Need Advice, Ripped Off By A Dealer In SC

[urseppos]

Hello All,

I'm in need of some advice regarding being ripped off by a used car dealer in South Carolina.

The car is not a Porsche but I think we have some very nice, intelligent & clued up individuals here on Pelican & hence why I'm reaching out here for some help. I will remove this post immediately if anyone thinks this is inappropriate.

I've been looking for a truck for our daughter to use whilst at her first year of college. She found a nice 04 Tacoma on evilbay & I engaged with the advertisers. They sell used cars in SC, we made a verbal deal after I looked at photos & asked many questions. The add itself represented the truck as top notch but I didn't purchase via ebay as they asked if I didn't mind doing it off of ebay as they could save a few bucks. I agreed, PP'd a $300 deposit & wired the remaining amount of $12.2k via my bank to theirs.

All was good until the truck arrived as I had it shipped down to our place in Florida. The first thing I did was look underneath at the frame & YES there is frame rot ie holes in the frame. I was told no rust & other things the truck had (in the ebay advert) which it does not. The frame is compromised due to the holes & it needs another frame which is not cost effective due to the high expense. I contacted them immediately after receiving the car & they obviously said they had no idea. To top it off the exhaust system was broken in half & just a slew of things that were all misrepresented.

Do I have any recourse whatsoever ? They are offering me another Tacoma which is 2 yrs older & 50k more on the odometer but we just want our money back. They said they can only refund money to another dealer but I told them that I have a dealers license, which I did from the get go & they went very quite at that point. I am not a dealer technically as I work in the medical field but I do have a dealers license for hobby purposes.

Any & all advice & or help would be highly appreciated as I'm not certain what path to take at this point, if there is actually a path to be found. I have maintained being polite as I don't think losing it would help matters.

Thank you all in advance for your help.

[urseppos]

Mods can you please move this post as I accidentally put in in the Cars For Sale section. My apologies to all for this little blip.

[MBAtarga]

Are you aware of the Tacoma frame rust recall? That might resolve most of your concern.
Yours may be covered - not sure about what ownership history you must have to qualify however.

Lookup Safety Recalls & Service Campaigns by VIN

[Christien]

So many mistakes made here. Transaction outside ebay? HUGE red flag. If you'd stayed within ebay you'd have recourse, plenty of it. ALWAYS get a PPI done. Any other course of action is a gamble. Sorry, but you really made a few big mistakes here. Not that that excuses a shady dealer, but it could have so easily been prevented.

That said, you should have some recourse. Here in ON have an industry council that looks at customer complaints and will pursue the offending dealership if they deem it appropriate. They have the power to have the dealer's license terminated, so it's serious. Is there something similar in SC? You'd have to go through whatever channels are available there, not FL, as it would be the SC authorities that would have power. Otherwise, lawyer up and hope a nasty letter gets some action.

[NYNick]

$12K wired to SC from Florida with no inspection, on the dealers word and pictures alone? Ahem. Maybe you should've made the drive.

[Rick Brooklyn]

Originally Posted by Christien

So many mistakes made here. Transaction outside ebay? HUGE red flag.

Not really. Deals outside of ebay for cars advertised there happen all the time.

[Christien]

Sure, it's when the dealer asks to do the deal outside of ebay to save transaction fees that it causes a huge red flag to go up. Usually a deal happens outside ebay because the buyer wants to see the car in person or have a PPI done, and there isn't time within the frame of the auction.

[maninblack]

Originally Posted by Christien

If you'd stayed within ebay you'd have recourse, plenty of it.

No, you really wouldn't. You'd be able to leave negative feedback. And if you'd made your initial deposit by Paypal you could attempt a credit card chargeback (which you'd most likely lose due to the "as-is" nature of used car sales) but, other than that, an auto transaction conducted through eBay offers you no additional protection or recourse.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by Christien

Sure, it's when the dealer asks to do the deal outside of ebay to save transaction fees that it causes a huge red flag to go up. Usually a deal happens outside ebay because the buyer wants to see the car in person or have a PPI done, and there isn't time within the frame of the auction.

What Ebay are you using? Auctions last 7 or 10 days. I've had PPIs done during the auction.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by maninblack

No, you really wouldn't. You'd be able to leave negative feedback. And if you'd made your initial deposit by Paypal you could attempt a credit card chargeback (which you'd most likely lose due to the "as-is" nature of used car sales) but, other than that, an auto transaction conducted through eBay offers you no additional protection or recourse.

Ok, maybe I'm wrong about that then. I thought ebay and paypal heavily favoured the buyer. I've easily won disputes over small stuff as a buyer, and the only dispute I ever had as a seller was major (my old 944, documented here on pelican if you feel like searching for it) where I was clearly in the right, but still had to provide tons of documentation.

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

What Ebay are you using? Auctions last 7 or 10 days. I've had PPIs done during the auction.

I've never bought a car in a week, except at work through an auction. I suppose if you see the car the day it's listed and arrange for a PPI immediately I can see it happening, but 7 days is a really short time frame to properly check out a car to the point where I'm good sending 5 figures to a stranger untold miles away. I've never done it that quickly, as a buyer or seller.

[Zaz]

Originally Posted by maninblack

No, you really wouldn't. You'd be able to leave negative feedback. And if you'd made your initial deposit by Paypal you could attempt a credit card chargeback (which you'd most likely lose due to the "as-is" nature of used car sales) but, other than that, an auto transaction conducted through eBay offers you no additional protection or recourse.

Actually, if a car purchased is less than 10 years old (unfortunately this one isn't), undisclosed frame damage/ defects would be fully covered by Ebay.

[tom6284]

Never buy a car you cannot inspect or have it inspected first !!! Automobile 101. Sadly lessoned learned