The "he should have known it was too good to be true" thing just doesn't wash. The local dealership that I bought my truck from is a pretty square dealing place. But if I go get a newspaper tomorrow morning, their ad will have something like, "Manufacturer+Dealer Incentive+Rebate+Special Deal -- $9,000 off MSRP!!!!!!"
When dealers start throwing big numbers like that around as a discount, how the hell is anybody supposed to know what the "real" cost is??
And lets keep in mind that the 'real' cost is further muddled by dealer incentives. At the end of the season they get cash bonuses for cars sold and whatnot. With such a framework, how could we ever know the real cost? Arn't sales 'at cost' a willfull mistruth?
I just finished a summer with an AG's office 'fighting' consumer fraud.
This dealership is trying to bully the customer by forcing him to initiate legal action, since they probably already have a lawyer on retainer (Ya think?) and don't have any hoops to jump through to obtain representation. The dealer knows full well that civil action will take months/years. In the meantime they not only have the vehicle in question, but the customer's trade-in AND his cash.
This is happens quite frequently and I would have hoped it would need only happen once to have a business shut down, boycotted, sued, perhaps a couple imprisonments; made an example of. Why don't we see scams like that exposed by our television news reporters more consistantly? The Fourth Estate has long since abandoned the little people if it ever was on their side in the first place.
I'm afraid it looks like the deck is stacked against the little guy. I hope he finds a way to obtain justice.
I know I'd hang that jury. Sadly the Supreme Court ruled that a judge can dismiss a juror for being wrong minded. Reading through SC rulings almost always makes me cry.