Lemon Law: 2 Conditions That Can Buy You a New Car

Undoubtedly, a car is quickly becoming a basic need for most people in different parts of the world. At first, this may not seem like a necessity until the day you don’t have an accessible car.

People use cars to commute to work daily, do school drop-offs and pick-ups for their kids, as well as helping with various household chores. For instance, a car comes in handy when grocery shopping, attending your kids’ sports events, in case of an emergency, and in other extracurricular activities.

Now imagine a scenario where you.ve bought a car, and it requires frequent repairs. You could have invested a huge amount of money in this car or not. But the fact that you will need to spend most time repairing the car or risk yourself and your family is enough reason to get upset.

When you made the purchase, you were confident that this car would help solve most of the aforementioned challenges. Instead of making your life less strenuous and simple, this car has become a financial, emotional, and logistical burden. This situation may be so draining for you that you may want to understand if this warrants a lemon case. Besides, consider involving lemon law lawyers to help advise and navigate such a scenario.

At what point does the manufacturer need to replace your car, pay you money, or both? Here are a few lemon condition cases that can buy you a new car.

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  Your Car Has Major Defects

Regarding automobile lemon laws, a substantial defect translates to a condition that affects the car’s use, value, and the driver’s safety. And this can only be considered a substantial and authentic defect if it’s not brought by how the owner uses the vehicle after buying it.

Most states will consider the defect if it falls under an express warranty, and its impact is very significant to the car’s functionality or expectation.

A good example of a substantial defect includes the following: The steering or the brake is malfunctioned. This counts as a serious defect as it can compromise vehicle safety. In short, one can lose their life because of these faults.

Lemon law lawyers will help to represent your case and make the manufacturers accountable. This is easy, especially if the vehicle is for household or family use. Also, this law may apply to you if you’re a business owner with five or fewer cars. The only caveat here is to ensure that your car is still covered under the manufacturer’s warranty.

However, a loose glove compartment hinge is not considered a major defect. This is because the law considers it a small issue with minimal impact on the car’s ability to perform or to achieve its expectations in any significant way.

Sometimes the law is unclear with their definitions of major and minor. Some states may fail to address the vast and frequent issues that lie midway between broken brakes and shaky door hinges or radio controls.

This is because some states might consider a poor paint job a minor issue, while others find that these issues are part of significant defects.

But one thing is certain, regardless of the state you are in, the issues must happen within a specific time or a certain number of cumulative miles. However, if you believe the defect is major and life-threatening, lemon laws on cars can guarantee you a new car or cash back.

• The Manufacturer Has Attempted a Reasonable Number of Repairs

One thing that’s not guaranteed is that a manufacturer or a dealer needs to buy a new car even if the defect satisfies all the above issues. For the lemon laws on cars to be effective, the dealer or manufacturer is given a reasonable number of chances to fix the issue. Once they have tried fixing it, and the issue persists, the vehicle can be branded as a lemon.

Naturally, everyone would like to understand what it means in a reasonable amount of time. They will demand to know something specific and measurable. So let’s say your car has defective brakes and steering, and it’s still covered under the express manufacturers’ warranty. What’s the acceptable and ideal number of attempts? Here are some of the most specific examples that explain it:

First, if the car can cause risk of fire, explosion, death, or severe physical harm, the dealer or manufacturer is given at most only two attempts.

However,  if the defect is less likely to result in death or severe physical harm, but your car has several recurring problems, the manufacturer needs to address the issue in at most four attempts. Besides, if the car has been out of service for more than 30 days (total, it doesn’t have to be continuous), it has exhausted the reasonable number of attempts.

If these two scenarios are the case for your car, you can be certain that this can guarantee you a new car. With a lemon law attorney, it can be easy to file a claim that can help your case. The lemon law lawyers will ensure you get the best deal.

Tips to Protect Yourself In Case of Lemon Laws for Cars

• First, you need to ensure you document every repair visit. Therefore, you need to keep all the invoices or repair orders from the dealer. Moreover, to be extremely safe, it is crucial that you keep a record of any issue that you have with your car; this includes the date and time of each issue.
• Additionally, it is significant to note everything down. You need to write down the people you speak with, what the conversation is about, dates, and times. Ensure you write down all your grievances and keep a copy of yourself.
• Before the dealer starts working on your car, ensure you have an invoice or repair order. Besides, you need to be keen on your invoice or repair order. They need to have accurate details of the defect. You shouldn’t accept anything generic that doesn’t highlight what they repaired.
• Ensure you read the fine print to avoid purchasing someone else’s lemon. Manufacturers must mention the manufacturer’s buyback. This makes it easy for the buyer to know that another customer had an issue with the car once you notice such words.

Final Thoughts

Your car acts as an extension of your daily life. Therefore, it is ok if you get upset in case of a recurring problem, especially if it is still new.

You should prioritize having supporting documents to get a new car. You’re more likely to be compensated than those with little or no documents.

Ensure you keep the advertisement products or brochures the vehicle manufacturer used when promoting their product. Also, it is prudent to have any car repair invoices and receipts for each time the car has been in the shop. All these, and other essential documents, will come in handy when you present your grievance to lemon law lawyers.