My colleague Jim McMillin of Houston, TX, brought my attention to a helpful Car&Driver article on Yahoo:

If you or someone you know are thinking about buying a used car, you don’t want to miss it.

Check out 10 Used Cars to Avoid.   Hint: It’s not about specific makes or models. It goes deeper than that.

I’ve talked to so many people who went ahead and purchased used vehicles in spite of gut feelings that told them to walk (okay, run) away.  When buying a used car, trust your gut, not your emotions!

Be Smart.

Louis M. Green

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Most people purchasing used cars rely solely on Carfax to let them know whether or not the vehicle they are buying has been wrecked or has other serious problems.  That is understandable because Carfax has created the perception that if there is a problem with a vehicle, it’ll be on a Carfax report.  Car dealers, eager to make sales, are more than happy to perpetuate that perception.

As an attorney who handles automobile fraud cases, I have seen many instances where my clients were shown a clean Carfax for a vehicle, and it turned out to be wrecked anyway.  How does that happen?

Erica Johnson of Canadian Broadcasting’s consumer television show “Marketplace” did a (pardon the pun) bang up job exposing a shady Vancouver, BC car dealer and Carfax itself.

View the segment here.

Ms. Johnson starts by going to the car lot (accompanied by hidden cameras) and picking out a car that she’s ‘interested’ in.  The dealer tells her it has a clean Carfax, stating, “There’s no problems with the car,” and “we want to show you exactly what we’re selling here.”  She eventually test drives two vehicles which really involves showing  them to a Vancouver Police automobile forensic expert for examination.  He finds evidence of accidents and replacement parts on each car.  Next, they run database searches on Carfax’s competitor Autocheck and find reported frame damage for each. Afterward, they go back and confront the dealer who backs off of his claims and admits that Carfax is not reliable (at 8:45 into the video).

My colleague Bernard Brown from Kansas City, MO appears in the piece. Bernard is the lawyer we autofraud attorneys view as the Michael Jordan of our niche for his expertise, generosity in sharing what he knows, and most importantly, his success in obtaining sizable jury verdicts against those involved in the  wrecked vehicle trade. Bernard explains that Carfax receives a patchwork of information that is frequently incomplete.  He further explains that receipt of a ‘clean’ Carfax report causes consumers to let their guard down.

The shady Vancouver dealer invites Ms. Johnson to contact his former (happy) customers, and she takes him up on it.  They do some checking and find a young dude named Darren, and boy do they have some interesting information for him.  Yep, his SUV,  which Carfax reported as accident free, shows frame damage on Autocheck.  Oops. Erica & Crew go with Darren to a garage where a body expert  puts his SUV on a lift and confirms the damage.  Darren calls the dealer on camera and is essentially told that he is SOL, which is a shame because the damage makes the truck unsafe and worth less than he paid for it.

The best part of the segment is Erica Johnson’s interview with  Carfax spokesman Larry Gamache at its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.  Mr. Gamache is a cheeky spokesman who looks straight out of DisneyWorld casting.   He shows up early in the piece touting his company as having ‘the most complete information that’s available to consumers today.’

Erica delivers the coup-de-grace later in the segment when she whips out Darren’s clean Carfax report for Mr. Cheeky.  So why is it that Carfax produced a clean report while the competitor showed the damage?  “I think your question you need to ask is why the people who have the information about the frame damage information why haven’t reported it to Carfax yet.”  Oh really?  But wait, there’s more:

Erica Johnson:  “Darren thought the point of Carfax was to let him know whether the truck he was buying had any problems.”

Mr. Cheeky:  “I’m sorry, he was mistaken.”

Pause and consider that statement. Erica Johnson does as evidenced by the incredulous look her face.  Mr. Cheeky’s look is pretty amusing as well. There is more to the exchange, which is found around 16:44 into the video. I encourage you to watch the whole thing.

What is the Take Home Message?  It is this:

A CARFAX REPORT SHOWING THAT A VEHICLE HAS NOT BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT CANNOT BE RELIED UPON, AND DON’T EXPECT CARFAX OR A DEALER TO TELL YOU THAT.  Carfax is as good as the information reported to it.  Helpful negative information about vehicles do turn up on Carfax reports, but unfortunately, Carfax does not always receive all of the information available.

People in the industry know this (or should know this).  Many dealers purport to have knowledge and to rely on Carfax themselves, but they know better, just like the dealer in this report.   Check your jurisdiction, but in most places dealers have an obligation to know what they’re selling before putting it out into commerce. They can’t play dumb after making false representations about the vehicle’s condition.

Be smart.  Be safe.  Do not be lulled to sleep.  If you are interested in buying a used car, have it checked out by a mechanic and body man first.  If a dealer won’t allow you to have the vehicle independently checked out, go somewhere else.  (And don’t sign any arbitration agreements, but that’s a post for another day).

Kudos to Erica Johnson & the people at CBC Marketplace for a well-done, informative piece.

Louis M. Green

PS  Need to find a Consumer Law attorney?  Go to the referral list of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. 

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I’m a fan of the public interest non-profit group  Americans for Fairness in Lending  which is working to reform the lending industry to protect Americans’ financial assets.

I first learned of them following the release of the James Shurlock’s hard hitting documentary Maxed Out, which paints a true but unsettling view of the credit card industry.  I’ve noticed that Maxed Out is available for instant viewing on Neflix.  I highly recommend that you watch it

Louis M. Green

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released their list of Safety/Non-Compliance Notices Received during December, 2008.   This list does is not limited to vehicles, it also includes  Child Safety Restraint Systems,  Diesel Engines, Buses, Wheel Chair Lift and Tires.

Vehicle recalls include 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, Land Rovers, BMW Mini Coopers, and Dodge RAM trucks.

Child restraint systems include Graco Child Comfortsport™ convertible car seats and Britax Frontier.

Download the NHTSA Report here.

Louis Green

Thanks to Public Citizen’s Consumer Law & Policy Blog for the head’s up.  The NHTSA report may be more easily obtained from their link.

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Kate Linebaugh writes in the October 28, 2008, Wall Street Journal that with the credit crunch and new vehicle sales on track for a 25 year low, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) estimates 700 new-car dealerships will close this year.  This is up from 430 last year.

The markets most vulnerable to dealer closings are California, which has the most dealers of any state, followed by Texas, Pennsylvania and New York.

Read the Full Article Here.

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Imagine this Halloween Nightmare:  You discover that your car is really two cars that were “clipped” together by a body shop at the request of an insurance company in order to save money over paying salvage value.

Whether it was your car that was involved (heaven-forbid) in the serious accident and a “clip-job” was ordered, or you purchased the car used and later discovered the clip, you and your occupants’ safety is especially at risk in the event of a second accident.

“Clipping” is a penalty in football, and it should be in the car market. One of the reasons I’m a consumer advocate attorney is to stand up for people when corporate greed puts health and safety at risk.

Read about Clipping in an article written by  Christopher Jensen in the October 5, 2008, Chicago Tribune.

Louis Green

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St. Petersburg Times business reporter Robert Trigaux wrote an interesting column in the October 5, 2008, Sunday paper about hard times for US Car Dealers.

Read the Article Here.

Louis Green

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The current money crisis has brought up something I’ve  thought of as a consumer attorney but never shared with anyone.

It is that LOAN RATES ARE COUNTER-INTUITIVE.  People who have the worst credit ratings pay the highest interest rates, and people with the best credit pay the lowest.  It should be the reverse.

A lower payment is easier for a credit risk to repay; it accelerates equity accumulation, and therefore protects the loan owner and particularly the loan guarantor in the event of a default.   Those with excellent credit are better able to afford a higher payment and would have an incentive to accelerate their payments to increase their equity, choose shorter term loans and pay them off  sooner.

In reality, those with excellent credit don’t have to pay higher interest and because they create a competitive lending market for their business.  Therefore, for real money to be made in lending, particularly where there is a pressure to earn maximum short term profits, it has to be made by lending to higher risks, charging them high interest, adding on initiation points and lots of other fees and perpetuating 30 year mortgage as the norm.  Very few people understand what happens at a closing, and even fewer, even lawyers don’t read the fine print in their closing documents.

Why a sub-prime craze?  Because that’s where the money was made for a long time.  Why not short term greed if we’re all dead in the long run?

And now those that decry government welfare at the country club are now asking for….

Louis M. Green

http://louismgreen.com

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CNN posted an interesting story about how finance companies sucker people.  This included aggressive selling tactics to push customers  into cash advances, sometimes getting them to max out their credit
cards.

Read the article here.

Louis M. Green

Visit My Website:

LouisMGreen.com

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New York Times: Congress Should Enact Credit Cardholders “Bill of Rights”

The September 14, 2008 edition of the  New York Times published an editorial in favor of the Credit Cardholders “Bill of Rights” pending before Congress. The legislation takes aim at retroactive rate increases, double cycle billing that allows assessment of interest on amounts already paid, multiple over-limit fees, and similar credit card company policies. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a champion of the legislation, has a webpage devoted to the issue, with links to key documents, including the legislation itself.

Read the NY Times article here.

See Rep. Maloney’s website here.

A tip of the hat to Brian Wolfman of the Public Citizen Consumer Law and Policy Blog for bringing this to my attention.

Louis M. Green

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