On February 9, 2019, I took my Honda Accord to CarMax for an appraisal, with the intent to sell and use the equity towards a new vehicle. During the appraisal process I was notified that my vehicle had been previously repaired due to significant frame damage on the front passenger side. After further review, I was advised that my vehicle was involved in a car accident on 2/5/2015 in Lawrence Massachusetts. This accident was confirmed by “Experian, AutoCheck”. Additionally, the accident report specified that the front passenger side was damaged.
It is important to know I leased the vehicle brand new on 6/16/2015 at Commonwealth Honda in Lawrence Massachusetts, and since then the vehicle has never been involved in an accident with frame damage. While purchasing the vehicle on 6/16/2015, it was never disclosed by Commonwealth Honda that the vehicle was involved in an accident as it was purchased under the terms of “brand new”.
In June 2018 my lease was up and I decided to buyout the vehicle. (I really enjoyed it as my daily driver). I paid almost $15,000 cash for the buyout and received the title a few weeks later.
Due to the prior frame damage, I was told by CarMax that the value of the vehicle will be drastically lower than if the vehicle was free of any frame damage. Shortly after, I was provided an appraisal offer that was significantly lower than then the true value of my vehicle. Subsequently, I did not sell my vehicle due to these circumstances and the significant amount of value that was lost. According to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93A, I have 4 years from the date of this unfair and deceptive act to file a claim. Would it be worth my time to pursue any recourse at this time and what kind of outcome should I expect? I have never been involved in something like this so any guidance would be helpful.
Note: Today I sent a complaint to the attorney general’s office and have already scheduled a meeting with a consumer protection lawyer.
What’s typically the compensation here? Obviously buy the car back and/or replace it but any other damages he can claim?
It’s obviously shady and against the law however the actual damages are limited. I assume the state is likely to come down on them too (rightfully so).
Definitely gather your documentation and reach out to the dealer. Give them one chance to make it right before calling in the Calvary.
Devils advocate, what are the chances this car was dealer traded (or something) and it happened prior to them receiving the car? I cannot see a dealer doing this knowingly.
I think you should reach out to the GM of the dealership and let them know you hve taken action, see if they will make it up to you. Perhaps they can give you a new vehicle for a drastically discounted price for your trade-in as a settlement.
Better yet, a new vehicle at no cost. If you sue and win, the lawyer will get back all your monies as well as damages which for fraud could be a few 100k.
Autonation screwed my brother over he bought a certified used car. Which states no more then 2 panels can be previously damaged to be certified (Check listed was signed by a tech). Come to find out 80% of the car was damaged. Took months to go through arbitration and in the end they said buyer be ware. Ford did call and offered i think 6k for the headache. but autonation truly sucks
That ford dealer spent easily 50k on lawyers or more …Could of bought him a new car
I’ve had a similar, unfortunate incident with a purchase of a “certified pre-owned” Toyota Prius. Under similar circumstances, about two years down the road I found on that the carfax was not clean.
I did some research, did a consult at a different Toyota dealership, did an inspection and took pictures of the damage on the inside of the back bumper.
Then I contacted the GM of the dealership that sold me the vehicle, along with a copy of the carfax, date of purchase, and inspection pictures. We scheduled a time to meet, and after some back and forth they were pretty apologetic.
I ended up getting all of the money I put down on the car, the payments I made (minus a couple of cents per mile I drove), and they went way under invoice on a new car.
In my case the frame of the car wasn’t damaged, and if the previous owner didn’t go through insurance, no one would be the wiser. It’s likely that the dealership may have not known since the carfax updated with the accident two month after I purchased the car.
The pictures you posted, on the other hand, looks like there was major body work done and someone must have known. So it’s up to you if you want to go the lawyer route or try to work it out with them. I’d talk to them first, think over the offer and don’t sign unless you’re satisfied, because once you go the legal route I’m sure they won’t communicate with you without legal counsel, and as others have said, it will cost you upfront or at the settlement.
I would consult with a lawyer first before reaching out to this dealer. If this case is indeed open and shut, I would take legal action and take them to the cleaners.
Monetary compensation aside, these types of dealers should be taught a painful lesson about purposely misleading buyers. I refuse to believe they did not know about the damages, and to allow them to have a chance to make things right with you without severe repercussions would encourage them to do the same to other consumers. This is certainly not the first or last time they would have done this.
100% agree with you sir. At this point I am done with this dealership and their bull shit. I’m not even going to bother going to them at all. I’ll let a lawyer take care of it
Makes you wonder huh? I remember a few months after I purchased the vehicle I took the car for a tire rotation and alignment check at Sears Auto. They told me the alignment was way off and that they couldn’t adjust it back to factory as it was not adjustable. At the time I was very careful with the car and drove it like a 75 year old granny so I didn’t understand how the alignment could be off already. They told me to take it to Honda immedialty. That same day I took it to the dealer who sold me the car. Two hours later I got the car back and on my way home I noticed the alignment was far worse than before as the car kept pulling to the left, HARD. Had to turn back and driver another 50 miles to the dealer. Another 2 hours later somehow they fixed it. Makes me wonder if this frame damage had anything to do with it.
