SAN ANTONIO — Jennifer Tellez really wanted the 4x4 Nissan Titan she found on Facebook. But when she showed up at Magic Time Motors, which was selling the vehicle, she brought a trusted mechanic just in case. Tellez said the mechanic checked the vehicle out and claimed it had a broken axel that was being held up by wire. She said both the mechanic, and the sales person, said the truck needed to be fixed before she test drove it.
Tellez came back three days later after hearing that the truck was ready to drive. She said it started shaking on the road but the dealership again said they were going to repair it.
Then, around a week after that, she got a message from a dealership salesperson saying the truck was ready but someone else was about to make a "cash offer" on it.
Tellez secured a loan from a local bank and paid $13,099 for the truck. As she started to drive it on the highway for the first time, she regretted her decision.
"I started to give it some gas to get on the highway and then immediately it started shaking. It was shaking so bad I was almost in tears thinking 'what do I do?'" Tellez said.
Tellez said her mechanic looked at the vehicle and he found out the axel was still being held up with a piece of wire. KENS 5 also spoke to the mechanic directly on the phone, and he said he believed the vehicle was in a dangerous situation.
"If that wire breaks, or comes loose, and that axel comes out, it would end up locking up the tires," mechanic Bernardo Santana said.
Tellez asked for her money back but the dealership refused. When KENS 5 later spoke to the dealership's president, Kwame Nkemakolam, about the issue, Nkemakolam said he believes the truck was working at the time and Tellez was happy with it.
Meanwhile, the truck is still in Tellez's driveway with an axel visibly being held in place with wires.
But does Texas law allow a vehicle to be sold in this condition? Or, more specifically, is a dealership allowed to sell a vehicle with a broken or rigged axel in Texas?
According to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, the answer is yes, as long as the vehicle was sold on an as-is basis.
A DMV spokesman told KENS 5, "A dealer can sell a vehicle in any condition on an “as-is” basis. The Federal Trade Commission requires dealers to place a “Buyer’s Guide” on all used vehicles. The Buyer’s Guide tells potential buyers whether the vehicle has a warranty and what is covered. If the vehicle is sold “as-is” that means the buyer is agreeing to buy the vehicle in its current condition, and there is no promise that the dealer will repair any issues that may arise after the purchase."
Magic Time Motors did sell the vehicle to Tellez "as-is" according to her paperwork.
But that's not the end of the story. Because, at the same time, Texas does have a law called The Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
According to the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Texans who fall victim to illegal practices covered by the DTPA have the right to sue for damages up to three times what was lost. The only catch: the state won't help. You must file the lawsuit in county court yourself of hire an attorney to do so.
But does Tellez have a case here?
Consumer Protection Attorney Bill Clanton told KENS 5 she very well could.
KENS 5 spoke to the salesperson that sold the vehicle and found out she left the dealership soon afterwards. The saleswoman wrote a statement that said she believed the dealership did something "to make the truck drivable for a short amount of time" but the axel was not actually repaired. The salesperson said she had been instructed to tell Tellez the vehicle was repaired.
Clanton said, based on the supporting statements of that former salesperson, Tellez could argue that Magic Time Motors knew the vehicle was defective when they sold it while they were representing the vehicle as being repaired.
Additionally, Clanton said the vehicle appears to have been sold as a four-wheel drive (4x4) vehicle in advertising when the 4x4 option was allegedly not functioning.
"If it is a four-wheel drive vehicle, and it can't go into four-wheel drive mode or the four-wheel drive is broken, claiming it's a four-wheel drive vehicle would be deceptive," Clanton said.
Still, the best thing a consumer can do is make sure that they buy a vehicle from a reputable dealership that offers a warranty for that used vehicle. It's also a good idea to have a trusted mechanic look at the vehicle ahead of time.
Finally, NEVER believe a verbal promise made by any car dealership. If the promise is not also in writing the dealership cannot be required to honor it.
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