its not gonna do you any good to argue this now. im not saying that there is or isnt a statue of limitations on this, but any judge is gonna point out the fact that it has been 2 years and you are just now bringing this up. granted, you just found the damage now. any lawyer or judge could come back and say that you could have had a mechanic outside the dealership check the truck out.

another point, you dont have any ground to stand on about how the truck was fixed. at the time it was fixed, the truck was in the dealerships possesion. that gives the dealership discression on how to fix it. nothing says the dealership had to replace the door. granted that they should have replaced it instead of filling it with bondo. if you had bought the truck before it was fixed then you would have ground to stand on about how they fixed it.

at this point all you can really do is take it as it is, and let it slide.

just to clear things up (this is a pet peeve of mine), if i sue some one it goes to a claims court, not a criminal court. in a claims court it is the judge's decision who gets awarded what. no jury in claims court.

 

Might be a good time to buy a couple cans of spray undercoating and get an acute case of amnesia.

 

Many people seem to be pointing at the dealer here. If the truck was bought used, somebody obviously owned it and drove it for awhile before it ended up on the used car lot. The dealer probably had no idea that there had been damage on the vehicle. It's just about impossible to find a used vehicle that's perfect- that's what new vehicles are for.

 

First off - your truck looks really nice, I do hope you'll be able to continue to drive & enjoy it, as right now, it looks like that's the best choice. It's good to "choose your battles wisely" as often there's more pain involved than it's worth.

That being said, and having purchased my first car from a private owner who (really didn't ) know that the first owner of the car had rolled it over and it had been rebuilt - it really didn't hurt the car too badly, but was something I just had to live with.

Since then, I've learned to do the following: Always look over a vechile in the daylight, preferably in full sunlight. I do CARFAX any vechile I consider heavily - some say it's worthless, truth is it's a guide, and it's saved me (so far) from purcahsing 2 trucks that were lemoned, one Honda with a salvage title, and steered me away from many other vehcile with questionable histories.

Third, if I do suspect bodywork to have been done, I take the vechile to a reputable body shop and let them look it over. They can catch stuff I couldn't even think about finding, and for around one hour of labor it's a great measure of comfort (although again it's not guaranteed they can find all flaws).

This brings me to a next point: If you really are concerend of the dealer's reputation, and have other CONFIRMED cases of damaged vechiles being "slash & burn" repaired and sold on thier lot, and not told to customers what happened, then you could do this. Take your truck to a body shop and have them inspect it, and have other customers with problem veichles do the same. Then report the dealer with your findings to the Better Business Bureau. They will need documentation. This is what they exist for, so it might be a reasonable next step. Again, it's just a question of what it's worth to you.

Good luck - I really do like your truck!

 

CIVIL suit is less evidence of fault, amount of damage claimed, and interpretation of the LAW. perfect area for Judges to decide.

TORTE law or CRIMINAL law, two seperate things, are entitled to a fair representation of your peers to decide if they would do the same actions in the same scenario as you- and how big a deal was it? or compensatory damages. Overwhelming evidence to clearly state which party was deemed at fault BY A JURY. Then, again using the same format as- would they think the same way as I do- punitive damages to gauge the level of the faulty party's actions to prevent it from re-occurring.

That is why hot drinks are labeled 'hot' and RV's have owner manuals that state 'don't leave the driver's seat while underway'. Some one had to screw up BIG TIME for a Law to be enacted.
Big money awards go to someone who may be dead or suffer extreme loss of mobility/ capacity. Big money also goes to the lawyers.

Be glad you can appear in Small Claims Court without a lawyer, to really be heard and participate/ control YOUR case.
Be glad it wasn't you that had to suffer......there is NEVER enough money to pay for lives lost.

My pet peeve? everyone looking for the BIG DECISION/PAYOFF
when it really just goes to the lawyers. no one 'wins', a toll is paid by all.
WHOOOPS! fell off the soap box, HEY! it was slippery!! Ow , my back!!

 

Rockittboy:If it was Vacaville Dodge, I will agree they are hacks..last year I was eye-balling a 95' 4x4 ext cab dually auto that had low miles and was pretty clean..but they wanted $17,000 for it..what a ripoff..and those salesmen there are vultures

 

thanks for all the input. i love the truck, just wanted to hear what yall had to say. and yes, hauler, it was VV dodge...

 

When buying my wifes durango I looked a around 9 or 10. I usally take them to an open parking lot and crawl underth from to back or if im close enoug to home I put them on a lift. I found on a 99 good price nice truck. Got to looking underneath it and everything was rusted not surface rust but flaking rust. all the bolts, muffler , exaust pipe. In the engine comp all the alum was corroded all the way up to the hood. The oil dipstick tube was almost rusted through. Pulled the carpet up and the floor pan looked fine. I don't think it had been flooded but maybe been up north in the snow alot. Needless to say I took that one back to the dealer.