Used 2020 Hyundai failed after 1 day

[MarcusW]

Jurisdiction

Maryland

I bought it manufacturer certified preowned, drove it home and by day 2 the regular car battery was dead. AAA came and tested it and their scanner read bad battery. The EV charger they put in the car has bent pins at like a 10 or 11 o clock angle. Not sure if its safe to just bend those back. Regardless of the shortcomings I like the car but I am concerned the dealer may make me pay for the battery. I feel like they have added enough fees already with records and registration totaling $500+ and MD dealer fee changing to $889 in July. They also seemingly raised the price of the car from $16,701 that was advertised on their website after I had traveled almost 2 hours to get there on Friday. It was still $16,701 the day before. I was so tired that day I actually let them slip that extended warranty on me which I canceled this Monday. Would this be relatively easy to win in small claims court if I just buy the battery myself and expect them to reimburse me because of implied warranty? how many months or years would it likely take? It only has 29000 miles btw. My credit and income isn't that great right now working as a service desk intern in IT, so I'm not even sure I could buy another car anywhere else if tried to back out of this. Also not 100% sure that rebate they gave me there is the 4,000 used EV credit. I don't recall them going to the irs website to do it.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I bought it manufacturer certified preowned,

What did the manufacturer or dealer say that "manufacturer certified preowned" means?

drove it home and by day 2 the regular car battery was dead. AAA came and tested it and their scanner read bad battery. The EV charger they put in the car has bent pins at like a 10 or 11 o clock angle. Not sure if its safe to just bend those back. Regardless of the shortcomings I like the car but I am concerned the dealer may make me pay for the battery.

The general rule when buying used goods is that they are sold as is, without any kind of warranty, express or implied. If you buy something and it breaks the next day, that's usually on you to pay to repair it. If the seller specifically stated that the battery was in good condition, however, there may be a good claim for misrepresentation or fraud.

Would this be relatively easy to win in small claims court if I just buy the battery myself and expect them to reimburse me because of implied warranty?

What implied warranty are you relying upon? Did the documents you recieved indicate any kind of warranty? Did the documents say anywhere something like the sale is "as is without any warranty, express or implied"?

how many months or years would it likely take?

How long it takes to reach your trial in small claims court varies from state to state, but in most cases its a matter of months, not years.

 

[MarcusW]

What did the manufacturer or dealer say that "manufacturer certified preowned" means?




What implied warranty are you relying upon? Did the documents you received indicate any kind of warranty? Did the documents say anywhere something like the sale is "as is without any warranty, express or implied"?

Dealer and manufacturer says certified preowned means 173 point inspection
Taken from hyundaiusa website:

"How does a vehicle qualify as Hyundai Certified Used Vehicle?

A vehicle must be newer than 6 model years, have fewer than 80,000 miles and pass our comprehensive quality assurance inspection. These vehicles also must have a clean, non-branded title as verified by a CARFAX® Vehicle History Report™. In addition, maintenance services are performed to make sure all vital fluids, tire tread and brake pad thickness are up-to-date and meets the Hyundai CUV Standards."


I'm relying upon the implied warranty in the state of MD:
"An implied warranty of merchantability warrants that a product is fit for the ordinary use of such a product. See Md. Code, Commercial Law § 2-314. A car dealer may expressly exclude a warranty of merchantability from a car if the following criteria are met: The car is more than six years old; The car has more than 60,000 miles on it; and The dealer has notified you, as the buyer that the express warranty of merchantability is being excluded by using a form provided by the transportation administration."

My car is 29,000 mileage and 2020 model so it definitely still has implied warranty even though the hyundai warranty says it doesn't cover battery. The inspection should have covered battery I believe and implied warranty means everything in the car must work as far as I know.

This is a blank vehicle inspection checklist for reference (https://www.modernhyundai.com/173-point-inspection-brochure/). I'm in the process of obtaining my specific checklist from the dealer to use as evidence against them if I get it inspected by another Hyundai dealer and it shows things weren't done correctly. I think most likely they did nothing or very minimal inspection because of the resulting dead battery 1 day after leaving the dealer and no wiper fluid coming out when I press the MIST button on the wiper control stick. I want to not pay a cent of any of this maintenance that they should of done already. Though I guess the bent level 2 charger pin they might be able to get away with since its not part of the car. The hyundai website doesn't have the specific wording but google searching yields a statement taken by Generative AI from Capitalone's website and Fitzgerald hyundai in gaithersburg:

"If the inspection reveals any issues, the dealer will recondition, repair, or replace the components that don't meet Hyundai's standards. Hyundai also provides a complimentary CARFAX® Vehicle History Report with each certified vehicle."

Really hoping there isn't thousands needed in repairs cause I can't afford that right now. I would probably need to use the money they said they would send me for canceling the extended warranty I bought from them by accident for that. Although I had planned to put it back into the loan to reduce my monthly payment some. Also went back to the dealer today 2 hour trip going and coming so 4 total and they refused to replace the battery even though I showed them this attached failed test from Hyundai's roadside assistance when they had to jump my car. They claimed their own test showed the battery had 12 volts so it was fine. I find it hard to believe this thing showing 8% health from this test is fine. It works after it was jumped but for how long? I don't have a car charger at home yet so I don't really have the means to keep the 12volt battery on life support everyday and I don't want it fail on me at some inopportune time later.

Files were too large to be attached directly

https://imgur.com/KIsoofc

https://imgur.com/Kl5zgPN

 

[Tax Counsel]

In that case, read the Maryland Attorney General's publication Consumer's Edge #152 that explains how it's implied warranties work in a used car sale purchased from a used car dealer.