should i reveal problems during car trade-in? (d)

My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.

during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
didn't fully disclose the details?

Any advice please?

On 2 Jan 2005 15:33:18 -0800, wrote:

>My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
>hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
>I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
>I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
>during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
>dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
>so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
>didn't fully disclose the details?
no. you don't have to tell them amything. do you think
they will tell you about the KNOWN problems with
the car you will be buying? doubt it.
....thehick

"frank-in-toronto" > wrote in message
...
> On 2 Jan 2005 15:33:18 -0800, wrote:
>
>>My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
>>hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
>>I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
>>I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>>
>>during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
>>dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
>>so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
>>didn't fully disclose the details?
> no. you don't have to tell them amything. do you think
> they will tell you about the KNOWN problems with
> the car you will be buying? doubt it.
> ...thehick

I completely agree. You are not required to be a mechanic in order to own or
operate a vehicle. As far as anyone is concerned, you might not be the least
bit concerned with the noise and assume it's normal. Part of the dealer's
routine is taking a test drive of your vehicle and making note of any
possible issues so they can be passed along to the mechanics during service.
Most likely, they will either A) never say a word to you and give you a
[meaningless and low-balled] trade-in value or B) tell you your transmission
is shot and instantly deduct $2,500 from their [meaningless and low-balled]
trade-in value.

I know you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you this anyway. Unless you
drive something exotic like a Ferrari or Bently, you're not going to get
much for a 10-year-old, 134K mile vehicle. You'd probably do better to buy
the new vehicle first, then sale your old one as-is at your convenience and
get what you can. It will likely be more than any dealer will give you on
trade-in anyway.

Roger

On 2 Jan 2005 15:33:18 -0800, wrote:

>My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
>hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
>I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
>I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
>during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
>dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
>so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
>didn't fully disclose the details?
>
>Any advice please?


They will screw you if they can, if they are typical of car dealers.
So, no - dummy up.

>My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
>hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
>I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
>I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.

The dealer only keeps the new low mileage "sweet" cars for resell.
Your car will go directly to auction and end up on one of hte second
tier lots somewhere in twon most likely.

Don't worry about telling them anything. Any person in the business
knows to expect issues to exist with any ten year old car. The dealer
isnt going to record this information and pass it on to the auctioneer
for the auction...

Steve B.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
> hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
> I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
> I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
> during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
> dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
> so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
> didn't fully disclose the details?
>
> Any advice please?
>

To start with you are probably better off not to trade your car in anyway.
When you trade a car in you are essentially giving your car away. If the
car is a late model with low miles and you are a good trader, you may get
close to wholesale for your car. With a 10 year old, high mileage car you
are not going to get even near wholesale for it. On "paper" they will make
it look like they are giving you something for your car. Remember when it
comes to ripping people off you are dealing with professionals, you and I
are only amateurs.

See if the dealer you are buying from has any 10 year only high mileage cars
for sell. If he is a new car dealer he will not have any used cars like
that on his lot. If he is not going to sell your car on his lot he is not
going to give you anything for it. He is going to unload it at an auction.

The best thing you can do is sell your car to in individual and be as honest
with them as you would like for them to be with you.

wrote in news:1104708798.182604.219840
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
> hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
> I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
> I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
> during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
> dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
> so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
> didn't fully disclose the details?
>
> Any advice please?
>

No, don't tell them anything. Also, you are going to give your car to the
dealer, and buy thiers. A car that old with that many miles you are
better off unloading it privately, even if you don't get close to blue
book value for it, it is still more than the dealer is going to give you
for it.



--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

>My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
>hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
>I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
>I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
>during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
>dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
>so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
>didn't fully disclose the details?
>
>Any advice please

If it were me, I would first negotiate a price for the new car. He (or
she) will probably ask you if you are trading one in. Tell him no and let
them give you a price for the car. Then ask, what they will give you for
your old car at that point and discuss that scenario. This way you get to
make a deal you feel happy about on your new car AND you might feel happy
about giving your old one to them a well...and don't fall for that "how much
do you want to pay a month " line either....

good luck...

Fwed

The trade in value at the dealer is so low that they insure themselves
against all the defects in the trades they take in. If they even bother
to "test" drive your old car further than the back lot they will hear
sounds you never heard from the mechanicals. On a vehicle that age they
have pretty much decided on the value at first glance, before even
driving it.
Despite whatever numbers they tell you, your trade has virtually no
value and may be costing them. There are even cases where a customer
would get a better deal if he bought without a trade and junked the car.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> My car is a 10 year old car, over 134K miles, drives well, but I'm
> hearing sounds coming from the transmission. It drives well though.
> I'm trading it in for a new car because I know repairs will be costly.
> I don't want to sell it privately, too much hassle.
>
> during the car trade-in, should I reveal to the
> dealer that my car has a tiny transmission problem? I live in Florida,
> so is it possible that I might get sued if the dealer finds out that I
> didn't fully disclose the details?
>
> Any advice please?
>
As others have said regarding trading in an old car, let them figure out
what it is worth. My experience has been that they will lie to you to sell
their car anyway (not just fail to tell you something but flat out lie to a
specific question or tell you what you want to hear if they don't know the
answer). So far, I've bought 2 used cars from dealers and in both cases I
was lied to. First was sometime in the 70's I was looking at a 72 Caprice
and was told it had a 400 engine. There were no stickers obvious but it
turned out to be a 454. 2nd time looking at an 87 Cougar and asked if it
had ever had body repair. The answer was of course "no" but when looking
under the hood it was obvious that a fender had been repainted for some
reason.... Luckily, in both cases, the cars were wonderful and "should have
kept them"...

I don't know what the laws are about disclosing problems but if you just
hear a noise, then offically there is no known problem there is no way they
could prove you knew of any problem. Also as others have said, anyone
looking at a car that old with that many miles should expect there to be
some problems. If they don't then they must be living under a rock
somewhere.....