If you buy an auto from a used car dealer, you could be purchasing a vehicle that was subject to a recall but never fixed.
That’s the finding of a study by the Government Accountability Office, which urges federal regulators to take measures to make sure that the repairs called for in recalls actually are carried out. “Many consumers may be unknowingly putting their lives at risk by purchasing a defective vehicle,” the federal watchdog agency said.
As the Associated Press reported, investigators determined that only about 65 percent of cars subject to recalls are repaired within 18 months of the alert.
One part of the problem is that used care dealers don’t receive the same recall notifications that franchised dealers get. On top of that, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lacks the authority to order new or used car dealers to make repairs or to warn prospective buyers.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said that consumers can check directly with automakers or search the government website www.safercar.gov to see whether there is a pending recall for a particular model. Still, since the government website isn’t searchable by vehicle identification numbers, it’s impossible for used car owners to tell whether their particular vehicle has been repaired.
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Hi,youre right about the cars and recalls,also,the dealerships don’t notify it’s customers as the Chevy dealership we bought our car from.The 1990 chevy Lumina from the start had recalls the very first year it came out,but the dealer never told some of it’s buyers about the recall,we bought a 1990 chevy lumina in 1994,was never told about the recalls,was not given a chance to buy another car or get our money back,they let us pay for the car and when we found out about the recalls we asked for the dealership to fix our car only to be told that the recalls were closed? What can we do?