Lemon Law for California

If you have leased a new vehicle it can be covered by California lemon law. CA lemon law presumes that a leased vehicle is a lemon if:

• It has manufacturer’s defects affecting its use, safety or value

• The  defects have occurred during the first 18 months from the original owner’s delivery date or the first 18,000 miles on the odometer (whichever period ends first) unless your vehicle is covered by a longer warranty; if you have a longer warranty, Lemon Law protects you for the entire warranty period

• It has been taken in four times for the same problem or if it has been out of service for 30 days due to a series of unrelated problems; or if the problem is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, the vehicle has been taken in two times for repair

• You have notified the manufacturer of the need for repair (if the notification is required in your owner’s manual)

According to CA lemon law if your leased vehicle is a lemon you may be awarded a replacement vehicle of the same year, make, and model. You may also qualify for a monetary compensation, which can include:

• Down payment and lease payments

• Sales tax

• Registration fees

• Finance charges paid on your lease

• Towing and vehicle rental costs

• Incidental costs

• Attorney’s fees

The amount of the monetary reward may be reduced by a deduction for the total mileage on the vehicle and is calculated by dividing the miles drive at the time of the first repair attempt by 120,000, and multiplying by the purchase price.

Remember organization is the key to presenting a convincing lemon law case. The more organized your evidence is, the more likely your lemon law attorney is to win your case. So you’d better keep all of the paperwork you received every time you brought your vehicle to be serviced as well as catalog the days the vehicle spent in the shop and out of your possession.

Lemon Law litigation begins when the person who owns the lemon (plaintiff) files a complaint against the auto manufacturer (defendant) with the court and sends a copy of the complaint to the manufacturer and, frequently, the dealer. The complaint explains the vehicle defects so that the lawsuit can be considered a lemon law case or a breach of warranty case, as well as why the defendant should be found legally responsible for the defects.

The defendant is given a specific amount of time to answer to the lemon law complaint explaining its side of the dispute. Sometimes, the plaintiff files a reply to respond to the defendant’s answer. Instead of an answer or reply, the defendant may request that the lemon vehicle owner clarify issues or correct mistakes in the stated facts. This may lead to amended complaints or amended answers.

Once both the lemon vehicle owner and the manufacturer have settled on a complaint, answer, and reply, the case is said to be “at issue,” which means that the issues for resolution of the lemon law case are now clearly defined.

It is important to know about your consumer rights under the California lemon law. If you qualify as an aggrieved party you are entitled to get a refund or another vehicle of the same brand and high quality. There are many details to be considered if the plaintiff desires a favorable verdict.

The first step in restoring your losses is the manufacturer’s arbitration that is voluntary in California. It is important for the consumer to know that he/she does not have to use it to enforce the Lemon Law. Very often in the course of the arbitration process, the manufacturer may make an offer to the consumer to “resolve” his/her CA lemon law claim. However, such an offer may not follow the requirements of the Lemon Law and may provide the consumer with substantially less than the Lemon Law would otherwise provide the consumer. So the consumer would better get help from a CA lemon law attorney.

Your lemon lawyer will work on your behalf to get the compensation you are entitled to — typically in the form of a refund, a replacement vehicle, or a cash settlement. Your lemon law attorney will ask you for all of your repair orders and correspondence that pertain to your lemon. Your lawyer will conduct a thorough investigation of your vehicle’s repair history, then present the manufacturer with a statement outlining your case and demanding full recovery. Manufacturers usually settle very quickly knowing that the cost of going to court will be much higher. However if they don’t settle your lemon law attorney will sue the manufacturer and resolve your lemon law case.

If you have a lemon car you should know that you are protected by California lemon law. Even if the manufacturer refuses your claim you can protect your rights in a court.

Car companies avoid going to court on a lemon law case as there are some risks for them.

a) Lemon law cases are rarely completed with the own attorneys of the car companies so it is really very expensive for them to defend a lemon law case even if they win. Defending from your claims can cost them about $20,000 by the time a lemon law trial is completed.

b) Car companies risk losing more money than the car originally costs going to court. Due to a jury decision there is also a possibility of having to pay your attorney fees in addition to their attorney fees. Instead they could save more money buying back your car and still recover some of their loss by selling your old car. Or they could replace your car with a new one (if you wish) and also save a lot of money.

c) Dealing with a lemon law case car companies have to deal with the bad publicity as well. Though your case is likely not going to make headlines in famous newspapers, but it still registers as newsworthy and can negatively affect the public image of the car company which may result in a significant loss of sales. For car companies public attention to a lemon law case may have more risks than a loss in court.

These risks give you a great advantage. If you have a lemon car know that the CA lemon law is on your side and with a professional lemon law attorney you can protect your rights.

There are several steps the car owner should take to help him/her win a lemon law case. The first and the most important factor for a successful case is the paperwork. The vehicle owner should keep all the record about repairs of the vehicle. All the record should be meticulous and detailed, including a cover sheet that shows all the repairs that were done for the car, summarizing with date, place of service, description of problem, details of repair, hours of labor, cost of labor, cost of parts, sales tax and total of repair bill.

Another thing you will need is good knowledge of the lemon Law statutes in your state. The number of repairs required before you will be allowed to take the case to court varies from state to state. Keep in mind that should have the minimum number of repairs completed within the time frame of the statutes.

Make sure that the vehicle you have purchased is covered by the lemon laws in your state. If you have bought a used car, find out if your state lemon law covers used cars. Some states even cover leased vehicles. Be sure that lemon law statutes in your state cover your RV, motorcycle, SUV, truck, van or other large consumer item, such as a computer.

If you want to win a lemon law case you should make every effort possible. It is very important to do everything in a timely manner. Remember, that time is the essence in every lemon law case, including timing time period to complete repairs, as well as time to file and get the consumer protection.

Pursuing your lemon law rights the first step is to document your case. Write a letter to the manufacturer describing the problems you’ve had with the vehicle and ask him to “buy back” your car because it is a lemon. Send the letter by certified mail to the manufacturer’s address published in your vehicle’s owner’s manual. Even if there is a customer service number, don’t waste time by calling, because a letter is required to document your lemon law case.

In some cases the manufacturers voluntarily buy your lemon back without any further action on your part. Otherwise you should hire an attorney or use the manufacturer’s arbitration program that is an informal alternative to a court trial widely used to settle disputes.

You can check whether the manufacturer has an arbitration program or not by looking in your owner’s manual or calling the state Consumer Affairs hotline. If you decide to use arbitration, call to ask for an application form and a copy of the arbitration program’s rules, to understand the process that will be used in deciding your lemon law case.

Gather all documents that can help prove your case, make copies and submit them to the arbitration panel. You will be given a hearing date within 40 days. You may accept or reject the program’s decision. If you accept the decision, the manufacturer is bound by the decision and has 30 days to comply. There is no appeal process for the manufacturer. If you lose in arbitration don’t be discouraged as you can go to court to sue for a replacement or refund.

In case the manufacturer doesn’t have an arbitration program, or you prefer to pursue your lemon law rights in court, you can file a lawsuit. In this case, you will need to hire an attorney specializing in lemon law. With an experienced lemon law attorney you will be able to obtain justice and get a full refund or replacement.

There are some factors that arbitrators usually consider when reviewing your Lemon Law case:

• Whether your vehicle has a problem that substantially affects its use, value, and/or safety to you;
• Whether the problem was caused by an unreasonable use of your vehicle;
• Whether the problem is determined to be a substantial one by the arbitrator;
• Whether the manufacturer has had a reasonable opportunity to attempt repair your vehicle including:

• the number of repair attempts
• the number of days your vehicle was in the shop for repair
• other factors that affect the number of repair attempts, and the reasonableness of those factors
• whether your warranty dispute falls under the Lemon Law Presumption

• Whether a further repair attempt is likely to remedy the problem;
• The occurrence and amount of any incidental damages including:

• sales taxes
• license fees
• registration fees
• other official fees
• prepayment penalties
• early termination charges
• earned finance charges
• repair, towing and rental costs actually paid

• Whether a mileage deduction should apply
• Any other issue that is related to the particular dispute.

California Lemon Law is aimed at protecting the consumer’s right to return the defective vehicle to the manufacturer if it has problems that impact its use, value, or safety. In order to apply for the Lemon Law, the vehicle needs to be under the original manufacturer’s warranty, have reasonable number of repair attempts, or stayed at the service for repair for over 30 days (for the same problem).

Vehicle manufacturers generally do not want to refund and attempt to argue that the vehicle was misused or altered by the vehicle owner in such a way that void the warranty.  Even though the vehicle manufacturers dislike repurchasing their own products, they will generally be persuaded to go along with the purchaser if the automobile really is a Lemon according to the Lemon Law.

After buying a vehicle, it’s wise to follow the suggestions below.

• You should precisely follow the suggested maintenance schedules and take the vehicle to a dealership to have all warranty repairs performed.
• Even if the garage made no repairs, you should keep the receipt.
• You should take your vehicle to the dealership straightaway if it is not behaving correctly. Your rights under your warranty may be forfeited if the problem worsens due to not being recognized.
• A continuous problem needs to be reported to the dealership’s service manager and the manufacturer’s rep in writing.
• Never alter the stock vehicle configuration with non-stock parts. Van conversions are a potential problem because after they are converted, they are no longer considered stock.
• The California Lemon Law does not cover defects resulting from misuse, unauthorized or unreasonable use of the vehicle.

By using these tips, you can improve the chances of a successful Lemon Law case.

Many people faced with lemon law case want to know how a lemon law claim would proceed. Though each case is different and the results are different depending upon the facts, there are some basic steps of the process outlined below.

1. You call a law firm practicing in the area of lemon law and the attorney takes all the information concerning your potential case, OR you complete a Free Lemon Law Case Review or Contact form available at the website of the law firm you choose, and/or fax your repair receipts for review.
2. The lemon law attorney reviews provided information and if it is determined that you have a potential lemon law claim, the law firm calls you to go over the information.
3. Then you’ll be asked to fax or e-mail the copies of all your repair orders and the purchase contract if you have not already done so.
4. As soon as all your paperwork is reviewed by the attorney the law firm lets you know whether it can accept your claim and what a reasonable outcome to your case could be.
5. Then the defendant (the manufacturer or dealer in most cases) is given a notice (by an informal letter) of your lemon law claim trying to resolve the matter without the need for court intervention. This method is referred to as informal dispute resolution.
6. If a settlement offer is made the law firm contacts you to discuss your options and counsel you on whether to accept or reject.
7. If no settlement is reached, the law firm should file suit in the court which serves your specific case needs best.
8. After filing suit, the law firm begins the process of discovery and disclosure providing the manufacturer the proof of its lemon law violations, and asks for detailed information from them in return. By this step all the facts are being thoroughly researched to find out the obvious and hidden clues of your case in depth.
9. If after all the above a resolution cannot be reached, the law firm proceeds to trial and the outcome usually favors the plaintiff.

A person who qualifies as a grieved party under the CA lemon law is entitled to a compensation by the manufacturer or dealer. There are many essential details to be considered if the plaintiff desires a verdict that is favorable.

The first step in recovering the losses is arbitration. Vehicle manufacturers are bound by law to assign a company called BBB (”the better business bureau”) auto line arbitration, for judging the validity and the outcome of a claim. An arbitrator assigned by the BBB listens to the claims of the aggrieved party and judges the outcome of a case. Then the arbitrator listens to the respondent’s (manufacturer) side of the story and decides whether the car owner is really entitled to the claim. If the arbitrator makes a decision in favor of the car owner, then the owner immediately becomes entitled to a refund.

The courtroom trial is the next step and the outcome usually favors the plaintiff.  The chances of receiving a refund are great if the damage is irreparable. The car owner’s compensation is usually equal to the original cost of the vehicle. The other types of refund include the fees of the attorney and a refund for the financial loss caused by the damages. In many cases punitive damages have been also awarded to the owner, amounting to twice the financial loss from vehicle repairs.

CA lemon law case outcome generally favors the plaintiff and there should be no hesitation about fighting a case in court, if the damages are inherent and irreparable.