OT: Salvage title laws in CA... seller did not disclose!, Do I have any recourse? Options

[bondo]

Hey guys, sorry I've been away so much... My 914 project is packed up for the move to SD, and it's been too depressing to read 914world regularly because I can't work on it.

Ok, here's the story: My wife bought a 1973 240Z. She likes them but wanted to try one out before seeking a "nice" one to fix up. It looks like she does, and is hooked on Z cars, so mission accomplished there. The other function of this purchase was as an investment. We found a "deal" on a running/driving 240z, and waited until the seller had rent due and had to drop the price, then we snapped it up. I checked it out when we bought it and determined that with some minor work, it could be worth at least twice what we paid. The idea would be to sell it when we sold our house, so we wouldn't have to move it to SD, and it could also cover some moving expenses.

Here's where it gets "interesting"... The seller only had a photocopy of the title the previous owner had given him, sale dated in November, so he hasn't had it very long. He said he gave the original title from the previous owner to DMV, but never got a new one from DMV. He made out a bill of sale to us, but didn't have the bill of sale from the previous owner to him. He claimed he had left it at his parent's house, 100 miles away, and would mail it to us in a week, next time he was there.

So we go to AAA to at least get the payment made within 30 days to avoid penalties. They tell us IT HAS A SALVAGE TITLE! They also say they need the original of the title we only have a photocopy of, and that it needs to be recertified at DMV.

Looking at the law, the seller is REQUIRED to disclose if a vehicle has a salvage title. Not only did he not disclose it, but I think he deliberately tried to hide it by "not having" the new title. He also told us that the minor damage to the drivers door and rear fender happened during the previous ownership, but the photocopied title dated in November has no salvage mark on it. So either he lied about that, or he doctored the title before photocopying it.

I now have a lot of reasons to believe the seller can not be trusted:

1. He hasn't mailed us the previous bill of sale as promised.

2. He didn't disclose the salvage title, and he must have known about it. He even mentioned that he "just had to fix the brakes and lights". I have since found out that part of the re-certification process is a brake and light inspection... Coincidence? I don't think so!

3. He said a bunch of things on the car worked, when in fact they don't. I didn't have time to check them all as we were buying the car on my lunch break.

4. He is clearly an idiot. His version of small talk is talking about cars he's rolled.

5. He isn't returning my emails.

So what recourse do we have? He definitely has broken at least one law. We may not ever be able to register it, as I can't get any more paperwork out of the deadbeat. Does anyone enforce the disclosure laws? How can we prove he didn't disclose the salvage title if he claims he did? Could I take him to small claims court over this? He doesn't seem very bright so I don't think it would be too hard to outsmart him, but I of course want to keep it legal. Some investment this turned out to be.

The good news is that it runs and drives great after I re-arranged the spark plug wires to the correct firing order. (more evidence he's not too bright!)

Thanks to all who can lend some advice! Let me know if any of this needs clarification, I know it's a long and convoluted post. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)