GREENSBORO, N.C. — New cars versus used cars. There's no competition when it comes to sales. Looking at more than 10 years of data from Statistica, used car sales outpace new car sales two to 1. This is why 2 Wants To Know gets so many calls about issues with used cars.
VIEWER CALL: "My son bought a car a couple of weeks ago and it died on the way to work. He went back to the dealer but he bought it as is."
"In NC, the law is very clear, unless you have a contract that says you have a grace period, there's a certain level of warranty the dealer is guaranteeing you, if you don't have those things and all you have is a bill of sale and the car is marked as is, there is no recourse," said Patrick Olsen of Carfax.
Of course, the dealer is going to tell you the car runs great and has no issues. To protect yourself when buying any used car, always take a used car to a mechanic that you trust before you buy it. They will put it up on the lift and see the things you can't.
"The $100 you spend doing this could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars not to mention frustration," said Olsen.
VIEWER CALL: "I have issues with a car dealership selling lemons and not willing to fix the vehicles."
The word lemon gets thrown around a lot with cars, but the law may not work like you think it does.
"There are lemon laws in North Carolina for new cars, there are no lemon laws for used cars. Also, there's no grace period. Unless there is a contract that says you have a certain amount of time to bring the car back, you're out of luck. If you do have a grace period, you have to get it in writing," said Olsen.