Trade-In legal question

[converseguy]

I ordered my Maverick last Sept. 2023 Hybrid Lariat Lux. It may or may not ever be delivered to me. My dealer has expressed interest in a vehicle I have to trade in. The model doesn't matter but the dealer does not know that my trade-in uses a quart of oil every 200 miles. It has been using this much oil for ten years. I just keep adding oil. It does not smoke, always passes smog and seems to leak on my garage floor just a little and drives the same as when I bought it new. I do not know where the oil is going. My question is when I am negotiating the amount they will give me in trade, am I legally, morally or ethically obligated to disclose my oil problem?

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[SLINGSHOT]

Have you ever seen a sign in the window of a car at dealership that said, "Cream Puff, but BURNS OIL"?

 

[CZaugg]

I ordered my Maverick last Sept. 2023 Hybrid Lariat Lux. It may or may not ever be delivered to me. My dealer has expressed interest in a vehicle I have to trade in. The model doesn't matter but the dealer does not know that my trade-in uses a quart of oil every 200 miles. It has been using this much oil for ten years. I just keep adding oil. It does not smoke, always passes smog and seems to leak on my garage floor just a little and drives the same as when I bought it new. I do not know where the oil is going. My question is when I am negotiating the amount they will give me in trade, am I legally, morally or ethically obligated to disclose my oil problem?

What does your conscience tell you? Let your conscience be your guide.

 

[Suzukiridr14]

I ordered my Maverick last Sept. 2023 Hybrid Lariat Lux. It may or may not ever be delivered to me. My dealer has expressed interest in a vehicle I have to trade in. The model doesn't matter but the dealer does not know that my trade-in uses a quart of oil every 200 miles. It has been using this much oil for ten years. I just keep adding oil. It does not smoke, always passes smog and seems to leak on my garage floor just a little and drives the same as when I bought it new. I do not know where the oil is going. My question is when I am negotiating the amount they will give me in trade, am I legally, morally or ethically obligated to disclose my oil problem?

They will look at your vehicle when you trade it in. If they don't find anything to being a problem, why would you want to tell them anything more then you add oil now and when. (If they ask)

 

[commadorebob]

Personal opinion: Given the age of the car, it probably doesn't matter either way. I believe in being trustworthy, but at a certain point an old car's value isn't going to be impacted that much.

 

[GPSMan]

At 10+ years they don't really care about miles either.

 

[cj99x]

I ordered my Maverick last Sept. 2023 Hybrid Lariat Lux. It may or may not ever be delivered to me. My dealer has expressed interest in a vehicle I have to trade in. The model doesn't matter but the dealer does not know that my trade-in uses a quart of oil every 200 miles. It has been using this much oil for ten years. I just keep adding oil. It does not smoke, always passes smog and seems to leak on my garage floor just a little and drives the same as when I bought it new. I do not know where the oil is going. My question is when I am negotiating the amount they will give me in trade, am I legally, morally or ethically obligated to disclose my oil problem?

They know nothing about most of the cars on the lot at any dealership. If you bought a used car from them, there is no way they are going to tell you how it performs over a distance. They buy a lot of auction cars at dealers as well and have no idea about them. The only disclosure I know of are accident and safety disclosures and they typically know those from Carfax

 

[CSmith]

Do you think dealerships tell you all the faults of the used cars they sell? You are expected to look over the vehicle and notice issues and either walk or negotiate the price. Same goes for dealers when accepting a trade in.

If I was selling privately I would price it accordingly.

 

[converseguy]

I would like to see your spark plugs. If it leaks they should inspect them. That's a lot of oil. Higher mileage autos usually gets wholesaled out to the auctions.

About six months ago the car started missing. Original plugs, 85,000 miles. I inspected the plugs and found one plug obviously fouled. I replaced all the plugs and the coils just cause. One fouled plug in ten plus years of a quart every 200 miles.

 

[converseguy]

What does your conscience tell you? Let your conscience be your guide.

I asked the sales manager to tell me how many allocations they had. He said, "There are no allocations for mass market vehicles like the Maverick." That was an obvious lie. Hard to have a conscience with a lying dealer.

 

[converseguy]

At 10+ years they don't really care about miles either.

The car has been using oil for ten plus years but I bought it new in 2001.

 

[GPSMan]

The car has been using oil for ten plus years but I bought it new in 2001.

So you're saying it's worth its weight in scrap metal. If you can get $1000 take it!

 

[converseguy]

Do you think dealerships tell you all the faults of the used cars they sell? You are expected to look over the vehicle and notice issues and either walk or negotiate the price. Same goes for dealers when accepting a trade in.

If I was selling privately I would price it accordingly.

I found it interesting that the sales manager wanted to see my car so we went out to it and he got all excited and told me he used to own one in high school and wanted to negotiate right then and there. I put him off for now but since then I have been informed by others that it is a common sales trick to find something in common with the customer and gush over it whether it be the trade-in, hs sports, college, prior job or anything in common to put you at ease with them.

 

[converseguy]

So you're saying it's worth its weight in scrap metal. If you can get $1000 take it!

There is the same model on Craigslist now with 135,000 miles on it selling for over $10,000.

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