I recently purchased a vehicle from Ebay Motors.  Not even ten miles
after leaving the dealership, problems started to show up.  I filed
claims with Ebay, and with Paypal.  Everyone that i spoke to be it
through Ebay chat, email, phone, etc... throughout the entire process
fully agrees to the validity of my claim.  However, because my claim
is below the $$$ limits of Ebay motors protection - they cannot cover
me.  Because my claim is for a vehicle purchased through Ebay motors,
my claim with Paypal was also denied because Paypal does not provide
protection for anything purchased through Ebay Motors.  Ebay itself
has regular buyer protection that i am still following through on,
however the maximum amount i can get from that is limited to $175 -
which is far below the amount of money i lost due to this.  Bottom
line, even though Ebay and Paypal have been helpful, understanding,
and in complete agreement with me, i still keep hitting brick walls,
i'm now running out of options, and i'm not quite sure what i can do
next.

My questions are
1) What kind of LEGAL action can i take against the seller if any, and
what are the chances of success?
2) If i DO take legal action, would it require me to take a trip to
New Jersey at some point? (this would not be realistic)
3) Is there anything else i can do to try to recover what i have lost?
4) Any other advice you can provide?


Some more details:
I live in western Pennsylvania.  The car was purchased, through Ebay,
from a dealership in Marlboro New Jersey.
The cost of repairs for nondisclosed problems came out to around $850.
The greater portion of the nondisclosed problems were engine problems
due to an emissions issue that caused the car to stall all the time,
plus set the check engine light.
There is a very good chance that the dealer cleared the codes before
selling it.  This in itself caused this car to fail a New Jersey state
inspection.
There is a New Jersey law stating that a New Jersey dealer is not
allowed to sell a car that does not meet their inspection standards -
if they do, they are required by law to either pay for the repairs, or
buy the car back.  There is a waiver that i could have signed that i
do not think i signed (i was a bit stressed out at the time - don't
think i signed it but cannot remember for sure).
The dealer has offered me several times that he would buy the car
back, however the costs of transportation to get the car from New
Jersey to where i live, transfers, taxes, repair bills, and tons of
other things, plus the cost to get it back to him would not even make
it practical at this point.

Egads.  This is REMARKABLY similar to a case I handled in California
-- I represented a California resident who purchased a car over Ebay
from a dealership in Florida.  Bottom line, we came to believe that
the car had been in a flood at some point, because the electrical
problems were LEGION and UNSOLVEABLE.  Of course the dealership
represented that the car was VERY CLEAN, GOOD MECHANICAL CONDITION and
so forth.

Gaaaah.

Anyway, because the "last act necessary to form the contract" was my
client's winning bid, which took place in California, we brought the
suit in California and forced the dealership to come out from Florida
and defend.  But we did have to travel to Florida to take the dealer's
deposition.

Our causes of action were for breach of contract (failure to deliver
the car as described) and fraud (intentional misrepresentations as to
the car's condition).

You might want to research your state's small claims limit -- a small
claims suit is inexpensive and efficient, and "levels the playing
field" in that you aren't expected to have a lawyer.

Best of luck.