Also, regarding credit reporting; your obligation was to AMEX, which has been satisfied.
There is no basis whatsoever for the dealer to obtain a collection, as you never had a loan with the dealer. If you ever see a bogus collection, you simply forward to the credit bureau the AMEX paperwork declaring the dispute resolved.
In my opinion, a few thousand dollars is the small price for a dealer to pay for deliberately lying about the condition of known lemon. Further, messing with an odometer is straight up fraud. A dealer that perpetrates such fraud stands to lose a lot more than a few thousand dollars. How about their license to do business, full stop?
They probably perpetrate fraud on consumers so often, that they just consider it a cost of doing business.
Knowing that contractual disputes won't always go one way... we have to take our victories where we can get them.
The way our society works is oftentimes considered to be backwards. The right thing to do is often not legally advisable, as consumers invariably end up losing out when trying to do the right thing.
When one is in the driver's seat... one must play the cards as they have been dealt.
Therefore, continue to press your advantage - and your moral high ground - to either renegotiate the deal, equivalent to the actual condition of the product; or, endeavor to obtain settlement documents totally unwinding the situation.
