The Facts about Vehicle Lemon Law

In the State of California, we have laws called the lemon laws. They refer to the laws surrounding dysfunctional vehicles sold in the state of California to unsuspecting motorists and focus on helping these motorists receive the reimbursement they deserve from the manufacturers who are at fault.

For years, people have used these laws to recoup their loses after purchasing faulty cars and trucks. However, what most people fail to realize is that the lemon laws cover more than just your typical commuter vehicles. Also covered under the lemon law are motorcycles, SUVs, motor homes, boats, and small water craft. This lens is designed to give information about these lemon laws so the residents of California won't have to fear purchasing a dud.
Qualifications
4 Rules of the Lemon Law

The lemon law itself can only help you if your vehicle falls under certain criteria. These criteria are written into the law and are extremely complicated, but they can be summarized. Listed below are the four main rules:

1 - The problem(s) must affect the vehicle's safety, use, or value

2 - The vehicle must be in for repairs for the same problem(s) FOUR or more times

3 - Repair attempts must be made on any major safety defects at least TWICE

4 - The vehicle must be non-operative/out of service for at least THIRTY days

The first of these criteria is of the utmost importance. If a problem persists with your vehicle that is not considered unsafe, value-reducing, or unproductive by a judge, then the lemon law does not cover you. In other words, an inoperative cigarette lighter probably won't be covered.
Time

Once you have determined the legitimacy of your case, you must think about the amount of time you are willing to expend upon it. On average, a non-litigated case takes no more than ninety days. However, if the case needs to be litigated, it could take up to a year or more.


What About the Cost

At first, the cost to you is high. I'm going to be perfectly honest here and tell you that you must continue making payments on your faulty vehicle, even if it isn't working, during the entire course of the litigation process. Why? Well, the vehicle is still yours and your credit and life will be affected by a failure to realize that.

However, once the litigation process is over and your vehicle is legally considered a lemon, part of the settlement includes repayment for you. The manufacturer of your vehicle is required to reimburse you for the payments you've made, the legal costs you've accumulated, taxes, and many other costs.


Get a Good Attorney

The California Lemon Law requires manufacturers to pay "reasonable" attorney fees as part of your settlement. However, you must beware. The manufacturer's idea of "reasonable" and your attorney's may be different. It is up to your lemon law lawyer to determine if he will charge you additional fees. That's why you must choose your attorney wisely and discuss these things in advance.


Continue Repairs

In Lemon Law cases, additional repairs to the vehicle are always helpful. So don't stop getting repairs while awaiting a trial or the settlement.


Keep Your Invoices

While they are not required to prove your case, they are important to determining if a case even exists. If you have not kept your invoices, then you should go to the dealership or repair shop and ask for a printout of your service history.


How About Going to Trial?

Only a fraction of civil cases go to trial. Actually statistically speaking, only 1% of cases go to trial. You should also know that 90% of lemon law cases are settled before trial because trials are extremely expensive, and most manufacturers don't want to pay the fees for both sides of the trial.


What if

The Lemon Laws are designed to protect you, so many "what if" situations were taken into account and provisions were made. For instance, if you purchased the problem vehicle in California, registered it there, and then moved out of California, you can still invoke the California Lemon Law and be represented by a Californian attorney. Also, as long as most or all of the repairs occurred while your vehicle was under the original manufacturer's warranty, you can still submit a valid claim using the lemon law after the warranty has expired.