not proof of the problem. proof of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the problem. 2 totally different things. almost any 15 year old car can be taken off of a used car lot and dissected resulting with several “issues”. proving the seller had knowledge of said issues, ignored them and then fraudulently sold the vehicle under false pretenses that it had no issues...impossible. as-is sales are exactly that.

a buyers lack of knowledge is not a sellers problem.

 

Nope, but that's okay.

 

I agree with this, with the proviso, that (in Australia at least), if you purchase a vehicle from a Licensed Auto Dealer..you sign a CONTRACT

That details any warranty...this can vary widely, from none at all for vehicles older than a certain date and mileage, ( think this may be 10yrs /100k), to a specified period and coverage for newer ones

fair dinkum, you would go broke selling older Jeeps with any warranty at all, I cannot imagine any dealer would offer warranty on a 04 model

 

My family owned a decent sized dealership for over 20 years . We sold only used vehicles . All of them had an as is where is contract signed with them that was posted in each window in the lot . We very rarely sold anything questionable but the few times we had vehicles return with issues we tried to make things right within reason . But , a lot of people aren’t reasonable. I do not purchase used vehicles from dealers . My family wasn’t deceptive but others I’ve worked for after my family got out of it were. I’ve seen salesman sell a 6.0 PSD to someone that came there to purchase a 7.3 and was told by the salesman it was ... seen same guy sell a Tacoma to a lady for her husband and tell her it was 4wd and it wasn’t ... watched one sell a s10 pickup ... ( 3-4K truck at best) for 15k to an old man about 6-7 years ago . It hurt to hear about and it hurt to watch the people that would buy into anything a salesman would feed them ... got sick of walking past salesman feeding the same stories “ an older couple traded this in and really took great care of it only maintained at the dealer “ etc ... I have seen/heard of people trying to sue , seen them come in ready to beat the salesman up for taking advantage of women , seen people stand out front with homemade signs about how they were ripped off etc .... btw they would tell the detail guys washing cars out front to go wash cars wherever they tried to stand to get them wet so they’d leave ... anyways ... never once have I heard of it ever ending in the buyers favor the laws are not geared towards used cars whatsoever and never have been despite how it may sound if you go searching it online . When you go shopping for a used car you need to make informed decisions. Get yourself some help if you’re not a mechanic or very mechanically inclined ... check it out .. ask for service records and major repairs .. don’t assume they’re always being honest ... check everything ! I always shop for vehicles for sale by individuals preferably the owner that clearly took care of it and has maintenance records people that welcome a mechanics inspection etc . ...... however lemon laws etc are geared towards new vehicles particularly vehicles under warranty ! If you can show proof that you bought a new vehicle and it has a problem that can’t seen to be remedied or repeatedly goes bad a lot of times legally the manufacturer can be forced to replace or refund your purchase. It is still not easy for most it takes a lot of proof and a lot of paperwork and it greatly depends on the manufacturer you’re dealing with . Avoid dealers for used vehicles is my biggest suggestion.

 

I'm not honestly sure if older vehicles qualify for the Lemon Law... you might be out of luck... but some states have a period where you can just back out of the sale with no risks involved. You might want to talk to a lawyer. Especially if the dealer lied to you and it may have passed inspection (it shouldn't have).