When you purchase a new car you can be reasonably confident that it will work well with a minimum of problems; furthermore, if you do encounter a problem you know the dealer that you bought it from will repair it at no cost under the new car warranty.
This is great, but what recourse do you have it the dealer can’t fix the problem even though he has been given the opportunity to do it several times? That is when the vehicle lemon law in your state come to your rescue.
In the last half century there have been tremendous strides taken in the automotive industry but even so there is still a high number of cars sold that have a defect that simply can’t be fixed.
What is a lemon?
It must be stated that the answer to that question is different depending on where the vehicle was purchased or the state in which you reside. Generally speaking though, the vehicle lemon law is based on the following:
* The problem cropped up soon after you bought the car
* You reported the problem promptly to the dealer and it was attended to under the cars warranty
* The problem persisted; the usual number of attempts that are allowed to fix it is three or four
* The problem has a substantial impact on the use, value and safety of the vehicle
If your car meets these criteria then you can be pretty sure it is a lemon. The remedies available to you vary depending on the significance of the problem and the number of attempts made to rectify it. Under the vehicle lemon law the maximum remedy is for the manufacturer to buy the car back from you including any and all costs you incurred to make the initial purchase. The lemon law in most states will apply a mileage offset, in most cases the mileage offset is the odometer reading when you first brought the defect to the dealer’s attention.
If you do not want to get a refund of your money you can also agree to “swap” your lemon for a brand new car of equal specification.
Although you would never buy a car knowing it was a lemon it still is a good idea to know the lemon laws that apply in your state. One extremely important thing that must be done is to document all repairs, you have no way of knowing if the defect is unfixable or not so it is better to be safe than sorry.
If you think your new car is a lemon then you will need to know the vehicle lemon law that applies in your state. For complete information and a free case review you are invited to contact YourLemonlaWrights.com.
