Lemon laws for used vehicles
One big advantages of purchasing a previously owned car would be the huge amount of savings one obtains, but that will only be known in the long term, as the costs of maintaining a used vehicle may make it expensive. In the past, many used vehicles were only sold on an “as is” basis, and this meant the purchasers took responsibility of any defects that the vehicle could have.
People who intend to buy a used car are faced with a question; does lemon law apply for used car? There is an inherent risk that the car being bought might not perform according to the expectations, or might have a substantial defect that makes its use almost impractical, or even unsafe. Cases of consumers buying cars that had rolled back odometers to show lower mileage, as well as some unscrupulous dealers reselling cars that had been repossessed by the manufacturer as lemon and cars with inglorious past were rife.
To deal with this problem, California became the first state to pass a legislation that protected pre-owned car buyers. Several states then followed California in passing used cars lemon laws. In some states, lemon laws for used cars would apply to a car dealer in the same way it would apply to a private seller. Recently, several states expressly prohibit the selling of cars on an “as is” basis.
Lemon law for used car may typically provide for a minimum threshold that a car must meet before the owner benefits from the law. In New York State for instance, the law covers vehicles that purchased or leased before it hit 18,000 miles or two years from the original delivery. The car must have a value of at least $1500 and was used for personal purposes. The lemon law for used cars provides that the dealers must cover several things in their warranty, including the engine, the transmission; drive axel, brakes and steering among other parts.
Having a warranty for used car does not guarantee protection under the used car lemon laws. There are cases where the dealers drag their feet on dealing with the defect, even after several attempts to repair. They do this in order to circumnavigate the lemon laws for used cars to ensure the warranty period expires before they fix the real problem.
Lemon law experts think that the lemon laws for used vehicles should be tightened to deal with cases of dealers who never bother transferring titles to the vehicles they sell or even delivering for the ones purchasers par for, as recent cases in Massachusetts show. Lemon law on used car return is also a cause for concern for industrial experts who feel the current lemon laws for used cars are not clear. Amid all these teething problems, its much better now for used car enthusiasts as they no longer ask, “are used cars covered under lemon laws?” or “does lemon law apply to used car” because the answer to that would be an emphatic yes, and so they can expect to walk into a yard to buy a vehicle without fearing that somebody is about to take a pinch of their hard earned cash.
References
- http://law.taragana.net/archive/lemon-law-for-used-cars-also/
- usedcar_lemon_factsheet.html
- http://www.californialemonlawattorneys.com/