no work needing to be done except timining belts, spark plugs and oil changes.

[MD]

The Ford Focus is a shitty car. A friend of mine bought one of the first ones when they came out - that car was in the shop every other week. Eventually she ended up suing Ford (class action suit?) and got them to pay over $7000 to take care of the rest of her loan.

[Patrick Shannon]

maybe these people did think the car was okay.

Could be. I used to drive a 1989 Cavalier that lasted me years and years until I sold it in 2003. At that time it worked fine (aside from the AC not working). It ended up breaking down on my buyer like a few months later.

Fortunately it was only worth under $500 and that's what he paid for it.

[Logo-Mechanix]

I drove a 1992 Suzuki Samurai for 112,000 miles and then gave it to my Mom and she's still driving it.

[morea]

first, you go to their house holding a shovel and nicely ask for your money back...

ok, not really.

The fact that the car was sold "as is" screams "red flag" to me. Did your grandparents have it checked out by a mechanic before they shelled out the cash? My mechanic was always willing to take a few moments to look over a car at low/no cost to let clients know if he thought that it was a wise purchase.

I believe that the lemon laws (etc) vary from state to state; I checked the NY DMV website and noticed the following:

Contact the Office of the NYS Attorney General to get general information about the "Lemon Law". Call 1-800-771-7755 (1-800-788-9898 for hearing impaired persons) to get information about complaints and the "Lemon Law."

That's where I would start if I were you - your state's DMV website, or your state's attorney general.

Hope it works out for the best.

[MD]

The fact that the car was sold "as is" screams "red flag" to me. Did your grandparents have it checked out by a mechanic before they shelled out the cash? My mechanic was always willing to take a few moments to look over a car at low/no cost to let clients know if he thought that it was a wise purchase.

I believe that the lemon laws (etc) vary from state to state; I checked the NY DMV website and noticed the following:

They should have had it checked out by a mechanic first. I don't think the car being sold "as is" automatically red flags it, most private sales are. Also I had always thought that the "Lemon Law" only applied to new cars - not used ones.

[LeftBrain Artist]

The sellers sold it "as-is" but said there was nothing wrong with the car. A week later the car won't start.

So, does it turn over at all?

[Patrick Shannon]

My eBay rules for example tend to be "as is." One time I sold a Powerbook that the buyer ended up having an annoying amount of troubles with, then I just said "screw it" and refunded him after he sent it back.

It was user error. I ran a scan and format on the unit, and it continued to work just fine for a few years after. I would sell it on eBay again, with "AS IS" on the top.

[jimking]

Could be. I used to drive a 1989 Cavalier that lasted me years and years until I sold it in 2003. At that time it worked fine (aside from the AC not working). It ended up breaking down on my buyer like a few months later.

Fortunately it was only worth under $500 and that's what he paid for it.
Same with me. I sold my old Chevy S10, the truck had 75 thousands miles on it. I sold it for $1800 (several years old) and the trans went on it a few months later. I had no idea it would go.

[MikeTheVike]

After doing some searching last night, seems like they may be SOL. But I'm house and pet sitting for them this weekend, so I'm going to take a look at it. The dash lights come on when the key is turned, but it doesn't try and turn over. I'm going to take the battery and starter up to the auto parts store and get them tested. They said that the neighbor said the battery was fine, but I don't know how they tested it...I will be very happy if it is just the battery.

[CatintheHat1]

I believe the laws only apply to licensed car dealers. Unless you have something in writing saying otherwise, private sales are "as is" and there's nothing you can do unless you could perhaps prove fraud was involved (they had rolled back the mileage or something). It could just be something minor...

[Navian]

Hey Mike, you might want to get the alternator checked. If it doesn’t make more of a “click” sound, when you turn the key, it is electrical.

Your best bet is to take the car in (or dig it out if you want to mess with the trouble of digging in a newer car hell). You might have to go to your local Ford repair shop. I recommend getting the alternator recoiled instead of a new one. I would have paid $350+ for a brand new alternator, but if you recoil it, you could pay about $90-150 (depending on where you live) and a couple days, took 3 days to get the alternator back for my car.

When the alternator went out on my car, it wouldn’t even start, and you could jump start it run it for about 10 seconds then the car would die quickly. That day sucked, because I had this portable jumper battery, trying to do mini-jumpstarts, while it was raining really hard.

Good Luck with the car.

[MikeTheVike]

Hey Mike, you might want to get the alternator checked. If it doesn’t make more of a “click” sound, when you turn the key, it is electrical.

Your best bet is to take the car in (or dig it out if you want to mess with the trouble of digging in a newer car hell). You might have to go to your local Ford repair shop. I recommend getting the alternator recoiled instead of a new one. I would have paid $350+ for a brand new alternator, but if you recoil it, you could pay about $90-150 (depending on where you live) and a couple days, took 3 days to get the alternator back for my car.

When the alternator went out on my car, it wouldn’t even start, and you could jump start it run it for about 10 seconds then the car would die quickly. That day sucked, because I had this portable jumper battery, trying to do mini-jumpstarts, while it was raining really hard.

Good Luck with the car.

I took out the battery and got it tested and it was fine, tried to take the starter out, but it was impossible to reach one of the bolts with a wrench. I also checked the fuses and they were fine. They got it towed the other day somewhere, should find out whats wrong with it in a couple days, hopefully nothing too expensive

[gluhen]

Yeah. My friend has a Focus and it has already needed a new transmission. Luckily, it was still under her used-car warranty, but still. We call it the Ford Pancake-us, if you catch my meaning.

I hope everything works out!

[LeftBrain Artist]

After doing some searching last night, seems like they may be SOL. But I'm house and pet sitting for them this weekend, so I'm going to take a look at it. The dash lights come on when the key is turned, but it doesn't try and turn over. I'm going to take the battery and starter up to the auto parts store and get them tested. They said that the neighbor said the battery was fine, but I don't know how they tested it...I will be very happy if it is just the battery.

I've had a number of auto electrical issues over the years.

First, try jumping the car. If the battery is low, it might have enough juice for the dash board lights to come on, but not enough to get the starting circuit going, which draws a lot more power than the dash lights.

Usually, leaving a door slightly ajar or the obvious lights-left-on is the culprit for a drained battery. But nobody likes admitting to doing that. Jump it, let it run for a while (15-20 min) so the alternator can charge the battery back to full capacity. If the battery is jumpable but keeps getting drained, try a new battery. If the new battery gets drained, its a bad alternator or a loose connection somewhere in your electrical system, have a professional analyze it unless you enjoy exercises in frustration.

If you don't know when the battery was last replaced, its a good bet its time for a new one.

It could also be the starter motor, the alternator, the solenoid, or a break in the circuit from the ignition switch to the solenoid.

The path begins with the ignition switch - turning the key completes the circuit which turns the solenoid on. The solenoid is just another term for a switch, albeit a heavy duty one. The power required by the starter motor would fry the delicate wiring in your steering column, so the solenoid acts as a secondary switch, activated by lighter voltage, which completes the heavier circuit which brings power to the starter motor. The solenoid is the element that makes the clack-clack-clack sound. If the solenoid is doing its job, it then delivers power to the starter motor which starts your car.

The alternator (or magneto as some engineers call it) is a generator that is hooked up to your turning engine by a belt and returns electricity to the battery. If the alternator isn't working properly, your battery will drain down as the car runs.

The wierdest problem I ever had was a battery that was being drained down. I thought I left the lights on, so I jumped it. A few weeks later, it was dead again, this time nothing had been left on. The battery was kind of old, so I got a new one and put it in. A few more weeks go by and it dies again, nothing left on. At one point in the past I had taken it in for the same problem and the boys at the shop found a loose wire going to some fog lights that had been custom installed that was touching the body and draining the battery down. I thought it was the same type of thing this time - turned out it was a loose connection in the internal wiring of the stock stereo - gave me a good excuse to ditch the tape player for a shiny new CD player.

Basically, with a problem like that, there's no way you can tell what it is until you start messing around with it. And they don't usually manifest until its too late. My truck has had the starter go out on it twice, this winter and two winters before that. There's not much you can do to tell if its going to go bad on you. Whenever you buy a car with a lot of miles on it, find out what got replaced/fixed most recently. Everything else will be prone to failure.

The easy thing for you to do is to put a new battery in, save the receipt, and take it back if that's not the problem.