i just bought a 1998 ranger 2.5l at saturn of san juan. The engine light came on that day and i took it in to have them fix it. after two days of cleaning out vaccume hoses i got the truck back. they said it was an emissions problem and they fixed it. as soon as i hit the freeway the engine light came back on. First question is can you sell a truck with emission problems? next i looked up the title history on carfax and there were discrepincies in the odometer readings. on 2-14-02 it read 54252 in virginia. on 3-15-02 it read 4369 in california at saturns smog station. that's a -49000 mile difference. on3-18-02 the odometer read 54288 at the saturn dealership. now this in dmv files and when i brought it saturns attention they first said it was a typo there should have been a 5 in front of the 4369 making it read 54369. doesn't make sence, it would have gone from 54369 to 54288 losing mileage in a three day period. then they said the smog tech entered in the weight on accident. the weight of the vehicle was entered at 3375 on 3-15-02. doesn't match. the vin # is covered by a piece of paper that i can't get to without removing the windshield so i can't tell if the vin matches or not. I tried to get my money back and the vp of sales chewed me out and told me to get lost. this is from a saturn dealership. i've reported this to several agencies but they can't get money back, they can only investigate the dealership. After the way i was treated i really don't want to go back, even though the truck drives like crap now. I love ford trucks and still want one, but i want one that works and has a clean title history and passes smog. what do i do? I paid in cash in full for the thing. please help, and stay away from saturn of san juan capistrano unless you like bad costumer service and someone shouting at you.
thanx

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 08-Jun-02 AT 07:54 AM (EST)]Yo DWK,
I feel for you man!
What has the local police said?
Also try here:
"National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov
NHTSA helps set and enforce safety performance standards for motor vehicle and automobile equipment by investigating safety defects, fuel economy standards, odometer fraud, etc. NHTSA provides consumer information on motor vehicle safety topics and conducts research on human factors and traffic safety."

..and....
"Federal law requires that the seller of a car sign a disclosure statement that the mileage on the odometer is accurate and has not been rolled back.
NHTSA enforces the odometer law via inspections and criminal charges.
Information on odometer tampering is also available from the Auto Safety
Hotline: (800) 424-9393."
THAT's FEDERAL LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next step could be an attorney for you. But try writing a registered mail letter to the owner of that dealership. Just like you wrote here. Tell them you want ALL your money back including taxes and fees. Also provide the name of the people at that dealership you spoke with and the dates.

BTW, CARFAX isn't perfect. It did show an error in our old van's mileage. I contacted them, but all they did was to send me a form to fill out. The info on the form was impossible to fill in because the van we sold showed lower mileage a month after we sold it..they wanted info about mileages AFTER the sale, which of course is dumb.
Also CARFAX does not show accident damage to our 2 vehicles..a 96 Bronco and a 99 Contour..both had damages over $5k. 3 years and 2 years ago, respectively.

Good luck to you.
Keep in touch...I'll ask my daughter about this later. She is a paralegal.

 

more for you:
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/ocl/cases/odofraud.htm

and;
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/ocl/monograph/odom.htm

 

thank you for all your help, i'll start surfing the web.