My girlfriend doesn't know a whole lot about the internet so I had her email me her story to get some help with it. I apologize for any grammar mistakes, and the long and some unnecessary details, but I didn't have time to completely edit this. (For the sake of anonymity I have changed the names of the people involved)
Fred asked if i would like to buy a car. He said it was a 2002 bonneville and that it ran well and that the only problem is that the bearrings on the front right tire are loose. He also mentioned that someone recently busted a window out. He originally bought the car from Best Auto in Spencer back in February 2007 with his girlfriend Sally. His girlfriend moved to California and didn't want the car anymore. He said he was still making payments on it and that he would sell it to me for however much he still owes on it which he thought was around 3000 dollars. He wasn't trying to make money he said he just wanted the car out of his name because he didn't want his credit to go bad. I said i was interested in buying it but that the window would have to be replaced first, so he had the car driven to an auto shop in Varina to get the window replaced.
He let me know once it was replaced and we both went to Best Auto in Spencer on June 6th to see what our options were for transferring the car to my name. We met with the dealer and explained that we would like to have the car transferred to my name. He pulled up Fred and Sally's account and told me that there was 2800 left to pay. I agreed to pay for the rest of it and he took my debit card information so that the payments could be automatically deducted from my bank account. We agreed to 150 dollars every two weeks. There was also a 200 dollar maintenance charge that Sally had not yet paid, so i agreed to pay for that as well. I paid the 200 dollars in cash and he gave me a receipt for it. After paying the 200 dollars, he had some papers for me to sign. He said the first paper was just stating that i agree to pay the remaining 2800 in payments of 150 every two weeks. I signed but he told me not to date it. Next he gave me a paper that was for the authorization of the automatic payments with my debit card. I signed it. The next paper he gave me was a credit application. I filled it out and the last thing he had me sign was the title of the car. He said he would have to mail it so Sally in California and have her sign it before we could put the car in my name. He then gave me a copy of the purchase agreement. He said that i would have to get new license plates and that he had already talked to the lady at the courthouse for me. He said all i had to do was go to the courthouse and tell her that Chris sent me. He said not to show her my copy of the agreement unless she asked for it. And that was it.
I asked Fred when i would be able to pick the car up. He said that it was still at the shop in varina where he had the window replaced and that his friend was going to pick it up and drive it to Storm Lake so that i could pick it up. Then he said he had talked to his friend and that his friend had lost the key to the car. He had no other copy so he said that we would have to make another key. He said the last time he had a key made for the car that he had it done at Fitzpatrick, so they should be able to make a copy of the key. Once we got to Storm Lake, we went to Fitzpatrick to get the key made. The woman who worked there said that they could make a key but it would be 23 dollars. So he told her nevermind and decided he was just going to try and find the one that his friend lost. A few days later he called me to tell me that he still hadn't found the key. He also mentioned that the last place to make a key wasn't Fitzpatrick's but was Automotive Service Center. He said his friend worked there and that it would be cheaper than getting the key from Fitzpatrick's. The next day, he had the car towed from Varina to Automotive Service Center in Storm Lake so that they could remake the key for the ignition. This was on Thursday, June 4th. Fred told me the key would be ready by the following Monday and that i could pick it up then. He also told me that i would have to pay for the key since he payed for the towing and that it would not be more than 25 dollars.
Monday morning i called the service center to see if the key was ready and they told me it wouldn't be ready until Tuesday. Tuesday it still wasn't ready. Finally on Monday, June 15th, the key was ready. I went in that afternoon to pick up the key and i had to pay 185 dollars for it, not 25. I paid for it and took the key, and planned on coming back that night with my stepmom to drive it home.
After work i went with my stepmom to pick the car up. When I started the car, smoke came from the hood and it smelled like something was burning inside of it. The smoke was getting thicker so i shut the engine off. We opened the hood and there was oil all over the engine. We closed the hood, locked the doors and left the car there. I haven't started the car since.
I called to Fred to tell him something was wrong with the car and that i didn't want it anymore. He said it was probably just smoking because it's been sitting in the shop for a few weeks. He asked me for the key so that he could take it to a mechanic to get it checked. I told him no and that he could take care of seeing what was wrong with it once it was back in his name.
On Friday, June 19th, I called Chris at Best Auto to see what i should do about taking my name off the car. I also asked him to cancel the automatic payments from my account. I told him that we would try to go to Spencer to talk about it in person next week. He said he would be willing "to work something out" but that i would have to bring the car to Spencer whenever i go. I told him that i can't drive the car there since it could start on fire. He said that I would have to have it towed then. I said i was not paying for it to be towed there. He said that they needed the car there so that they can find out what's wrong with it and fix it, and that it's not a big deal. They also said that i agreed to pay for the car and that i would have to finish paying for it. I told him that i agreed to pay for a car that was in good condition, not one that i can't even drive. He said i could come talk about it next week but that i would have to have the car towed to Spencer when i came. I then mentioned that my dad said i may have to get a lawyer and go about it that way. Chris said he can't talk to me anymore and that he is going to speak with his own lawyer and we hung up.
Since then, Fred has been asking me repeatedly for the key and said the only way to get my name off of the title is for him to take the car into the shop to see what is wrong with it.
When they originally had her sign the title they later dated it Feb, 2007, (and she signed it a few weeks ago) in Feb, 2007 she was not 18 would that be grounds for dismissing the contract? They said the reason they put down a false date was so they wouldn't have to pay to transfer the title, because Fred originally purchased the car in Feb of 07. So they made it appear that she had been the original purchaser.
I had also taken a business law class a few years back and I could have sworn I read something about if a seller deliberately lies about the condition of the product they are selling then the contract could also be considered void. My girlfriend works with one of Freds friends and they told her that he's known about all the problems all along and that is why he tried to sell it to her, basically because its a piece of junk and he wanted to screw her on it. They also said he did not lose the original key. When she originally asked to take it to a mechanic to get it checked before she signed anything he claimed he used his own mechanic and they said it was fine, he keeps wanting to take the car to his mechanic now as well, I'm assuming to quickly mask the problems without actually fixing them. Anyways, is there anyway she can get out of it? Because it seems everyone she's dealing with is doing some real shady business. She's already paid six hundred dollars for absolutely nothing.
Thanks in advance for any help.
This is in the state of Iowa by the way.

