we sold a car - now there's a problem

My husband and I placed an ad to sell our son's car (97 Jetta). It is in pretty good condition, new battery, fairly new tires, 108k miles. Starts up
great and sounds good. A young lady came to see the car on 9/22 with her father. She drove the car around in our driveway as it was not registered anymore. We were very up front with her about the car. We told her that even though Kelly's Blue Book states that the value of the car is between $3200 to 3700, we were selling it for $1500 because we knew someone would have to put some money into it. She asked if our son had a heavy foot. We explained that the car belonged to our son who was a student and you know how young people are with their first cars. We also told her that it was never in an accident. She also asked if the car was sitting long. My husband told her that the car was sitting for several months. He also explained to her that the breaks may need to be looked at for that reason. We also told her that the car needed a new tire rod. The entire time she was there, she asked her father three times what did he think and did he have any objections.
He said, "it's up to you." She made a call to one of her friends who happens to be a mechanic and asked him what he thought. She told him the mileage, explained that it needed a tire rod, and had some cosmetic issues. We told her we would hold the car for her if she wanted to think about it. She decided that she wanted the car and it wanted to drive away with it the same day but we wouldn't allow it because we would get into trouble if she got stopped. In any event, she paid for the car in cash (we sold it to her for $1400 because that was what she had) and we signed the title over to her. She came back on Monday, 9/24 with her father and picked up the car.
On Saturday, 9/29, we get a message on our machine from her fiance that when she drove the car home that Monday it made terrible noises. They had the car looked at and the mechanic said it needs brakes, roters, and the transmission is blown. We weren't surprised by the brakes issue since we explained that to her that the car had been sitting. But, honestly,
we do not believe that the transmission is blown. I believe that she just had a change of heart. We still have to return the phone call and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if she has a case against us. We have never sold a car to anyone as we have donated vehicles to charities in the
past. This is all new to us and I am so worried about this. Can anyone help? Many thanks, Maria in NY

Are they suing you? I am curious we have a similar situation and now my husband and I have to go to court we sold our car on craiglist and the person is suing us for having to replace the struts...$740... we have no clue what to do but we are going to court to tell them, we didn't know about the struts, we sold the car as is I drove the car the day before we sold it, I took it to work everyday. I am so frustrated, can the other party win? Do they have a chance?

[able1]

Normally they buy it as is and need to have an inspection before they buy or there is not much they can do.

But if they can show you purposely hid issues or lied about it etc., then they may prevail.

[tsalk]

I watch court tv all the time. Doesn't make me an expert, but every single time one of these cases is on, the judge always asks if the buyer took the car for an inspection and the buyer always loses. Even in cases where the car broke down the very day they bought the car.

What does the bill of sale say? If it says you are selling them the car "as is" I would think it's a slam dunk.

I wouldn't think they could prove you knew the tranny was bad, unless there is evidence that the car was "doctored up for sale". Unless they can read minds, it might just simply be coincidence. I would also think if there was truly a tranny problem, it would have shown up when they were driving it. Not to mention the fact that if they drove the car home on 9/24 and it made those terrible noises, why then did it take them until 9/29 to contact you? I just bought a car on Craigslist. I drove it extensively before I bought it. If it had made any noises on the way home, I would have called the sellers that very day. I realized that I was buying the car 'as is' but I would have called them to see if they knew anything about why it would be making noises.

I would think that they don't have a leg to stand on, but then again, I'm not a lawyer. Good luck!