Summary of the California Vehicle Buyer's Bill of Rights
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The bad news is that a lot of dishonest dealers routinely cheat consumers. The good news is that strong, clear consumer rights are in place to protect vehicle buyers. Here's a brief overview of your rights as a California vehicle buyer or lessee under the California Vehicle Buyer's Bill of Rights.
Odometer/Rollback Fraud
- You have the right to a vehicle whose odometer is accurate or written disclosure that it is not.
Prior Accidents
- You have a right to disclosure of prior material damages to a vehicle - e.g., you must be told if a vehicle has been in a major accident. If you ask about prior accidents, moreover, you have a right to a truthful response.
Prior History/Rental Vehicles
- You have a right to be told if the vehicle is a prior rental vehicle. This information must be physically posted on the vehicle at the time of sale.
Undisclosed Negative Equity/Upside-Down on Trade-in Vehicles
- You have a right to receive proper disclosures in a sale contract under truth-in-lending laws. This includes disclosure of negative equity in your trade-in vehicle, proper disclosure of deferred down payments and proper itemization of extras and add-ons that are part of the deal.
Buyer's Guide/Used Vehicles
- You have a right to review, sign and receive a copy of a "Buyer's Guide" on all used cars. The Buyer's Guide must be affixed to the vehicle at the time of the sale.
Payment Packing
- You have a right to truthful price and payment quotes by sales representatives. Often dealers will quote a higher monthly payment than the deal calls for and then "pack" in highly profitable extras, which are represented as "free" or "discounted."
Copies of Signed Documents and Credit Applications
- You have a right to copies of all documents that you sign during the deal, including your credit application.
Forgery
- You have a right to personally sign all documents.
Receipt of Non-English Translated Contracts
- If you negotiate a transaction primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Korean, you have a right to a translation of the sale or lease contract and the "Buyer's Guide" in the language in which it was negotiated.
Single Document
- You have a right to have all your agreements regarding price, payments, rights, and remedies set forth in a single document (the sales contract).
"Lemon" Disclosures
- You have a right to proper disclosure if the vehicle has been previously repurchased as a "lemon," including accurate disclosure of any prior problems with the vehicle.
New vs. Used Disclosures
- You have right to have a clear disclosure in the sales contract whether the vehicle is new or used. If a vehicle has been driven by a dealer as a "demo" model or has been previously bought and returned, it must be disclosed as used.
Dates on Contracts
- Simply put, you have a right to a contract that is dated correctly.
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There are people in America
There are people in America who live awful far from a workplace. With many people driving vehicles with poor fuel economy, that long commute can get to where the petrol becomes a large fraction of their take-home pay.
Question re Authority for Disclosure Re Prior Rental Status
Hal,
This message may be duplicative as I am unsure as to whether my first message was sent. If so, I apologize.
Thank you for taking this question. I am a licensed attorney in California and am researching the authority under which used car dealers must disclose the prior rental-car-status. Can you please direct me to the proper authority? Any direction you can provide would be most helpful as I've exhausted the Vehicle Code...I think...;)
Thank you for your help!
E. McGee
Vehicle Prior History Disclosure question
We bought a 2006 car from a dealer in Los Angeles. The salesman told us it had been the car of the 65-year-old wife of the dealer only, and that she had rarely driven it more than 35 miles per hour.
Three weeks after we got the car, the dealer finance guy called us and told us he was faxing a form for us to sign and return to him.
It's the Vehicle Prior History Disclosure. The finance guy wanted us to check that we acknowledge we had been informed the car was a Dealer Loaner Vehicle. I called the finance guy, and he told me it WAS a dealer loaner, driven by customers getting their cars serviced.
I told him I never would have bought it if I had known that was the case.
What are my rights?
used vehicle with damage/defects
We recently purchased a pickup truck with a bedliner. When the bedliner was subsequently removed to mount a camper significant damage was discovered. I got an estimate for $2400. The dealer brought in his body man to say it would cost only $500. He also said that although they did not know about the damage they were not liable because it is a used vehicle and under CA law they only have to report damage exceeding 6% of the sale price. We think they want to do a cosmetic repair job just to get rid of us. I want to get a couple more estimates and take them to small claims court, or BBB or DMV Bureau of Investigations.
What do you think???
Richard
Extra value package MSRP on a New car purchase
Purchased a new Toyota Prius Hybrid on Dec 12, 2007. Paid the MSRP of $27,734.00 plus $1,595 for prepaid maintenance.
Question: When I research the MSRP for this car using the dealership zip code, the MSRP for the Base Car is $22,325 - exactly what is says on my sticker (from the car window). However Package #6 on my sticker says 6,550.00 and the ones I research state $4,550.00 as the MSRP for package #6. Then my sticker says I am getting a MSRP extra value package MSRP discount of $2,000.00 making my price the $27,734. The sticker prices without the 2,000.00 discount total $27,535. So I bought it thinking I was getting a 2k discount, when it appears I actually paid full sticker price, because the 6,550 for the package is exactly 2k more than the suggested MSRP of 4,550. I gave 5k down, but they will not cash the check until Jan 2, 2008, and I signed a contract to finance the rest, which amounts to 26,667.45 being financed over 6 yrs at 7.90%. I wonder if I can ask for 2k off at this point. I feel I would have tried to negotiate the price if I knew I was not really getting 2k off the MSRP.
Thanks for any insight/advice you can offer,
Marguerite
car fax
It is not required to give a car fax or any type of vehicle history report. Car fax can help but cannot be relied on. In fact to often car dealers use car fax to help sell vehicles they know are damaged. We prefer autocheck.com and highly recomend you have any car inpected before you buy. Hal of "ask Hal" p.s. sometimes certified cars come with promised vehicle histories. These reports often omit important information and we have sued Chrysler and Ford over this issue. hal
Bill
Well this law seems very accurate and ok......but i have have the same question,Is it required to give a free carfax report?
Carfax Report
Is it required by California for a dealership to give a buyer a free carfax report?
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