Lemon Law
If
an automobile that has manufacturing defect(s) or requires repeated repairs
and if the automobile is under its warranty period, such a vehicle is termed
as a lemon. Lemon Law refers to the statement from the government that was
created to protect consumers from defects in automobile.
A law was placed for the benefit of consumers to prevent them from a lemon vehicle. If a vehicle is under warranty and is suffering from defects that prevent the consumer to use the vehicle effectively then Lemon law act or the Magnuson Moss Act comes into force.
Lemon law can be enforced on any sort of vehicle like a car, truck, van, SUV, motorcycle, boat, etc. If any of these vehicles is found to be defective then the consumer is entitled for either money back, replacement or a cash settlement. The law can be consulted with a Lemon law attorney.
To qualify under state "lemon laws," the defect must be substantial and must occur within a certain time or mileage period, usually 12,000 miles or one year. You usually have the option of getting a refund or a replacement vehicle for a lemon, though you may have to go to arbitration or court to exercise this option.
A dealer or manufacturer should have made a number of attempts to repair the vehicle before the vehicle is declared a lemon. Usually three or more attempts in row over a short period of time are required for any vehicle to be termed a lemon. Lemon law is also applicable to vehicles which have been resold but are still under warranty and meet the mileage and time criteria.
Motor vehicle dealers are required to inform you of your rights under the Lemon Law in your state. They also need to disclose whether the vehicle you intend to purchase has ever been returned under the Lemon Law (Lemon Buy Back). A vehicle that has been bought back by the manufacturer from the customer is known as a Lemon Buy Back. Such lemon buy backs are often sold in auctions as used cars by the manufacturers.
To ensure whether a vehicle is a lemon or not one should observe certain conditions of the vehicle before pursuing a lemon law suit. A vehicle should exhibit some serious defect or some abnormal condition. Such a condition should be covered by the manufacturer's warranty. A number of attempts to repair the issue should have been attempted (usually a minimum of three) before preparing a lemon law suit. A written notice should have also been issued to the manufacturer prior to a lemon law suit.
The Lemon law enforced for protecting consumers from the lemon vehicles is Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. This lemon law states that any advertised guarantee should explicitly state relevant information about a warranty.
A lemon vehicle explicitly loses market value due to its manufacturing defect. Moreover, manufacturing defects may lead to several life threatening circumstances. It also substantially impedes a person's ability to control or operate a motor vehicle for ordinary use or intended purposes. All these risk elements call for enforcement of Lemon law in the states of United States. Lemon Law helps consumer from all such threats and hazardous circumstances.
Based on the Lemon Law dealers and manufacturers will have to take certain initial steps in order to try to repair the problem, refund your money, or replace the vehicle.
However, if a resolution isn't reached using the mediation procedures you may choose to seek legal aid from a Lemon Law attorney.
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