Basic tips on lemon laws for cars

Motor vehicle lemon laws protect the rights of purchasers who have bought new or old cars that have defects that interfere with the use and enjoyment of the vehicle. All the 50 states across America, including the District of Columbia have enacted legislation that provides relief for consumers who have purchased vehicles with defects (the vehicles are known as lemons, hence the term “lemon law’).

 

The lemon laws for cars provide protection for a limited period of time after the vehicle is purchased and they provide that the dealership or the manufacturer must fix the defect within a certain period of time, or replace the vehicle with a comparable model or refund the purchase price to the customer. Industry watchers, including Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, up to 50,000 cars are repurchased every year in America, which represents about 0.3% of all vehicle sales.

Automobile lemon laws find their roots in The Magnuson Moss Act passed in congress in 1975 and required manufacturers and vendors of consumer merchandize to provide their customers with itemized facts on warranty coverage claims. Later it proved a little unsatisfactory as it only covered breaches for full warranties. California and Connecticut were the first states to enact state-wide automobile lemon laws and both provided remedies for breaches of limited warranties. Other states quickly followed.

 

The Magnuson Moss Act is still used, especially in cases where the relevant lemon law on cars in a particular state does not cover the vehicle. Initially, the lemon laws for vehicles only provided for new cars, but afterwards, laws that also catered for pre-owned vehicles were passed. The types of vehicles typically protected by motor vehicle lemon law include new cars, trucks and vans. Some states provide protection to leased vehicles as well. The period mostly provided for in many states is one year, or the period specified in the warranty. Several states though provide for a period of up to two years or 24,000 miles.

Lemon law for vehicles covers serious defects only. A serious defect is one that would seriously impair the use, value and safety of the vehicle. For more serious defects, such as those that could cause death or serious injury, the manufacturer is usually given one chance to fix the defect, and if this is not done, the purchaser may then invoke the law and avail to himself any remedies available under the appropriate motor vehicle lemon law. Since the purchaser would typically return the vehicle to thedealer/manufacturer for repairs, and the latter would thus be aware of the problem.

 

But automobile lemon laws require the purchaser to send a written notice that he intends enforce his lemon law rights within a given period of time. After notification, the manufacturer then has another last opportunity to fix the problem. The requirement for notice has been criticized as burdensome to purchasers, who many of the times are ignorant of the requirement.

 

Once the purchaser calls upon the lemon laws for motor vehicles, the parties may arbitrate, and should that prove unsatisfactory, the purchaser may bring a civil action against the manufacturer in a court of law.