I understand what you are saying. And I do understand they want to protect themselves. I also understand how car dealers work. The damage on her car is very minor. There is a scrap from the middle of the front fender to the passenger door. Most of it could be buffed out, but they said they'd need to paint the whole side and try to match the paint etc. To even see the damage you have to really look. I'm sure that is their way to protect them and get more money. When she bought the car it even had a similar scratch but lower on the rocker panel.
But that still doesn't excuse the fact that within the first few weeks she had it we noticed the oil consumption. She faithfully checked her levels and added oil at least once a week if not twice. My son knows a lot about cars and had been keeping up with problem, checking for leaks etc.. There was never anything that showed a leaking problem, so knew it had to be something internally and since they had said even though there wasn't a warranty they would take care of us, but they dragged their feet in doing so which lead us to this point now.
I just wondered if they knew of this problem and hoped they could get away with selling it and the problem not being brought to their attention. I didn't know what the consumer laws were in situations like this. I still feel uneasy why they say just to junk the car and not even let us try fixing it or even putting in another engine.