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Two months ago I purchased a used 2013 Chevy Equinox from a reputable car dealership here in the Charlotte NC area. A few days ago the car quit and wouldn't start back up. Had it towed to my local mechanic and he said the engine had seized up because the timing chain had skipped causing the pistons to be out of sync. A new engine would cost almost as much as we paid for the car. Called the dealership to see if there is anything they would do to make it right and they said they would try and get me the "very best deal" on another vehicle. They basically said they aren't at fault and would do nothing about it. Do I have any options to not be out all that money?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,584 posts, read 81,186,228 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 87112
That’s enormous money, to the average person. Call a lawyer, most have half hr free phone consult.
If any lawyer takes the case, a threat of lawsuit might motivate them to make some concession, but you are not likely to get your money back without a written warranty. It was running fine when you test drove it and drove it off, what happened was after you bought it, so they are not at fault, it's basically just your bad luck. Buying a used car is always a gamble, unfortunately this time, you lost. In a similar situation years ago I actually had the used 1996 Explorer towed back to the dealer, and told them I was going to stop making payments so the bank would repossess it. They ended up splitting the $2,300 repair bill with me. I considered that a win.
I hope that I am wrong, but I don't think you have recourse here. At least from some quick googling, I didn't see anything about a used car lemon law in NC. If you had a used car warranty, you *might* have coverage under that, but I'm guessing you don't if you're looking for ideas.
People can always find fault - especially on the internet, but I don't think you did anything wrong, here, it's just bad luck, and I get it, this is a disaster. The timing belt or chain typically isn't giving any obvious clues if it's about to fail, and with no fast/simple way to inspect it, it's normally not covered in pre-purchase inspections. You probably don't have maintenance records for the car, and even if you were thinking about having some things done, you pretty much just got the car.
The only thing I can say is that I agree that it doesn't make any sense to put a brand new engine into a 10-year old Chevy, however a rebuilt engine should be as good as new, and a used engine out of a low mileage vehicle that was junked in NC after an accident could be a decent budget option, especially if they will warranty the engine for even 90 days so you can ensure it works okay when you receive it... to me the ideal would be if the same yard you source the used engine from, will install it - then "there will only be one neck to choke if something goes wrong", as my boss likes to say ;-).
The Equinox is notorious for its engines and people just junk them. I follow a guy on TikTok (Autopartscity)who runs a junk yard, and they get them delivered daily with under 100k for junk.
You might be able to write to the state AG or BBB about the situation and see if they do anything.
Two months ago I purchased a used 2013 Chevy Equinox from a reputable car dealership here in the Charlotte NC area. A few days ago the car quit and wouldn't start back up. Had it towed to my local mechanic and he said the engine had seized up because the timing chain had skipped causing the pistons to be out of sync. A new engine would cost almost as much as we paid for the car. Called the dealership to see if there is anything they would do to make it right and they said they would try and get me the "very best deal" on another vehicle. They basically said they aren't at fault and would do nothing about it. Do I have any options to not be out all that money?
If the car had an "As Is" sticker on it or said there was no warranty of any kind, than you have no recourse.
It amazes me how many people buy a car with such a sticker and than think they should get their car fixed or replaced free of charge.
Words matter and that is what a sticker like that means.
Two months ago I purchased a used 2013 Chevy Equinox from a reputable car dealership here in the Charlotte NC area. A few days ago the car quit and wouldn't start back up. Had it towed to my local mechanic and he said the engine had seized up because the timing chain had skipped causing the pistons to be out of sync. A new engine would cost almost as much as we paid for the car. Called the dealership to see if there is anything they would do to make it right and they said they would try and get me the "very best deal" on another vehicle. They basically said they aren't at fault and would do nothing about it. Do I have any options to not be out all that money?
They didn't offer you some sort of warranty, when you bought it?
How many miles are on the car, at present?
Is the rest of the car in decent shape?
Did you get a second opinion, from another shop?
Did this "situation" happen at low speed or expressway speed? There's a slim chance that if the engine wasn't spinning too quickly, at the time, that the timing belt could be replaced, and the engine re-fired. It's not a sure thing, but it might be within the realm of possibility...
The next question is what type of dealer was it? Was it just some no-name guy selling used cars, or was a name-brand car dealer? If it was a name brand dealer, you might get something out of it by complaining publicly as a threat to ruin their brand.
In the '80s FTC proposed a rule that sellers would have to disclose KNOWN defects. Congress blocked it. Even if the dealership knew about a bad timing chain, they have no duty to tell you about it. The only thing they can't do is lie. If you asked them how is the timing chain and they said oh, it's great. We just put a new one in because it was stretched out that would be fraud. If they knew it was bad but said no idea, we didn't look that would be fraud. Of course you'd need to be able to prove they knew about it and good luck with that.
It's really not likely a dealership would know about a bad timing chain. They get a trade-in or auction and wash it, vacuum it out, check the tires aren't on the wear bars and brake pads aren't completely gone and down to the rotors and that's about it. Even on an inspection that a prudent buyer would do a timing chain isn't going to come up. The symptoms of a worn timing chain might. If it's stretched out to the point the tensioner can't deal with it and it's rattling around while the engine is running or causing the timing to be off they would notice if it was bad enough. Other than that though it's not like you're going to pull off the time cover and go oh, yeah that timing chain is definitely worn and should be replaced.
You can always ask. Threats don't tend to be the most productive way of going about that but some places respond to threats where others respond to just asking nicely. Mazda I had bought new was 6,000 out of warranty at under two years and the AC compressor seized. Mazda comped the parts on the repair as a goodwill gesture. They didn't need to. The car was out of warranty but it was bought new and under two years old.
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