I wonder if it was damaged at the port and repaired before the dealer took delivery.
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I’ve seen that happen before and the manufacturer bought the car back.
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That would make sense. They can’t pass the damaged car on to a consumer as new.
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Anyone remember that huge mess back in April 2018 when I purchased my SRT 392? Dealer or Transport truck totaled the car and FCA bought the car back. I posted about that on here as well. Feels like its happening all over again SMH!!
I think you’ll make out pretty good on this one, you should end up driving this car for free for the 3+ years. These cases are usually pretty straight forward. I’d be happy with that, anymore than that and the lawyer can keep it.
Some good advice here already - get a decent lawyer and take 'em to the cleaners it seems!
But I guess also a worthy reminder for anyone else thinking of purchasing their leased car (which generally isn’t a good idea anyway) but always do a check of the Carfax which is a bit crazy as I wouldn’t even think of doing it given that I would have assumed it was only me driving it for the last 3 years!
The issue isn’t whether the car was new. If it had not been titled, it was. The issue is whether dealer had to and if so did disclose as having frame damage.
The majority of cases (98%+) don’t go to trial and are settled out of court.
In a settlement, you negotiate a sum that includes any legal fees and you aren’t paid out legal fees separately.
If the contract you signed has a prevailing party clause or a jury awards you legal fees at trial, then you are entitled to those fees on top of any judgement.
On a frame damaged unit - they’d just total it @ port.
FCA does it all the time lol.
I’ve seen one or two cars tumble from the carrier.
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I’ll have to get back to you and let you know the structure of the fees.
If you have an attorney taking your case, you are good to go.
If you don’t, file whatever paperwork needed so you don’t run out of time. I have to do that with arbitration. I filed it a week before my one year statue of limitation expires, I just had to get the paperwork in and deal with the rest later.
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Not an attorney.
But I think the attorney will be able to get you the best value, even dealing with the dealership directly involves a lot of your time and homework. That extra time and homework may be worth the 30% cut that the lawyer will take from you. It’s pretty much you give the lawyer everything and they go to work for you, yes it may take a lot of time to get to a settlement but you won’t really be involved with the entire process. Out of pocket costs are nothing to you, but you know what they say, lawsuits are more beneficial to the wealthy, as you won’t have that extra money you were intending to use from the sale of the car for I don’t know, the purchase of another car. Those costs come out of pocket first with no reimbursement.
I don’t know how I’d feel for anything short of 100% reimbursement of the car plus extra damages, as clearly you’ve driven this thing for 3 years and it could have been unsafe in an accident at any point of your ownership.
As for it being an open and shut case, I’ve had a family member been there for what seemed to be a pretty open and shut case, they didn’t have to pay out of pocket for the fees or the investigation, but that thing took 3 years to resolve. Takes time for the lawyer to dig up all the documentation and make things move along, especially if the other side is dragging feet. Something I would imagine they’d do if you hit them directly without representation.
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Of course they do. 
Very helpful. Thank you! Just spoke to the attorney. He scheduled to me to see an appraiser/body work expert. They’ll verify the extent of the frame damage and determine if it is safe for me to drive the vehicle.
Oh man…and who says lightning doesn’t strike twice 
Best of luck with your current ordeal, if anything your past experience should serve you well.
Oh boy, I’ll be watching this topic!
Go balistic on them. Some hint at bad publicity in the local paper may also help.
I purposely got a loaner with known damage. They had a Carfax on the website, got the itemized service bill. The sales manager actually said: “It’s the banks problem now”
Meanwhile, could you share the dealer with us?
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The original post mentions leasing it from Commonwealth Honda in Lawrence Massachusetts.
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Ah, missed it
Take a look here. I pulled a CarFax report and in the report it shows the vehicle was put for PDI on 1/30/2015. It also shows the vehicle was put up for sale on 1/30/15 with 6 miles.
I believe this is important information. Between the AutoCheck Report and the CarFax report it shows that the vehicle was involved in an accident 1 week after it was delivered which means the dealer was very likely to have known about this. Hmmmmm!
