California’s Lemon Law Protects Consumers
California lemon laws provide the consumer with protection against manufacturer’s defects on cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles. California’s lemon laws are among the strongest in the country and were drafted and passed by the California state legislature in response to problems that consumers were having with both faulty workmanship and product failure as well as their inability to have their vehicles serviced in a timely manner under the manufacturer’s warranty. If you found yourself wondering if you have a valid claim under the California Lemon Law statues you’ll want to check with a qualified attorney.
If your car has been a problem since the day you bought it and you still can’t get it to ride the way it is supposed to you may have a claim. The intent of the lemon laws is have the manufacturer of the vehicle buy the car back or to replace it if you have already spent way too much time in and out of the service department of the dealer or a repair shop. Once you’ve decided that you’ve spent too much time trying to repair your car you’ll want to consult with an attorney to see if you have a valid claim.
Your attorney will need some documentation to help decide if you have a case or not. He or she will need your purchase or lease agreement, the current registration, information on any lien or lease holders meaning is the vehicle financed, and all of the repair orders and invoices for the history of the car’s warranty repair visits to the dealer’s service department.
If you purchased your vehicle from a used car dealer and you purchased the car “as is,” you probably don’t qualify for a claim under the California Lemon Laws. Your vehicle probably doesn’t have a free, written warranty from the manufacturer so you’re out of luck.
On the other hand if you do have an written warranty but have not gotten proper satisfaction from the dealership, though they are not obligated to do anything more than try to fix the defective part, you’re next step after seeking out the help of an attorney is to take your case up with the manufacturer of the car. However, this is no easy task considering the considerable resources that these companies have to fight your claim should they decide to do so.
Should the dealer try to replace your vehicle by writing up a brand new sales agreement for another car to replace the lemon do not fall for this trick as it is a ploy on their part to make additional money from the false sale of another vehicle and to avoid having their car branded a lemon.
Only take the advice from qualified legal experts when you are considering filing a lemon law claim against a manufacturer. Many consumers make the mistake of calling the customer service center of the dealership or manufacturer to see if they have a valid claim only to be rebuffed by company employees with neither the expertise or the motivation to answer your question with the full knowledge necessary to assess your situation.
You should also be wary of dealers that say that the manufacturer will replace your vehicle but offering nothing in writing to support this claim. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is the action that the dealer takes to fix your vehicle, a written agreement by the manufacturer to replace your vehicle, or the advice of your attorney, who in situations where the consumer has gotten no satisfaction, will start the process of filing a claim rolling through the proper channels.
To know more about California Lemon Law please browse California Lemon Law
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