If your paying for a car 'as is' at a buy here pay here in Tennessee and messes up shortly after you get it, anything to do?

You answered your question when you noted it was purchased "as-is". The bonus seems that your dealer is interested in maintaining your business since they are fixing the car. That is commonly called a "good will" gesture. My recommendation is to be patient, you have seemingly lucked up and found a dealer that will take care of you over the financed period, and likely beyond. Many people do not understand the nature of "buy here-pay here": most such businesses are dedicated to providing affordable transportation to individuals who would otherwise be walking. To do this, a dealer sells a car that may be a little older and maybe a little more worn (to keep it affordable for all parties concerned), in your case a problem arose early into the contract and instead of standing behind the "As-is" tough luck defense, your dealer has pro-actively come to the rescue by providing repairs. Be glad you found "a good one", and enjoy the new relationship. Happy Motoring.

I agree with my colleague, you're getting far better treatment than many "buy here pay here" customers get.

“As Is” can be a hard thing to get around in a used car sale. If the buy here-pay here dealer is doing anything at all for you, then you’re lucky because most of them don’t. Most of them sell poor cars at high prices and higher interest rates to people who can’t afford to go anywhere else and often end up being taken advantage of in the process. You have to be very careful dealing with businesses like that. But “as is” doesn’t mean you are stuck if they don’t get your car running right. In most states, your legal rights in a used car sale are mostly determined by the paperwork that you sign. But even in an “as is” sale you might get some legal rights anyway. For instance, in many states an oral representation by the seller may over-ride a written disclaimer of warranties. Also in every sale there is a “warranty of description of the goods” which means that if the sales contract describes the vehicle then the vehicle you get must match the description. Also there’s a federal law that requires all car dealers to post on the window of all used cars they are selling a special “Buyer Guide” form (it’s often called a Used Car Window Sticker) that discloses your warranty rights. Many small lot car dealers don’t comply with the law. If they don’t, then you may end up with a warranty after all and you may even have the right to cancel the sale. The back side of the form has to be completely filled out and many car lots, big and small, fail to do that too and that can also trigger your right to cancel the deal. You can see what the Buyer Guide form looks like on this web site page: http://ohiolemonlaw.com/used-car-lemon-law.html . If it doesn't get fixed and there is not much money is at stake, you may be able to use your local small claims court to get damages from the seller. Before you decide to buy a used car next time read this .com guide on How to Avoid Buying a Lemon Used Car in 7 Steps: http://www.attorneyqna.com/legal-guides/ugc/how-to-avoid-buying--lemon-used-car-in-7-steps. Once you have already spent your money, it's not too late to have an independent repair shop inspect it and tell you what they think, but the best time is before you put down your hard earned money. Also, you should always insist on at least a one or two day warranty from every car dealer because if you get any warranty at all, then most states automatically give you additional legal rights if something goes wrong. To find out for sure what your rights are in your state, you need to talk to a local Consumer Law attorney who deals with this kind of case (it's called "autofraud" or car sales fraud). Call your local attorney's Bar Association and ask for a referral to a Consumer Law attorney near you or you can go to this web site page for a Free Online 50 State National List of Consumer Law Lawyers (http://www.ohiolemonlaw.com/ocll-site/ocll-locate_local.shtml) and find one near you (lawyers don’t pay to get listed here and most of them are members of the only national association for Consumer Law lawyers, NACA.net). But act quickly because for every legal right you have, there is only a limited amount of time to actually file a lawsuit in court or your rights expire (it's called the statute of limitations), so don't waste your time getting to a Consumer Law attorney and finding out what your rights are. If this answer was helpful, please give me a “Vote Up” below. Ron Burdge, www.CarSalesFraud.com, www.USLemonLawyers.com