Buyer may have been taken for a ride

Dear Tom and Ray: Please, please help! When my single daughter wanted to buy a car two years ago, I advised her to buy a manufacturer's certified used car. She bought a 2003 Toyota RAV4 from a Toyota dealer in Maryland. Fast-forward to today -- she is getting married in three weeks, and she wants to sell the car. Since she's busy preparing for a wedding, I took the car to CarMax for appraisal and possible sale there. To my surprise, I was told there are several indications that the car had been in an accident. My daughter had not had an accident. So I took the car to the Toyota dealer where it was bought. Its used-car department's manager took a look at the car and insisted that the car had never had an accident. I went back to CarMax and told the story to a senior buyer there. He looked at the car and emphatically declared that it had been in an accident and had been repaired. I then took the car to a separate Toyota dealer for his opinion. The verdict was that the car had had an accident and was repaired. What should I do: sue the dealer who sold the car to my daughter, talk to Toyota USA or just forget it?

Father of the Bride

Tom: Well, first things first, FOTB. Your No. 1 priority in the next three weeks is to enjoy your daughter's wedding. After the wedding, talk with your daughter. Tell her that if she actually did crack up the car, this would be the time to spill the beans (before you raise your hand and tell it to the judge). But let's assume that the accident preceded her ownership of the car.

Ray: You could sue the dealer, FOTB. And with the facts you present, you'd probably win. But it's a real pain in the butt, so keep that as a last resort. Give Toyota a chance to make this right. The national customer-assistance number is (800) 331-4331.

Tom: Tell them the story and that you've already hit a brick wall with your dealer. Tell them you'd like to make an appointment to have a factory representative from Toyota come out and inspect the car.

Ray: Also, go back and ask for written appraisals of the accident damage from CarMax and the second Toyota dealer. Also ask them for their estimates of what the car is worth to them now -- with the accident damage -- and what it would have been worth had there been no accident.

Tom: If Toyota sends someone out, they'll first want to see if there actually IS evidence of a serious accident. If they agree it's there, they'll want to make sure that it wasn't your daughter who had the accident.

Ray: But if they agree that there's been damage, and they have no reason to believe that you caused it, then the only conclusion is that the dealer is a sleazeball. In that case, you can ask Toyota to buy back the vehicle from you at the price that it would have sold for had it not had accident damage.

Tom: Now, if Toyota stonewalls you, you still have options. One is to take the written appraisals you got from the two other parties back to the dealer, present the facts to the dealership's general manager and give him a choice: Tell him he can either buy the car back from you at a fair price, or you're going to use this evidence to take him to court for fraud.

Ray: If he refuses to make a fair deal with you, that's what you'll have to do. Contact your local bar association, and ask for the name of a lawyer who specializes in just this kind of issue.

Tom: Then sue for the lost value of the car, your legal fees and the cost of the wedding cake (just for good measure).

Ray: This is a good reminder to everybody that "Toyota Certified" (or any manufacturer certified) or not, you MUST get a used car checked out by your own independent mechanic before you buy it. Good luck, FOTB, and whatever you do, don't let anything spoil the wedding!