Automobile Lemon Law


 

Lemon law and mileage limit information


The number of miles that your car has cranked up since you bought it can determine whether your car can be accepted as a “lemon”, for the purposes of lemon law in some cases. This is almost always the case with state-wide enacted laws which have enacted mileage limit lemon law.

 

Federal laws give much more room to operate. The Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, the first “lemon law” enacted at the federal level may be used to cover your lemon law rights. Unlike the mileage limit lemon law that would be applied on a state level, for his federal enactment it doesn’t really matter how old the car is, and no matter how many miles it has on its odometer.

 

So even for pre-owned vehicle car owners who got a warranty from the dealer, the law will cover such an automobile. Like it had been alluded before, the federal law Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act)  would be applicable when you have a “written warranty” or a “service contract” from the dealer at any time for a time period of up to 90 days after the vehicle was sold. In addition to this federal law, there are states that have anti-deception enactments, which are basically laws that obligate the dealer to be truthful about the state of the car, and answer certain questions truthfully, even when the customer has not asked them.

 

This does not perhaps touch directly on the mileage limits lemon law directly, but a situation can be foreseen which envisages a rolled back odometer to reflect fewer miles. This would count among the “deceptive acts”, and such a case would no doubt entitle the consumer to some relief, such as return of the purchase price.


Having said that, many a state-wide mileage limit lemon law provide that, to qualify as a lemon, a vehicle must have a defect that presents a safety hazard and in addition, two attempts to repair the problem would have been carried out within 12’000 miles since the vehicle was delivered and two attempts after the 12’000 miles after the original 12’000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes earlier. Mileage limit information on lemon law for Arizona provides that the repairs must be completed within two years, or 24’000 miles following the date of the original delivery. This mileage limit lemon law applies for new vehicles, evidently. For used vehicles, other laws are used and the mileage limitations described here would not apply.


The mileage limit lemon law requirements would confuse many, and the convoluted nature perhaps would require some extra resources, in form of mileage limit information on lemon law to alert those who may not be so sure what the mileage limits mean.

 

Online recourses would be helpful for this purpose. Subscription to online libraries can also provide insightful mileage limit information on lemon law. But no one should be under any illusion that all the information available can be a substitute for legal advice. One needs to consult a lemon law attorney for him to evaluate the facts of the matter in order for him to give accurate mileage limit information on lemon laws applicable within a given state.