Wow, I'm glad some of you aren't my customers! Sheesh! Ever hear the old adage "You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar"? Threatening with lawyers should only be a last resort, not your first priority. Unless you're really that much of an a-hole.
Gary, I am glad that you were able to get a nice replacement vehicle after yours got wrecked. Things like that do happen...I've had situations myself where a vehicle wasn't perfectly set on the hoist, and could have fallen had I not seen it in time. It's just a truck, not a human life...Trucks can be replaced/repaired.
As for the dealership that acquired your old one. By saying "As-is", they're meaning they aren't offering any additional warranty thru their dealership. Vehicles that I have that are still covered under the factory warranty are sold the same way. It'd be redundant to offer a warranty thru me if the factory is going to cover it. People understand that once I explain it to them, if I even have to.
I've seen worse vehicles get repaired and if nobody was the wiser, nobody would ever know. CARFAX isn't perfect...We had a Jeep Liberty recently that got clobbered hard, and CARFAX still showed no accident history. I don't even like using them. Some people ask for the reports, but it's probably less than 1% of my total customer base.
That Jeep drove perfectly, and I did disclose repaired damage on it. The person who bought it was well aware of it, and still bought it. They're pleased as punch considering I sold it for less than "rough" retail. It was over $5000 cheaper than the next closest competitor at a local Jeep dealership.
Nothing beats the loyalty of Explorer owners though. I just sold a guy's '97 XLT on consignment, and he brought me a pizza for lunch when he came to pick up his check! Who says there's no free lunch?
I'm sorry for your loss.
