Lemon law
A new car shouldn’t know the service bay by heart
When a new or recently bought car has a defect the dealer can’t fix in a fair number of tries, the maker may owe you a buyback or a replacement.
Lemon laws differ from state to state, and they cover more than people expect: leased cars, some used cars still covered by the warranty they came with, and defects that come and go. What every one of them cares about is the record: how many times the car went in, for what, and how many days it sat in the shop.
I gather that record, put it in front of the manufacturer, and ask for what the law gives you. Many cases settle before anyone files.
What you can ask for
Three ways a lemon case can end
Which one fits depends on the car, the law and what you want.
A buyback
The maker takes the car back and repays what you paid, less an amount for the miles you drove before the first repair. The loan is paid off as part of it.
A replacement car
A comparable new vehicle in place of yours, if you’d rather keep driving the same model.
A payment, and you keep the car
Money for the trouble and the lost value, when the car runs well enough to live with.
What buyers ask about cars that won’t stay fixed
How many repair tries make a car a lemon?
It depends on the state and the defect. For a defect that makes the car unsafe it can be as few as one or two tries; for others, more. Days out of service count too. Bring your repair orders and we’ll count them together.
My car is used. Am I out of luck?
Not always. A used car still covered by the warranty it came with may qualify, and a dealer who hid a problem it knew about may answer for it under other laws even where the lemon law doesn’t reach.
Do I keep making the loan payments meanwhile?
Yes. Stopping can hurt your credit and your case. A buyback normally pays off the loan as part of the deal.
Back at the shop again? Let’s count the visits.
Free consult. If the maker pays my fee under the lemon law, you pay me nothing.
If we don’t win, you owe no fee. Court costs are covered in our written agreement before anything is filed.