I've had a GM dealership screw me over on some repairs they were supposed perform before I picked up a used vehicle I bought. They didn't complete all repairs and the ones they did were done improperly and are now causing other problems.

My estimated cost to correct the issue is $3,000-4,000; I don't have an official quote because I haven't taken it to another dealer yet.

I want to sue the dealer that screwed me, I have a pretty good case as everything is documented on my end. But if it's a fools-errand on collecting that then it's a waste of my time. I know collecting from a private party is pretty hard to do, but does it change when it comes down to a place like an official GM dealership?

Side question: the dealer is a few hrs away, the vehicle purchase was made over the phone, the repair costs were wrapped into the purchase price. IIRC, when it comes to interstate commerce the transaction is said to have taken place in the BUYER's state (not the seller's). Does that apply to intrastate commerce as well? IE, do I file suit in my county of the county of the dealership?

Ask a lawyer

Dealerships are privately owned buy some guy down the street, you are suing some dude not GM.

Gather up your paperwork and take it to small claims court unless it exceeds the amount for a small claim.

Courts generally rule in the favor of the consumers, the dealership will most likely want to reach a agreement with you without the hassle of going to court.

Edit; ask a lawyer

You'll be out of small claims court in about 15 minutes. Hire a lawyer, send a demand letter, wait 30 days.

If the dealer has a decent lawyer and they lose, they'll negotiate with you during the appeal process. As a business, it's easy to collect from them as you can seize bank accounts, assets or just about anything of value.

Did you put this on social media?  I had a huge parts supplier try to fuck me.  I got on Yelp, posted photos and a clear, concise description of the fucking.  3 days later they credited my account. 

The fuckstick that was dodging my calls actually called and gave a sincere apology and admitted they were completely wrong. That was more important than the money.

This is what I wanted to know, thank you!!!

Here's what will happen.  You file in small claims in your county.  They submit to their insurer.  Their attorney moves it to their county and to an upper level court.  Then they start discovery, depositions and hire an expert to assess the repairs.  You will need an expert to prove your case.  They may want to settle early, but not for the full value.

I sued a dealer in small claims. They showed up, moved for a continuance, and wrote me a check.

Small claims cases and collections on judgments are based on state law.

In Florida it is fairly easy to collect on a judgment if the debtor has any assets and if you know where they are?

Here corporations need to be represented by a lawyer in court so if you sue one in small claims they have to spend money and are more apt to settle or not show up.

By the same token you may get into a bigger battle because you are going against a lawyer.

Personally I'd file suit but then again, I'm a lawyer and that's what I do.

It's not as simple as me accepting it without the repairs completed. I didn't know they weren't completed. The vehicle was purchased as-is but I had made an agreement with the salesman that if there were undisclosed problems shortly after driving it off the lot, and they should have caught those problems in their multi-point inspection, they would take care of them on the grounds of customer satisfaction. I now realize he was blowing smoke up my arse to complete the sale.

There are 2 issues at odds and I won't go into much more detail.

Issue #1: As part of my agreement to purchase they fixed a problem. Their fix was completed improperly and caused other problems (still on the same system). Due to several circumstances beyond my control the problem wasn't discovered until I had already accepted. I don't want to accuse them of intentionally hiding the problem but I suspect that they may have.
Issue #2: I told them before purchase that I want them to check and verify that there were no problems with a specific system and that I wouldn't purchase the vehicle unless there were no problems or they fixed all problems. That salesman stated they would check that out really good. They didn't specifically say there were no problems, but their inspection report didn't indicate any (which indicates no problems to me). I discovered within a week that there were problems.

They had initially agreed to correct issue #1 and I told them I would further assess Issue #2 before I decided if I was going to hold them accountable. It wasn't long after that they realized Issue #1 was more in-depth than they thought and they back-pedaled and said they were no longer willing to fix issue #1 so I didn't even ask about issue #2.

@SigOwner_P229

Have you tried going over the dealership's head, directly to GM? That worked for me once back in the day. Had some repairs done by a Chevy dealer in NM. Repair done wrong, failed within 300 miles or so. I got pissed off and called GM. They said tow it to a dealer where I was when it died and let them handle it. Was repaired properly, and treated as warranty work.

I tried that several years back when a dealer (different dealer from the current issue) performed the wrong service on a vehicle then tried to hold it hostage until I paid them for the wrong service. That's when I found out that GM customer care doesn't give a darn about it's customers and they have absolutely zero power over the dealerships. Ultimately the dealership principal (main man in-charge) took care of the problem but the jackwagon svc manager that cussed me out, told me he didn't want customers like me there, and made direct threats to my wife is still working there. I will happily return to that dealer/svc dept based upon the final resolution, but not until that guy has moved on because I don't care to ever see his face again.

I haven't tried GM customer care. I doubt they care enough to get involved. I'll just go small-claims. More information has surfaced that leads me to believe the folks running this dealership aren't all there in the head. A court justice should have no problems seeing right through it all.

I think I'm going to talk to a lawyer before filing the suit. I've never done small claims before so I don't want to make stupid mistakes that could weaken my position.

It is often marginally easier to extract money out of a corporation than an individual.

In many cases a corporation is easier to serve and will have insurance to protect the corporation and its owners.
In Virginia (and many other states) you can serve papers on a corporation by serving them on the States Attorney General.

They will than convey them to the registered owners.

Appointing the states AG to receive papers (be served) is a requirement of being granted incorporation status.