How to Apply your State’s Lemon Law Against a Car Manufacturer

If you learn that your car is a lemon, here are some tips on how you can use your state’s lemon law in your favor.

Keep in mind that your complaint is with the company and not the car dealership. The dealer is only the middleman between the car-maker and the buyer.

Document Everything

Document all of your repairs and be accurate with your record-keeping. Get copies of all repairs orders and document all of the issues you experienced with the car.

Contact Your State’s Attorney General

Contact your state attorney general’s office or learn about your state’s lemon law. There are differences in each state’s law and its provisions.

Try to Resolve it with the Car Company

Determine whether your previous attempts to repair the problem satisfies the requirements of your state’s lemon law. In most cases, states allow the manufacturer several opportunities to correct the problem.

Contact the Car Manufacturer

Write to the car company if your problems continue. Tell them how frustrating it is to repair the car all of the time and how your confidence in the car’s reliability has been destroyed. Ask them to reimburse you for related expenses, such as car rental and other costs that you incurred. Most states allow you to seek reimbursement for these expenses.

State in your letter that you want your car to be replaced or fully refunded for its original cost.

Hire an Attorney

Think about hiring an attorney if the manufacturer doesn’t reply. Locate a lawyer who specializes in lemon law claims. Remember, though, that only some states let individuals recover attorney fees.

Your best protection against a negligent car manufacturer that doesn’t cooperate is having a detailed record of all your attempts to resolve the problem directly. This will show that you took the right amount of effort to solve the problem, but the car manufacturer failed to give you a viable solution.