Voided Warranty

rickybrandt · Post by **rickybrandt** » 10 Jul 2008, 09:26

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum - I posted in the S80 forum a couple of weeks ago when my '06 stopped running. I've landed myself in quite a pickle since then and am hoping someone has some ideas where to go from here.

I took my car to a dealer for the stalling problem - had it towed in. About an hour later the dealer called and said the problem had been fixed. My wife and I went to pick up the car and I was billed for the repair. I told the dealer that the car was still under factory warranty and I was informed the warranty had been voided by Volvo because the car had been driven into a flash flood. He had no other information. Well, I bought the car last December (from a large dealership - not Volvo) and certainly had not driven into a flood.

After many phone calls to Wisconsin and Illinois (the car had been titled in those states before coming to Colorado where I bought it) I learned that and unknown insurance company had "totalled" the car in December 2006 (a year before I bought it) for being driven into a flood. All three DMV's show the car has a clean title. There was no report to any DMV of the flood damage. None of the DMV's can tell me which insurance company totalled it.

The dealer I bought it from is taking the position that they did their due diligence when they bought and sold the car. Carfax is clean (the dealer and I both ran it prior to my purchasing the car).

Volvo Customer Care was not able to tell me anything other than the warranty was voided on 12/1/06. The car has never had any warranty work done - no records from Volvo.

So, right now I am the proud owner of a worthless car - the car looks and drives great, but it was totalled and I expect to start experiencing more problems soon - the recent problem I took it in for was related to flood damage according to the mechanic that did the repair.

My question is this: Does anyone know a way for me to find out which insurance company totalled the car? Who is supposed to report that information to DMV? I really don't want to call my insurance company because I'm afraid they'll cancel me. I'll end up having to do that anyway, but I'm hoping to get some legwork done first.

Any help is appreciated!

Rick

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 10 Jul 2008, 10:09

I think I would start with Carfax. If you purchased the Carfax Report less than 1 year ago they claim to have a buyback guarantee.

...Lee

rickybrandt · Post by **rickybrandt** » 11 Jul 2008, 14:01

Yea, I checked into that. You have to file for a certificate within 30 days of purchase, which I did not do. Also, they will only buy back if the problem had been reported to a DMV and not found during the CarFax search. All three DMV's report the title as clean - no report of flood damage to any of them.

Post by **JRL** » 11 Jul 2008, 14:42

You have to do some homework to find out what's what.
If it really was a flood car you have recourse, if not you MUST get Volvo to un flag the car.
You have to go to the state that the title was claimed to be salvaged and start there, then call NHTSA, (there is a phone number) and go from there.
You may have to spend a few days getting to the right dept. but what was done was ILLEGAL

rickybrandt · Post by **rickybrandt** » 11 Jul 2008, 14:59

Agreed - I think there is some mischief going on here. I've called all three states where the car has been titled. All say the title is clean. I called a fleet company that bought the car at auction just a few days after it was allegedly totalled. They acknowledge having the car but absolutely refuse to provide me any more information than that. They clearly know something about the car but cited "confidentiality" - what a crock! I got nowhere after spending over 6 hours on phone calls. A seond dealer who bought the car 4 months later at auction told me that there were some "serious problems" with the car but refused to tell me any more than that. This whole affair has been quite frustrating. It seems all the car dealers are in cahoots to cover for each other! Two of the dealers I contacted are national dealers, not local small-time ones.

On the plus side the dealer I bought the car from last December has had a change of heart and said they want to work with me to make this right. They offered to buy back the car minus almost $3000 for the 7000 miles I put on it since purchase. I told them they were getting close to making it right. . .about $3000 off! This may work out in the end - but beware! I don't know what else I could have done to check out the car prior to buying it except taking it to a Volvo shop for a once over. In this case the car looks so good and runs so well (plus being only about 16 months old with 22,000 miles) I saw no need. I will in the future! This has been a tough lesson. Hopefully it'll be over in a week or so.

To those of you who will buy a used car in the future; do not depend on the title being correct. Do not depend on Carfax or any other vehicle history source. Just plan on spending $150 and take it to a dealer for a thorough inspection and a VIN check for previous service - although in my case the car has never had any warranty work done but I would have found out the warranty had been voided.

Post by **matthew1** » 11 Jul 2008, 18:15

Generally speaking, businesses get nervous when the words "state attorney general" are spoken. They also get nervous when they get letters with legal firm letterhead.

I'd put the ball in the Volvo dealers' court. Tell the general manager to explain why all three DMVs show clear titles (get the DMVs to fax something to this effect to you). If he balks, start mentioning the SAG word, or get a buddy at a legal firm to send a letter to the GM. Or combine the two.

Stay engaged with both the purchase dealer and the repair dealer. Keep the issue in front of them and you'll come out on top.

rickybrandt · Post by **rickybrandt** » 11 Jul 2008, 21:41

Sounds like a good plan - I'll keep after 'em! Thanks.