Bought a misrepresented used car in a private sale
Less than a month ago I bought a used car. The car seemed to drive fine, and the owner said that he had not had any problems with it and that it had a clean carfax. Based on this information I put a $500 down payment on the car. Later that week I ran a carfax report myself and found that the car had frame damage reported a few years ago.

I went back to the seller and told him that he misrepresented the car and I wanted to back out of the sale. He told me that he had already spent the down payment and wouldnt let me back out. He told me that carfax was wrong and that if frame damage was reported on the car it would have a rebuilt or salvaged title (which it didn’t). I ended up buying the car for $6,000, half because I because the seller said there wasnt any frame damage, half because he wouldnt let me back out of the sale. The seller made me sign an ”as is” paper. I had the seller sign a bill of sale that stated ”Seller is not aware of any major mechanical problems with the vehicle.”

I had a mechanic look the car over last week, and he found severe frame damage (bent and cracked in various places) and said that the car wouldn’t pass inspection. Do I have any legal recourse? What are my options? Who do I go to? Thanks!!