The Most Important Car Buying Rule! Ep. 6.729

welcome once again to lato's law here's steve lato every single day at my office i get at least one phone call or one email but every single day i get one phone call or one email regarding the exact same topic i've talked about this topic in a variety of contexts i've done videos similar to this a long time ago but i feel it's my duty as an attorney who specializes in lemon law to talk about this once in a while to make sure that people remember keep it in the front of their minds and it has to do with my used car warning my used car warning if you are going to buy a used car or you're shopping for a used car you know someone who's shopping for used car if there's going to be a used car in your life in the future you need to know two things i'm gonna tell you right now okay and it's extremely important because the phone call i get always starts with i'm looking for a lemon law attorney and i say oh that's me you've come to the right place you called the right number you got the right guy i answered the phone didn't i let's talk i say what's up a cardiac they tell me i go is new or used and 99 times 100 they go what's used so i have to say well unfortunately in michigan and in most states the lemon law doesn't generally cover used cars it covers new cars and there are rare examples where used cars can be covered but it's usually within a year or two of purchase and it's got to be a really really funky timing with respect to the events that would allow it to qualify but generally speaking if you bought a five-year-old used car the lemon law is not going to help you okay so i go new or used you go used okay you bought a used car lemon law is not going to help you they say well let me tell you the story and i'm now going to skip ahead of the story because the stories are all the same and tell you what the thought process and how the flow chart works okay so the first question is did you buy it new or used not new used okay so now we're on that part of the course you bought a used car did you buy it from an individual seller or a merchant and i always said you buy from a dealer or a person and i understand that there's a guy working at the dealership but the seller if you look at the document that says you bought a vehicle for somebody if you bought it from a dealer it'll say the seller is a dealership not a person so the seller technically is not a person but just getting this out of the way so did you buy the car from an individual or from a dealership and it's important because again the thought process will branch at that point the flow chart the decision tree and so you bought a used car from an individual this is the easiest one to take care of because if you bought a used car for an individual most states including michigan which is where i practice law say that if you buy a product from an individual who is not a merchant with respect to goods of the kind and that would be a dealer with respect to a car if you bought it from just some guy okay he's not a merchant the car does not come with an implied warranty of merchant ability and it cannot come with an implied warranty merchant ability because he's not a merchant you might say steve what's the implied word in merchant building it's the idea that if you buy a product it'll do what it's supposed to do so if you buy something and it doesn't work you can often go back after the merchant you sold it to you and say hey this thing doesn't work implied we're in merchantability with a car that would mean the car will get you safe and reliable transportation from point a to point b so if you buy a used car from an individual it does not have that guarantee doesn't it can't okay so what do you get when you buy a used car for an individual well you get the car possession of the car you'll get a title saying you own the car and you're getting it as is now you might say but steve the guy never said as is doesn't matter as is by operation of law becomes the default position okay you're buying the vehicle as is presumed to be as is now i've had people say but steve the guy told me the car ran good car ran good guy told me the car had no problems guy told me the car was a wonderful car guy told me that he drove the car every single day for the last two years never had a problem i was driving at home and the engine exploded okay those statements are considered sales puffery puffery and not legally enforceable so i say it's a good car it turns out to not be a good car you can't sue somebody over that and win um not unless you get some insane results i've actually sat in court and watched small claims court proceedings where somebody stood up and said your honor guy sold me a car said it was a good car judge goes uh he's an individual yeah no case boom get out of here i've had people tell me steve i can still sue the guy right you'll lose and you theoretically could get sanctions for following frivolous lawsuit because there's no basis for suing somebody simply because they sold you a defective car now you might say but steve what's my what's what's what's the answer here the answer here is don't get ripped off and the way you don't get ripped off is you get the vehicle inspected before you buy it and now i know people who are car shopping and are looking at a car and they go well i didn't think to get the vehicle inspected because i don't want to offend the person it's not going to offend them they won't let you get inspected don't buy the car but say hey you know something i've got a mechanic i'm gonna have him come over look at the car bring a mechanic with you or if there's a mechanic nearby can we take the car over and we'll go over there and walk around look underneath the car the guy says no don't buy the car they say yeah then have a mechanic check out the car because besides the fact you're getting the car as is with all faults when you buy anything whether it's a car or otherwise if you're given the opportunity to inspect the product and you choose not to you are waiving your right to complain about the things you would have found had you inspected it and i've spoken to people before who said steve i walked out to the car looked great drove it home walked on the car the next morning and saw something on the other side of the car i didn't see i'm like you didn't walk around the car no no i walked up to the car i've seen these cars before and i thought to myself there's no way they're gonna show me a car it's got a big old dent on one side are they apparently they did i say well why didn't you walk around the car it was raining it was dark i was tired the guy was rushing me cars parked up against the wall who knows but you didn't inspect the car a judge is likely gonna say why didn't you inspect the car and you're gonna give him some lame excuse i just numbered off right there and he's gonna say well guess what you could have inspected the car you chose not to that's on you it's your job to inspect the car the law is not here to protect you from your own mistakes the law is there to simply allow you to enforce your legal rights if you have any and when you buy a car from an individual yeah it's a sales contract but the agreement is you get this car you pay them money that's the car for money that's that's the exchange and that contract doesn't say oh by the way the car will perform to a certain standard that would be called a warranty and i've never heard of anybody giving a warranty with a car saying oh by the way i promise you this car will go three thousand miles or three months with no breakdowns and if it does i'll fix it i've never heard that from an individual never never so if you buy the vehicle from an individual it's presumed to be sold as is that means no implied running merchant ability you get what you get everything is on you and that literally means that if you hand them the money they hand you the title in the keys you get in the car and you go to fire it up and it explodes it's now your pile of rubble and i know people who say but steve in my state we get this no no no no no there is no rule that you get a hundred yards there's no rule to get it off the property there are some states some states where they for a fee say that you can buy some kind of protection against one or two day return period from a dealership not from an individual so i've never heard of that before so the point is that when you're buying a car from individually you'll be very very careful i know people nowadays who buy cars cite unseen off the internet they see a car online they go hey it's a great car they buy the car didn't even test drive it did did you take a virtual test drive it's insanity so if you're gonna buy a car i would urge you to inspect it but also take it for a test drive obviously obviously and ideally take it for a test drive and and you know get it up to highway speeds drive it slow turn the radio off check the air conditioning make sure all the systems work listen for sounds pop the hood while the engine's running look for leaks you know if you can't get a mechanic to inspect it find somebody you know who knows a little about cars and bring them along i've spoken to far too many people as an attorney that i can tell you that there are people out there who bought cars who had no mechanical training but still would have spotted what was wrong with their car if they'd simply pop the hood and looked or they'd simply looked in the trunk or they simply looked underneath the car and they go i don't i don't have a mechanic why would i do well you're telling me now that when you pop the hood you saw that the radiator hose is wrapped with duct tape did you need to be a mechanic to figure that out they go i'm not a mechanic i didn't pop the hood okay you don't need to be a mechanic to pop the hood but i would urge you to have it inspected or inspect it yourself certainly test drive it walk around it make sure you can see everything if necessary bring a flashlight point is if you're buying a used car from an individual you're buying it as is with all faults that thing is yours and you say steve that's a very very harsh reality yes it is price the car accordingly otherwise live dangerously so that's with respect to an individual selling used car now when we get to dealerships things get worse because the law is actually going to be on the side of the dealerships in most states i'm about to tell you and that is that in michigan and in most states that i'm encountering where it's legal to do so 99.99999 the repeating nine of all used cars sold by dealerships are sold as is as is which means that while they could sell it to you with a warrant for merchantability they choose not to and they're allowed by law to do that the uniform commercial code specifically says that a seller who is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind can disclaim the implied warranty merchant ability so long as they do it conspicuously so what most dealers in michigan do is they take the buyer's guide where it says the vehicle comes with a warranty or no warranty as is they check the as is box that's number one number two on the purchase agreement to often put this vehicle being sold as is known by merchability and they put it there too three they almost always put it on the rd-108 under the remarks section which is the application for michigan title as is no warning merchandising blah blah blah blah it's there so people call me steve about a car blew up three minutes after i bought it uh lemon law no individual dealer dealer did you buy it as is i don't know okay first of all you should know the answer to that question because the answer is almost always gonna be yes you did if you bought something as is and didn't know it there's the problem that's why i'm making the video the goal is to educate people to understand what that box means on that window sticker the buyer's guide that's glued to the window of the car when you took it for a test drive that's there for a reason to let you know you're buying car as is and the number of people i speak to say i didn't know what that meant okay stop and ask somebody go on the internet type in what does as is mean you might find this video call me i'll explain it to you watch the video 99 of all used cars sold in michigan by dealers are sold as is no implied warranty merchant ability that literally means is you buy the car pay the money they give you the keys they give you the paperwork you turn the key engine explodes pile the rubble it's yours get it off their lot people say steve you didn't get it off the lot it's not yes it is yes it is the transaction took place back in that cubicle remember that cubicle you're in high pressure cubicle that car is yours a pile of rubble is yours it burned the ground the ashes are yours get them off the lot so it's being sold to you as this now here's the problem i tell people this and they go wait a second you're telling me i've got no ability to go back after the dealership and i go in a typical transaction no that is you bought a piece of junk used car as is you didn't have it inspected and you drove it off the lot and they go but wait a second i asked them if i could inspect and they said i didn't need to and you believed him or i asked him if i could inspect they said no and you still bought the car um why do people forget that that car dealership is sitting there burning money they're paying rent taxes utilities salaries it's sitting there burning money and unless you walk under the lot and buy a car and inject some money into this transaction they're just sitting there burning money so when you walk onto the lot of a used car dealership you have 100 of the control of that situation and if you go in with any other mindset you are losing and you're going to get ripped off okay you are in control of the situation like george costanza says be prepared to get up and walk that's that's your option you can do that so i i like the car can i have inspected no oh it's too bad i'll go find i'll go find one i can't have inspected i'd like this car can have it inspected you don't need to have inspected why we inspected it oh okay well i'd like to have inspected too you can't inspect it why you inspected it well don't you trust us i don't know you just met you five minutes ago why would i trust you do you trust me people get intimidated by car dealerships what i want you to do next time you go car shopping at a car dealership as you're driving down the road towards the dealership think to yourself right now if i could see the meter that showed how much money that car dealership was burning by the minute just sitting there rent utilities salaries workman's comp insurance the money they're burning just sitting there they need me and my money they need it and the second they treat you like they don't get up and walk walk out there's nothing more fun than walking out of a car dealership when a salesman comes running after you because they do when you walk out you're taking your wallet with you so can i have the car inspected no okay sorry see ya leave so i have people tell me all kinds of things they say well they wouldn't let me inspect it they told me i didn't need to have inspected they told me it was a great car they told me all kinds of stuff and once in a while i'll have someone go but wait a second the guy told me the salesman did buy this car it's as is but if anything happens to it we'll take care of you don't worry about it now if the salesman said that to me does that get me around the as is oh and i have to break the bad news to you by number two i told you there's two things that are going to hurt you to use car dealer the first is the as is the second is the clause in the sales contract that most likely is there that says statements made by the salesperson are not enforceable against the car dealer unless reduced to writing and inserted here and there'll be a blank spot on your contract where nothing's written in i've told people before this and i've done videos on this before and i've said if you are a car dealer and you're thinking about buying a used car the man's sitting right there talking to you and he's telling you stuff and he says to you if the car breaks down we'll fix it let's suppose he actually said that firsthand the job doesn't know he's not supposed to say that this pretty does he says it car breaks down bring it to us we'll fix it you pull the purchase agreement out you say okay right here's a little section that says other can you please write in there if the car breaks down we'll fix it period initially he said oh i can't write that down why not is it not true now the guy's faced with a situation to either admit he lied to you or to explain to you why i can't write a truthful statement on the purchase agreement if it's truthful why couldn't you write it so just to understand what i'm getting at here let's suppose you're buying a 1991 ford explorer 1991 ford explorer and you asked the man is this a 1991 ford explorer yes it is guarantee that yes promise yes would you write that in the purchase agreement that it is in fact a 1991 ford explorer oh yeah of course in fact they'll break that right at the top cars green will you write that on the purchase agreement of course you won't refuse to write that down why because it's true we can all see with their own eyes it's green okay you told me you you'd fix it or breaks down we write that down no why not not allowed to he's not allowed to because it's not true and he's also aware of the fact that the contract has that protection built into it it's got a clause that says nothing said by the salesperson is binding unless reduced to writing and put here in an empty box that box is empty 98 of the time the other two percent is not empty it's got something in there the equivalent of a do bill d u e next b-i-l-l lower case b not proper name such that i'll give an example i once bought a car and one of the shock absorbers was bad i was i was convinced of it let's not go there as to why i thought that and i said i'll buy the car if you replace that shock that's not a problem at the time you're selling documents i go hey the shock absorber the guy pulls out a due bill and it goes we owe at the top we we next word o-w-e we owe and he wrote one shock absorber installed no charge to customer and the guy signed it and gave it to me in writing promised replace that one shock absorber and they did by the way later on replace the shock absorber but the point is that if they make you a promise it's only binding they put it in writing and their own documents say that so when you go car shopping be aware number one buying it from an individual it's as is inspect it like there's no tomorrow or price accordingly if you're buying it from a dealer it's also as is if it's used car read the documents carefully but spot all the as is language and know what it means and then understand that the statements made by the salesperson are not enforceable unless reduced to writing on the document itself and they almost never are so keep in mind that when the salesman's talking you can tune it out because it's almost all meaningless stuff so those are my most important thoughts on used cars and what i'm trying to get across here is this is a warning because when people call me after the fact they say i got ripped up by a used car i have to say i can't help you i'm really sorry but i can't help you this is preventive medicine and think of me as the emergency room doctor who sees gunshot wounds all day long and i'm i'm making a public service announcement saying here's how to avoid getting shot because the doctor who does the gunshot wounds can't actually do that you can't go in the community and tell people not to get shot but i can speak to an audience of people many of whom will buy used cars one day and if you keep these things in mind doing it you'll protect yourself the last thing you want to do in life is call an attorney and have the attorney say i can't help you okay don't get me wrong i like getting phone calls i hate telling people i can't help them so there you go questions or comments put them below otherwise i'll talk to you later bye-bye thank you for watching latest law get used to disappointment you

Channel: Steve Lehto

Views: 75,305

Rating: 4.9639878 out of 5

Keywords: lemon law, michigan lemon law, lemon law attorney, lemon law lawyer, http://www.lehtoslaw.com, steve lehto, used cars

Id: DqO3FuMYZ8s

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2020