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I bought a truck in new jersey from a private seller, I think it might be a lemon.

I bought a truck in july for 1500 dollars, on my way home i noticed a whole lot of problems not mentioned, when i got it home, a whole lot more. Now the engine went bad, consumed alot of oil due to worn piston rings and finally, one cylinder went. I replaced suspention parts that made the truck extremely unsafe to drive, brakes that leaked and many other things. I didnt keep the receipts for many things and couldnt get in contact with the guy i bought it off of. The motor going bad is a real bad blow and I want to know my rights. I have the little amount of paperwork he gave me and nowhere did he right it as an "as is" sale, nor did he mention the major things that were wrong with the truck. What can i do?

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Buying a car in a private sale can be risky business because the law is very different from a car dealer sale. In a sale between two individuals, neither of whom is a car dealer, in most states the only obligation on the seller is to answer your questions honestly and not hide anything that they realize you would want to know about. If the seller lies to you or hides anything, that can be fraud in most states. They have to tell the truth about the mileage on the car too by filling out correctly and honestly an odometer statement for the buyer. And in those states that require mandatory emissions tests in order to get a vehicle licensed, many of those states say that if the emission/pollution equipment was disabled or removed then the buyer may have the right to cancel the sale. If none of that applies to your deal, then you may be stuck. To find out for sure, you need to talk to a local Consumer Law attorney. Call your local attorney's Bar Association and ask for a referral to a Consumer Law attorney near you or you can go to this web site page for a Free Online 50 State National List of Consumer Law Lawyers (http://www.ohiolemonlaw.com/ocll-site/ocll-loca...) and find one near you (lawyers don’t pay to get listed here and most of them are members of the only national association for Consumer Law lawyers, NACA.net). But act quickly because for every legal right you have, there is only a limited amount of time to actually file a lawsuit in court or your rights expire (it's called the statute of limitations), so don't waste your time getting to a Consumer Law attorney and finding out what your rights are. If this answer was helpful, please check the box below.
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