Our Rules for Vehicle Inspections

There are multiple reasons we may decide to sue a Car Dealership.  One of those reasons is because the Dealership sold you a car that was in a bad condition at the time of sale.  Pennsylvania Law requires the dealership to disclose certain conditions, like a bad transmission or frame damage before you buy the car.  If the dealership fails to do so, we may sue the dealership for a violation of the law.  Once the case has begun, the Dealership has a right to have an expert inspect your vehicle to see if the alleged condition does actually exist.  From our experience, here are our rules whenever the Defendant requests in inspection as part of litigation:

  1.  At some point, we are going to send discovery requests seeking information from the other side.  Defense firms are infamous for dragging their feet on providing responses.  As such, we will never let them inspect your vehicle until they comply with all discovery requests.
  2. The Ace in your pocket is your mechanic, or “expert,” who will testify on your behalf about the condition of the vehicle.  We never let the Defense inspect your vehicle until we have a report from our mechanic.
  3. We will not allow an inspection of your vehicle without our firm, or a representative from our office, being present.  Additionally, no inspection begins until we are there.
  4. Someone from our office will videotape the entire inspection.  If it happens, we want it on video.
  5. We want you there.  You will attend the inspection with us.  We want you to know what is going on.  However, you won’t participate in the inspection and you won’t answer any questions.
  6. We prefer to have you present, the opposing attorney, the dealership’s attorney, and the mechanic doing the inspection.  Anyone else and we want business cards and why they are there.
  7.  During the Defendant’s inspection, if their expert takes any photos or generates any reports, we will demand copies.
  8. Until a Court of Law says otherwise, the vehicle is your vehicle.  It will come to the inspection with you and it will leave with you.  It will NEVER stay overnight at any inspection.  If the Defendant wants to inspect it, the Defendant will pay to tow it to the inspection and pay to tow it back to your house the same day.
  9. Inspections are a great time to visit the selling dealership and look at the sales and repairs file.  We will only consent to inspections at the selling dealership.  We will ask to see all paperwork regarding the vehicle while we are there.

As consumer protection attorneys, we take great pride in protecting our clients.  There is a lot that can go wrong with an inspection and we need to make sure it all runs smoothly.  Other firms will send the vehicle for inspection and wait for a report.  We go with you and the vehicle.

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