[MRM]

You might want to move this to the Off Topic Forum. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a lawyer or two, and a half dozen others who know more about sales than any lawyer.

The answer to your question is that it depends. It depends on a million variables that probably can't be summarized here. In general "as-is" is a complete disclamer of condition. However, a seller cannot knowingly make false representations and then say to the buyer that the terms of the sale are "as-is". State law might give you more protections.

The problem is that you have to prove the seller knew and deliberately defrauded you and that you did not know or have any reason to know the information was bad.

In other words, it is a defense to the claim to state that they honestly thought what they were saying was true and make you prove otherwise. Similarly, it is a defense to argue that you really did suspect the car had problems and you willingly took the risk of things going worse - you would have to prove different. That's a lot of time and trouble for $9,000, IMO.

Unless you could easily go through small claims court, I would recommend addressing the issue with the seller, making it clear that you will leave negative feedback on Ebay and will tell others of your experience (truthfully) if they don't make it right.