What To Do If You Think Your Car Might Be A Lemon

While California’s lemon law creates various evidentiary presumptions that may come into play if your vehicle or consumer good is a lemon, the question of whether or not your car is a lemon is often best answered with one simple question – Has your vehicle (or consumer good) been in the shop too many times or more than you expected when you first bought or leased it? If the answer is yes, the bad news is you might have a lemon. The good news is that California’s lemon law is one of the strongest in the nation, and it provides that the warrantor, not you, pays the attorney’s fees and costs associated with your lemon law claim.

The next question is what to do if you think your car is a lemon. The first step is to take your car in to an authorized dealership for repair and have the vehicle repaired. Your primary obligation when making a lemon law claim is to give the car company a reasonable number of repair attempts to fix the problem, so you have to take the car in to your authorized dealer (in California) for repair. The car company in turn has an affirmative obligation to repurchase or replace your car if a substantial nonconformity could not be repaired in a reasonable number of visits. A reasonable number of repairs can be interpreted to mean as few as two times, but obviously the more times the car has been in the shop the easier it will be to establish that you have given the car company a reasonable number of opportunities to fix the car. Remember to keep all records you receive from the dealer, and be sure to insist that a record is created each time you take your car in for repair. It is also very helpful if you take pictures or videos of any problems that can be documented.

If the dealer could not fix your issue in a reasonable time, your next step is to gather the sales and service records, along with a copy of the registration card and payment information. Once you have those records, you can reach out to your car company’s customer service department, or you can contact us at Lemon Law Aid. The process of a lemon law claim is supposed be completed promptly, but the reality is that it can take several months to resolve. Because of the delays, it is often times easiest to have professional counsel available to help accelerate and assist with the process. If you have any questions about the process, or think you might have a car that is covered by the lemon law, contact us at Lemon Law Aid for a free case evaluation.[/column]