2019 4- Runner sold to me without knowledge that original motor blown

Recently found out that my 4-runner was sold to me by dealership with the original motor blown. They replaced it with a motor that had more miles on it. Super charger installed after market was the cause. I have had trouble with the truck since two weeks into ownership. They finally repaired or fixed the problem, so far. Want to know what I should do for future issues, I bought the gold pkg and maintenance. dealership is stating bought as is but nothing on carfax given to me to indicated all the trouble last owner had. Parts from the Supercharger left on like oil pump and loose hoses. Mechanics denied knowledge from beginning about it and even tried to void my warranty that I had purchased. Last oil change the new dealership service manager gave me the history of the truck. What can I do now to protect me from further headaches

 

If it was CPO, insist they take it back, as it was misrepresented to you as certified truck. Otherwise, you probably need to consult a lawyer.

Your warranty is unlikely to pay out, as anyone investigating such claim would determine any failure is related to mods.

 

Agreed with Sin4R above. Get them to take it back. If they won't, maybe it's time to change your last name to "Plaintiff"

 

I don't know what state you're in, but you may be able to make a case for

• Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA):
  The DTPA prohibits false, misleading, or deceptive practices. If a seller knowingly sells a defective used car, you may have a claim under the DTPA.

The dealership knowingly sold you a defector vehicle. Wheather it was intentional or not does not matter. They failed to do their due dillegance when inspecting the vehicle. They have two routes to go:

A) Honor the warranty and keep repairing it as it breaks or until they get to the root cause - and fix said root cause.
B) Buy back your 4Runner and make you whole again.

 

Please list the name of the dealer that sold you said vehicle so others can be aware and please keep us posted.

 

I don't have answers necessarily, but thinking about these details will help:

What is the "gold package"? We don't know what that is and you will need to review fine print and know what is covered, etc.

Document everything. Do you have proof of everything stated here?

Who is the mechanic denying knowledge? The selling dealer?

What are you willing to accept as a remedy? Free warranty? Buyback? Exchange? Cash? (Not saying it will be on the table necessarily, but it's good to think of just in case)

 

Is there a vin # on the engine that is in said vehicle? (Asking for a friend)

If so, run the vin# !

 

Great suggestions here. I have a now expired Toyota Platinum warranty.
My daughter has a certified used 4runner with Gold warranty (actually a extended service agreement). They are mailed out by Toyota and arrive to your address a few weeks after purchase.
My "policy" has clearly defined covered and non-covered items shown.

 

If you are considering the "make you whole" legal option, I would first contact your States Toyota Factory Representative. They have big influence over their dealers.

 

I'm sorry you are going thru this. You will get plenty of good opinions and options here. Tell us more about the unit or show us some pictures if you are able to.

 

I think there is a very important concept that is ignored by auto professionals everywhere.
The vehicle purchasing individuals expect their vehicle to last far beyond its warranty. Otherwise everyone would lease a vehicle. The vehicle brand and models reputation is a significant factor in the purchase decision.
Sure, lots of vehicles are sold because of some trendy color, stereo system, or creature comfort gaget feature-but many of us look at longevity!
In this case of a replaced engine that trust is broken-sure the seller is providing a short term warranty (maybe-still an unproven assertion) but the buyers expectation may be 20 years and 300,000 miles.

 

I don’t have evidence but I think I read somewhere that they stopped adding the VIN number to engines long ago.

 

Omg….. I must have pulled that data from way back in some hidden brain cells!

 

Call the news papers and television and the BBB and report them. Then find a printer who will make you a large banner and stand out front of the dealership every chance you can. I would say on the banner that you can’t trust this dealership and that they ripped you off, you might be surprised at the reaction you get with the last option.

 

Did you buy this used vehicle from a Toyota dealer?

I am guessing the warranty you bought is not a Toyota warranty but a 3rd party?

I would contact the better business bureau in your area and file a complaint and try to get them to buy the vehicle back at a fair price to you. Depending on how much you used it I doubt you’ll get full price.

Either that or go trade it in on another vehicle. I would not have patience for all that. Id unload it. But that’s just me.

 

Wow, this triggered a memory I hadn't thought about in a long time.

When I was 16 I was living in Brandon, Florida and my parents bought me a car for my birthday. We didn't spend much and found a local Nissan Dealership that had a 1989 Ford Escort (used with low-ish miles). I was a kid and happy to have anything.

My parents put down $1k dollars and I had them co-sign a loan and agreed to make monthly payments. All was well and I drove it off the lot. 3 days later the dealership had a repo track grab it and drag it back to their lot. They claimed we did not take out auto insurance on it, but we did and we proved we did. No biggie. My mom said "We'll just walk away, give us our down payment back." They refused to give back the cash but said they would tear up the contract.

My mother at the time was having surgury on her back and legs, so she was in a wheel chair. She got out huge poster board and wrote "N.O.B. Stole from me!" The dealership was Nissan of Brandon and they called themselves that in tv commercials. It made for a catchy chant "N.O.B. Stole. From. Me!"

We drove my mom up to the dealership and she parked her wheel chair JUST outside the lot, so she wasn't on their property. She was out there for 3 hours waving her sign and chanting. People would pulling up, she'd tell them what happened and they'd drive off and say "Thanks for the heads up!". People would drive by and honk and even joined her for a short time.

On the 4th hour, the general manager walked up to her with $1k stuffed into an envelope. Handed it to her and said "Here, now get the hell out of here and never come back!"


.....that's exacly what happened. We got our money back and never returned to that shady place ever again.

 

I did something similar for an old girlfriend who had a Saturn Vue with problem after problem and only 3 mos old with 12 visits to the dealer. I kept a spreadsheet and pdfs of all visits then they wanted to stop giving me paper work to document the visits.

I go so fed up I printed huge pictures of lemons and wrote “ask me about my lemon”. I put a sign in all the windows. I parked it up at the dealer drove into service like that.

I also left it in the parking lot for a whole weekend.

After five months GM agreed to buy the car back at the full price

 

I listen to Steve Lehto podcast, his is attorney specializing in cases like this. According to what I learned on that podcast, it is illegal for dealership to reposes the car like that. That is, they stole the car and can be sued for that act. For someone encountering such situation, you should be asking for refund+, as court would assign damages and regulator would fine them. Had your family filed complaints and sued in civil court for damages, dealership would be looking at 10s if not 100s of thousands in fines and legal fees. That is, repossession without a valid cause is a big no-no even if you lease the car, but especially if you purchased it.

 

To elaborate on this. For Toyota dealership to sell you Toyota warranty, the vehicle must be certified (CPO). Part of that, is multi-point inspection. Any vehicle that had major modifications or repairs, non-trivial collisions, etc. is not qualified. Dealerships make a lot of money on CPO, as this is how typically lease returns are sold at above market value, plus they also markup CPO warranty contracts. However, it is Toyota that regulates (via contracts) how CPO works, so many shady deals that would be otherwise legal are no allowed under CPO.

If you purchased CPO vehicle from a dealership and it was misrepresented (unreported major collision, blow motor, flooded, modified by PO) your first and most effective strategy is to work that angle, and if dealership resists deal with Toyota Corporate. I heard of cases where people even got bald tires replaced for free, as CPO even has standards for minimum acceptable thread depth and minimum disk and pad thickness. However, most people don't know this and couldn't be bothered read the paperwork describing all of that. Dealership count on that and try to skimp on CPO work to pad the bottom line.

My own anecdote. A while back I purchased a CPO Subaru Outback, it was higher mileage example just outside of factory warranty that had options I wanted (ultra-rare manual transmission on a higher trim). I knew that year had a risk of specific mechanical fault that if occurs would require engine out to repair. Knowing that, I purchased that Outback as CPO with least expensive warranty package, I think that was 6 month and 25,000 miles. As soon as I had it delivered, I had the issue diagnosed by independent mechanic. I then took it back to the dealership, showed them diagnosis by another shop and told them to fix it under CPO warranty. Dealership had to eat this (well, Subaru paid for some of it under warranty but it was dealership's problem to deal with the claims) and do the engine out procedure. to fix the issue. CPO cost me something like $500 and dealership had to $0 invoice me for almost $3000 of labor and parts. Plus, in the end I had documented fix for this issue.

 

I cant imagine someone repossessing a car because you didnt have insurance on it. That makes no sense. They have zero interest in the vehicle after you bought it

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! This is not the first time this dealership has pulled a shady deal. If it is they have found out that they are no good in the "crappy deal" fake warranty business. I'm not a sue happy guy, but in this case I would quietly get the facts all gathered up and see them in court. Get your money back, get rid of the truck, find a new ride, and get on with it. Years gone past we paid for the E.S.P. plan at a dealership on a Ford Escort, when 1 of the lifters went bad, we were informed that we had NO extended service plan, our receipt showed otherwise. Long story shortened, I drove the vehicle back to the dealership, bad lifter and all, stopped payment, all ended well. There are more negative things that come to the dealership when stories like this get out. Tell them you've retained a lawyer, which will be added to the settlement cost, provide your proof of the "gold warranty", and get on with life. Hope this works out for you.

 

I think most are over reacting here. There is nothing saying that a dealership must disclose you have a non original motor. Example...It could have been installed elsewhere without their knowledge. You had a problem, and they fixed it. Whats the big deal? Sounds like someone did a sloppy job by leaving parts of the supercharger in place, typical but as long as its performing as expected, nothing you can do. You bought it after inspecting it yourself. If you dont trust your own judgement, you could have had it looked at first. I wouldnt sweat it. What "future problems" are you talking about protecting yourself from? You act like its a rolling disaster waiting to explode because the motors been replaced. As long as it runs good, you have no recourse. It could have had any number of parts replaced, not a problem. Carfax is worthless by the way, I wish people would stop relying on carfax for an accurate vehicle history report. Carfax entries are voluntarily submitted. Most over worked mechanics give zero f---ks about entering carfax data into the system. I just sold a subaru that was in an accident in December 2024, in body shop until February, sold it at the end of April...guess what...clean carfax. Had over $10k in damage.

 

I agree with you. It didn’t make sense 30+ years ago when it happened and it doesn’t make sense now.