marine1342

So went to Carmax today just to get my car appraised to see what they were offering. After doing their checks and running the car through the AutoCheck the guy comes back and tells me that the hood and front fenders have been repainted, due to an accident that caused frame damage to my car.
Now I bought this car on April 1st, from a Toyota dealership in Chicago, and checked the most recent carfax, and it was clean. No accidents reported.
So now getting this news (and I just bought the 8 yr/ 100k from Troy due to A/C giving me problems), I now am at a standstill as to what to do.
Safety is a concern, since frame damage can mean other problems, but also value of the car drops tremendously and so does sellability.
What are my options on this now? The car when purchased was bought still under factory warranty (which expired 6/2).
I'm thinking of calling back the dealership and asking why they sold this car, and why this information wasn't disclosed to me. Maybe even calling Carfax as to why this wasn't reported, althought they state that its only what is reported to them.
Pissed off due to the fact that Toyota (Lexus' sister company) seems to have sold me a bum car and screwed me hard on it.
Options and input please? Should I call Toyota Corporate directly? Call Lexus directly? Chicago Lexus Club?

shadowman

iTrader: (2)

Actually, Lexus is the sister/child company of Toyota. Toyota is the parent company...

Definitely call the dealership that sold you the car first and complain that they failed to disclose a major accident on the vehicle sold to you. If you have no luck, then call Toyota Corporate since it was a Toyota dealership that sold you the car.

Good luck bro... that's one of the many reason why I always buy new. You never know what the previous owner do to the cars which gets passed on to the next person who buys it.

Thinktwice

Can't the Toyota dealership just claim that they never knew about the damage (which may be true)? Since it wasn't reported in the Carfax report that they usually provide customers they may have a case.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Do you still have a copy of the clean carfax at purchase? That should give you some better evidence & leverage both with the Toyota dealership and the carfax guarantee if it applies here.

threevoIS

Have you taken it somewhere else to verify the car is frame damaged? Carmax lies to people all the time when they are trying to buy a car for way less than book.

marine1342

I have kept every paper work that I have gotten on this car since I have bought it and still do have the carfax that was given to me at the time, and the window sticker from this dealership.
Did a quit research, and yeah the dealership could say well we didn't know, but after talking to CarMax (not sure how reliable they are on this) they said that any dealership or larger corporation buying a vehicle from an auction lot always checks the AutoCheck because thats what actually follows and stays with the vehicle. And on there were two reports of frame/unibody damage to the car.
Whats strange to me about all this is that the car was clearly originally from a Lexus dealership for the first 2 owners, then a Toyota dealership buys it. These aren't ma & pa used car lots, so why wasn't this informations disclosed, or even looked at (in case the toyota dealership claims 'we didn't know')

marine1342

I got a meeting right now but I'll be posting again at 5 when I'm out.
Thanks so much for your help and input in advance
-Cisco

marine1342

I have the print out from AutoCheck, I highly doubt that might be wrong since it also lists me in there

Micaiah

I'm wondering if you legally have a right to cancel the contract and have them buy it back because the car was not as represented.

threevoIS

The only thing you can do is go back to the dealer that sold you the car and tell them the situation. If they chose to make it right for you, they may switch you out and find you another vehicle without frame damage ect... There is no recourse however that says they have to buy the vehicle back from you or do anything at all for that matter.

We have had a situation where we sold a car with frame damage and could not certify it (Lexus dealer) and instead told the customer up front about it but discount the price of the car to give her a 3 year warranty.

Tough Situation

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

has anyone even considered that carmax may be lying to him to possibly get the car at a cheaper price?

awd_pwnz

iTrader: (3)

^^^ i did. but he said he has the printed sheet from autocheck.

which toyota dealer is this? i was shopping for an IS not to long ago as well.

Thinktwice

I believe he's going off of the AutoCheck report as opposed to the word of the Carmax guy.

VPIS350

Hey. I bought my 06 IS350 at a Lexus dealer and the car fax showed it was clean. After owning the car for a couple years, i noticed some things. Like there is evidence of possible repair on the hood probably from an accident? And then on the passenger fender it seems there is like a horizontal line that is bent/dinged in, but no paint damage. I wonder about this car but i never really thought too much and it hasn't given me problems. Of course I am a noob. This is my 2nd car and my first for payments. But in your case u should definitely raise a little hell and see if u can maybe get something? But from what i can see they have done u wrong and they need to know about it. Everyone deserves the truth when buying a vehicle but i know for a fact, especially with dealers, that is almost never the case. Good luck to you OP.

Keppie

Not all states report to Carfax and if someone paid cash for the repair you would not find anything on Carfax.