State Farm - Not a Good Neighbor?
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there ... right in the middle of trouble!
At least 8 lawsuits have been filed around Ohio against State Farm, salvage yards and wrecked car rebuilders, and car dealers who sold rebuilt cars without disclosing the truth about their prior history. Others are being filed around the country.
Read the newspaper article by clicking here.
In each case consumers bought a car or truck or suv and received a clear title, only to find out last September that they had bought a vehicle that State Farm had totaled out in the recent years. The lawsuits claim that State Farm was totaling out vehicles nationwide and reselling them to junk yards and salvage yards with "clean" titles, car titles that showed no history of the truth about what had happened to them.
The vehicles could then be rebuilt and dumped on the used car market, where unsuspecting buyers would pay thousands of dollars to buy what they thought were good used cars, only to find out later that they were worth no more than a fraction of the price. Some insurance companies won't insure a salvage vehicle and some banks won't give a loan to buy a salvage vehicle.
Worse yet, without a thorough safety inspection, the current owner of a salvage car could be driving a shoddily repaired car with "fake" airbags or other inadequate repairs. It could cost thousands of dollars to make a salvage car roadworthy and safe again.
You can find out more about Salvage Cars and why they can be a dangerous consumer ripoff by clicking here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.