All That You Need to Know About the Lemon Law
The government of any country is responsible for protecting all consumers from any kind of fraud or buying a defective product. Therefore, the government has created a law which is known as “lemon laws” for protecting consumers from buying any defective cars.
With this law, all car buyers can claim a refund for their defective cars. However, the car dealers too will be allowed to set right the defects of the vehicle before they take advantage of this lemon law.
What is a lemon law?
As mentioned before, these laws are particularly designed to protect the interest of the buyers of the car to get the right to buy cars of the right quality with better performance standards.
Let us try to understand what the requirements are to meet the conditions of this law.
Lemon law requirements
One cannot apply this lemon law to every situation. Any problem with a new car must generally occur when the car in question is under warranty period. This law doesn’t need to be applicable only for any new car warranty. It is also applicable with used cars too that come with a little more limited warranty.
The lemon law requirements are that:
- The manufacturer of the car has made attempts to repair a particular problem that was repeatedly seen several times (the exact number will be decided by the court) but it was without any success. Also, there can not only be a single problem but also multiple problems due to which it will make the car not usable.
- Attempts to repair the problems were done within the initial 1 to 2 years after the buyers have owned the car.
- The buyers were unable to use that car in question because of repairs for a minimum period of 30 days.
Besides following the various requirements of this lemon law, one must keep in mind the following few tips:
- You must take your car for repair to the authorized dealership only so that you can meet the conditions of the lemon law for both new and used cars. If you have taken your car to some other mechanic, then the manufacturer cannot be held responsible.
- Also, make sure that you must maintain detailed records of each repair. If your case ever goes to court then, you will need to show the court that you had given the manufacturer plenty of opportunities to repair your car.
You will also have to prove, for how long you could not use your car due to all those problems and also attempted repairs. - You must consider hiring an attorney from any good law form like Naqvi Injury Law who is well versed with Nevada used car Lemon laws. Since all car manufacturers also have experienced and knowledgeable teams of attorneys on their side who deal with various lemon law claims.
If you have an experienced attorney with good knowledge of lemon law then you can be assured that your case will be contested properly and you will have peace of mind. If you manage to win your lemon law case, then the car manufacturer will be responsible for paying all your attorney costs.
What can qualify lemon law?
To qualify to meet the conditions for lemon under the various state laws, your car must meet the following conditions:
- There must be a substantial defect that is also covered by the manufacturer’s warranty and the defect must occur within some period or after running certain miles after buying the car, and
- Your car could not be fixed even after several attempts were made.
1. Substantial defect
When we say a “substantial defect”, that means that the problem is covered under the warranty that can impair the use of the car, safety, or value, e.g. faulty steering or brakes.
A few minor defects like loose radio knobs or door handles are not covered under the definition of this “substantial defect.” Usually, the boundary wall between these “minor” and “substantial” defects is very thin and not always very clear.
Few not-so-obvious conditions, like horrible smells or defective paint jobs, have also been considered as substantial defects.
This substantial defect should happen within a certain time or after covering certain miles. These defects should not be caused due to any abuse.
2. Reasonable repair attempts
The dealer and manufacturer must be offered a “reasonable” number of opportunities to fix this substantial problem before considering lemon. The following standards are applicable for lemon law:
- For serious safety-related defects like brakes or steering the problem should remain unfixed after a single repair attempt.
- For not so serious safety defects, the problem should remain unfixed after 3 or 4 repair attempts.
- If your vehicle remains in the workshop for 30 days or more within one year for repairing one or more than one defect, then it will be considered for a lemon.
