One of our forum members getting screwed over by a dealership

[Isamu]

Originally Posted by Darwins Child

It's my pleasure.

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I assume you did not bring the vehicle into the dealership and say only "something's wrong with my car, so fix it". You described the problem you were having. You can prove this, as well as the dealership's understanding of the problem, by producing any kind of document that the dealership gave to you at the time you brought it in that states what the potential problem was -- for example, "brake pedal low" or "losing braking", etc. This will be solid evidence of a possible leak in the brake system and that the dealership had at least some idea of where to start looking in order to repair whatever was wrong and, quite possibly, that a test drive should / may have been unnecessary to repair what was wrong.

Ultimately, everybody in the world knows that you and other vehicle owners bring their vehicles to automotive repair shops to be repaired, not to be set on fire. Luckily, most people --even judges and lawyers-- are themselves vehicle owners and have probably gotten shafted at dealerships' repair shops themselves. They are going to be very sympathetic as they listen to another victim's plight. (Payback time!)

Therefore, I think you would prevail in a simple small claims court action in which you represent yourself. In North Dakota it seems to be a very simple procedure.
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If you don't get satisfaction from whatever your insurance company does, if I were you, small claims court is the route I'd take to Justice. You'll get plenty of advice here for specifically what to say and produce at the proceeding.

Good luck.

I specifically told them I had a brake leak, and the service manager even said to me, "you're lucky it didn't catch fire, brake fluid is flammable."