Lemon Law for California

You do need a lemon law attorney to help you when your dream car turns out to be a lemon. Reading the lemon laws may not be helpful enough as they can be difficult to understand, and besides not all laws apply in all cases. That is why having an experienced lemon law attorney is helpful since he/she will explain to you how the law applies to you and what steps you should take in your particular case. By doing this you will be more ready to confront the dealer that sold you a lemon.

Do not rely on yourself in case you have been sold a lemon, you can get assistance from a CA car attorney. He/she will first try to find out the reasons that make you think the car you have bought is a lemon. It is of utmost importance to bring qualifying reasons for your car to be considered a lemon. Keep all your mechanical repair bills organized to prove your expenses. You can decide your actions after having a free consultation with a CA lemon law attorney.

If you just take the car to the dealership and ask for your money back, the chances that your demands will be satisfied are really small. The dealership will less likely take you seriously in case you do not have a lawyer. Having a good car attorney is your first significant step to a successful solution that will meet your expectations.

Your car is probably a lemon, if it has mechanical problem that cannot be fixed by the dealership. To get positive results and deal with the dealership confidently, turning to a lemon law attorney is a must.

If you have bought a car that meets lemon law requirements for your state, you have the right to obtain a refund or replacement car from the manufacturer. Although this process is different in each state, you must first notify the manufacturer of the defect in all states. In case there is no satisfactory settlement, most states require you to go to arbitration before going to court.

Manufacturers use different arbitration programs. If you are given the opportunity to choose, it is better to choose a state consumer protection agency program, rather than a manufacturer’s in-house program or a private arbitration program.

BBB (The Better Business Bureau) runs a free national program to resolve new vehicle warranty disputes. This program, called BBB Auto Line, uses arbitration and mediation to assist consumers who have lemon law claims.

Consumers who bring substantial evidence and documentation to the arbitration hearing tend to do better than those with little evidence to support their claims.

The arbitrator will hear both sides and will make a decision usually within 60 days after the hearing. Under the BBB Auto Line program, the timeline is much shorter: 3-4 business days. If the arbitrator decides that your car is a lemon, you will be entitled to a refund or replacement.

The arbitration should be taken seriously, one should get as prepared as possible before it. Although you can usually appeal a bad arbitration decision in court, it can greatly influence your case.

This whole process can take a long time. Most lemon laws allow you use your car while pursuing a claim. However, you should be careful with with. Never use your car if doing so poses a safety risk. Even if you can drive your car safely, some courts may view your case less favorably in case they learn you were able to keep driving your car.

Each year nearly 150,000 cars turn to be lemons, i.e. cars that have repeated, unfixable problems. Every state has some type of “lemon law” that regulates the cases when one acquires a lemon car. To take advantage of these laws, you should know what qualifies as a lemon and how to get a refund or replacement car.

In order to qualify as a lemon, the car must

(1) have a substantial defect that occurred within a certain period of time or number of miles after the car was bought.

(2) not be fixed after a reasonable number of repair attempts.

A “substantial defect” is a problem covered by the warranty that significantly impairs the car’s use, value or safety, such as faulty brakes or steering. Minor defects such as loose radio knobs and door handles do not meet the legal definition of “substantial defect.”

As with most legal definitions, the line between a “minor” and a “substantial” defect is not clear enough. Some not so evident conditions, such as defective paint jobs or horrible smells, have been found to be substantial defects.

In all US states, the substantial defect must occur within a certain period of time (usually one or two years) or within a certain number of miles (usually 12,000 or 24,000). The defect must not be caused by abuse.

The dealer or manufacturer is allowed to make a “reasonable” number of attempts to fix the problem before your car is considered to be a lemon. To be protected under your state’s lemon law you must meet one of the following standards

•    If the defect is a serious safety defect, involving brakes or steering, it must remain unfixed after one repair attempt.

•    If the defect is not a serious safety defect, it must remain unfixed after three or four repair attempts (the number varies by state).

•    If the vehicle is in the shop a certain number of days (usually 30 days in a one-year period) to fix one or more substantial warranty defects, it may fit the definition of a lemon.

Although most state lemon laws apply to new car sales only, a few states have lemon laws that also cover used cars.

Sometimes you don’t consider your new car a lemon until it is too late (the defective vehicles is out of warranty, has more mileage and you own it longer than the lemon law requires).

For that reason, you should always keep a track of your repair visits starting from the very first one. Get copies of all Warranty Repair Orders. If the dealer rejects your request, document it. Obtain the Invoice as soon as you get your car out of the shop. That is your proof of having gone through a repair.

Sometimes the dealers would say there were no charges, and therefore no invoice can be presented. But it’s the invoice that shows the lemon car repair attempts. This will help you during the litigation process, when you will have to prove that the manufacturer failed to fix the car after the reasonable number of repair attempts.

You need to document everything. Make sure you write down to who you talk, what you say, dates, specific time. Keep a copy for yourself. Put your complaints into writing. While at a shop, be attentive that the dealer puts in writing your complaint correctly.

You should record the odometer readings during your repair shop visits as well. Make sure you include the dates of taking the car into the shop and picking it up. California Lemon Law takes into consideration the cumulative number of the days the car is out of service due repair.

When buying a car, you probably, do not think it is going to be a lemon. But as the owner, you should be ready to face problems, therefore, document everything.

Though the congressional hearings of Toyota are already over and Toyota is setting up a North American Quality Advisory Panel, the problem with accelerator pedals is still unsolved. It still affects the safety of drivers and pedestrians.

The well-known Edmunds.com, which is one of the best automotive sources, is planning to provide one million dollars to those, who research the matters with acceleration. The research doesn’t specifically focus on Toyota, as the same problem appeared with other vehicle producers. 20 years ago Audi was in the news headlines for unintended acceleration.

Edmunds.com is currently working on rules for this “crowd sourcing” project.

Meanwhile, the whole buzz on Toyota recalls has shown once again the relevance of the California lemon law, which is there to protect the buyers of defected cars. Dealers might use numerous tricks to assure the customers that the problem is fixed. But a lemon car might still be a lemon, unless you try to obtain your rights.

Make sure your car can be considered a lemon. And keep in mind that the California lemon law could work for you if the defect made your car accelerate and that Toyota abandoned any fixing.

And don’t hesitate to get consulting on your lemon car.

Lemon laws protect people who have bought a defective vehicle that the dealer cannot or will not repair. If you bought a lemon, the California lemon law gives you a powerful and effective way to get rid of it and receive compensation for your troubles.

If you think you have a lemon car don’t count on the automaker’s good faith to repair or replace it. The dealership and car manufacturer have attorneys. So should you. Don’t put your lemon law problem on hold. Calling the dealer’s hotline may even delay solving your problem.

You are likely to spend months wading through the manufacturer’s “owner loyalty hotlines,” “customer satisfaction departments,” or “quality care divisions” while waiting for your problem to be resolved. These departments don’t offer meaningful, immediate assistance and rarely solve lemon law problems. They just hope that you will give up and sell the car or trade it and buy another and the car manufacturer will not have to accept the financial obligation and disclosure requirements that go along with buying back a lemon vehicle.

But why you should give up if it doesn’t cost a dime. Attorney’s fees are included in lemon law settlements. In other words, the manufacturer will have to pay all of the legal costs associated with your lemon law claim.

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.

When you send a lemon law claim letter to the manufacturer you usually get a negative response. This is because car companies are sure that if they deny every claim then most people who complain will probably go away. And unfortunately most people usually do so.

Car companies also think that most of the rest of the lemon law cases will also go away if they stretch out the process for as long as they can. They think so because of the following reasons:

1) Many people can’t or won’t come up with the money they need to retain an attorney. Or they’ll be scared of going to court and back out.

2) Some people may decide that going through the lemon law complaint process isn’t worth the effort and usually just sell the car privately.

3) Some people may think that before the case gets to court something could happen to the car. They could move to another state or have an accident which the company can then blame all the problems on.

4) Car companies know that if they stretch out the process long enough, people will put thousands of more miles on the car, the value of the car will then be reduced because the car is older and has been used more. So, if you put on another 30,000 miles on the car they get to deduct 30,000 more miles worth of depreciation from the price they pay you in the settlement. In other words, the longer the car is used the less they have to pay for it in the end.

5) Most people will end up taking a low-ball offer for their lemon law attorney fees and a couple of thousand dollars.

Car companies are fully sure that time is on their side and if they wait it out, they can get rid of about 95% of lemon law cases without even getting close to the courthouse steps. As a matter of fact they are counting on this.

All cars built after 1981 have a 17-character number that is actually called the vehicle identification number (VIN). VIN number is unique to that individual automobile you can use to get valuable detailed information about that specific car’s history. It can help you detect a “lemon” before you buy it.

The VIN number can tell about all of the records for everything that has ever happened to that car. It gives you an opportunity to trace your car from the factory all the way to the scrap heap.

You can find the VIN number in numerous places in the car - inside the doors, the dash, the trunk, engine, and/or quarter panels, etc. Look over the car and make sure that all of the VIN numbers you can find are the same when you look inside the car. If they are different, it may mean that the car has been totally rebuilt using parts from other cars.

Before buying any specific car, you need to get a VIN report. Your VIN can be used to track any warranty claims, recalls, registrations, thefts, and insurance coverage too. Guard yourself from buying a lemon car by thoroughly checking the VIN number on the used car you want to buy.

If you fail to do so, you may get stuck with a lemon car and soon may need a good lemon law specialist to get rid of it.

Though there is lemon law that will protect you if you as a consumer, it’s wise to take the time to do enough research before you buy a car. Good research will help you find out if the model of car you are interested in has any well known defects or other known issues. There are lots of websites that you can find a lot of interesting information about your favorite model of car.

Before you buy a car make sure you are not too attached to it. Emotions may sway your decisions, which could keep you from paying attention to the signs that are telling you the car you want to buy could be a “lemon“.

Don’t buy a used car without having it thoroughly checked out by an independent mechanic. It’s better to spend some money on a car before buying it to find out all problems it may have beforehand. This small amount spent now can save you thousands of dollars and many months of headaches trying to fix the situation if you happen to get a lemon.

Buying a used car you should look at the average yearly mileage as most used cars start to break down once you pass 100,000 miles. Besides, it gives you a good idea of how hard the previous owner drove the car. The harder a car is driven the more wear and tear its parts get. Obviously, this will speed up any mechanical breakdowns.

Before you buy a car you should check the car’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to to get all of the records for everything that has ever happened to that individual car. You can see if the car has had any major repairs or recalls or has been in any accidents. Doing this will certainly save you a lot of time and money later.