Lemon Law Summary
Lemon Laws in the US were established to help protect the consumer against the purchase of a bad product, most notably automobiles. Understanding your legal rights when it comes to your state s Lemon Law is important, as is deciding whether or not you should use an attorney.
Different states have different laws. To find out what your state s lemon laws are, simply look on your state s website, or contact your state s Attorney General s office, or call a qualified lemon law attorney.
In general, a “lemon” is defined as a vehicle that:
- Is still within a “warranty period”. Usually one year or 12,000 miles to two years or 24,000 miles, depending on your state, and
- Has a “nonconformity” that affects the safety, use, or value of the vehicle, and
- The nonconformity has not been successfully repaired after a “reasonable” number of attempts, and/or
- The vehicle has been out of service for a total of a certain number of days for repair of the nonconformity.
If you decide to handle this yourself then be sure of the following :
1. That you understand your state s lemon law.
2. That you document everything relating to repairs of the vehicle, including when and where it was repaired, who signed the work order and what work was done.
You should then contact the manufacturer in writing, alerting them to the nature of the problem. You may have to go through an arbitration process. This involves both you and a representative of the manufacturer explaining your respective situations to a panel that will then provide a ruling.
However you may alternatively choose to us an attorney. If so, be sure to choose one who is conversant with your state s lemon law, and preferably choose one with a history of only representing consumers, not manufacturers. Using an attorney usually brings the case to a solution more quickly than if you handle the case yourself.
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