| California Lemon Law -
The California Lemon Law |
| California Lemon Law -
About The Law Offices of William R. McGee |
| California Lemon Law -
We answer the top 7 questions |
Why you should demand a
"Retainer Agreement" be sent to you before
allowing any attorney to represent you. |
| California Lemon Law -
Before you hire any lemon law attorney |
| California Lemon Law -
Why choose our law firm |
| California Lemon Law -
How Do I Get Started? |
| California Lemon Law -
Hiring California’s largest Lemon Law firm |
| California Lemon Law -
Warranty repairs. What is a “repair attempt”? |
| California Lemon Law - Manufacturer’s “customer assistance” 800
#'s |
| California Lemon Law - Arbitration – what you should know |
| California Lemon Law -
FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions – part 1) |
| California Lemon Law - FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions – part 2) |
| California Lemon Law - Used Car lemon law |
| California Lemon Law -
Car dealership pressure sales tactics |
| California Lemon Law -
See us on California’s freeways and highways |
| California Lemon Law -
California Lemon Law Attorneys - Locations |
| California Lemon Law - The “No Cooling Off Period” rule |
| California Lemon Law - Car dealership contract fraud |
| California Lemon Law - Securing proper warranty repair documentation |
| California Lemon Law - Changes in the California Lemon Law |
| California Lemon Law -
Senate Bill 1718 Passed |
| California Lemon Law - Submit your case information on-line |
| California Lemon Law - Contact us via e-mail |
| California Lemon Law - e-mail this site to a friend |
| California Lemon Law - Call us toll-free |
| California Lemon Law - Lemon in another state? |
| California Lemon Law -
Read Client Testimonials |
| California Lemon Law - “Warranty Repair History” - What,
Why, and How. |
| California Lemon Law - Automobile Manufacturer’s “solutions", “offers” and “releases” |
| California Lemon Law - Turning frustration into “time well spent” |
| California Lemon Law - Your vehicle’s warranty book
as it “applies” to California Lemon Law. |
California
Lemon Law – Quick Reference Guide
The California lemon law offers protection for buyers of
new cars, trucks, motorhomes, and motorcycles. The
California lemon law provides different options to the
consumer and manufacturer.
For California lemon law to apply to cars and trucks that
qualify under the statute, the manufacturer must offer to
replace or repurchase the offending lemon law vehicle,
with the consumer not being forced to accept a
replacement. California lemon law treats motorhomes and
motorcycles differently. The California lemon law allows
the manufacturer to repurchase or replace under the
statute, at their discretion.
Automobile manufacturers will print warranty books that
contain “instructions” for consumers that think they
may have a lemon law vehicle that qualifies under
California lemon law. Consumers must remember that these
lemon law “instructions” or “steps to follow” are
what the automobile manufacturer wants you to do, and is
NOT the California lemon law. For example, many
manufacturers warranty books will attempt to direct the
consumer with a California lemon law claim to attend an
arbitration hearing. Arbitration is NOT required under the
California Lemon Law to pursue a lemon law claim. Nor is
there any requirement under the California Lemon Law to
bring a lemon law claim within 18 months or 18,000 miles.
You as the consumer have the entire new vehicle limited
warranty period (usually 3 years/36,000 miles or 4
years/50,000 miles) to bring your California lemon law
claim. If the repeated problem continues AFTER the
expiration of the warranty under the lemon law, in certain
cases you may still be applicable to protection under the
California lemon law. The California lemon law also uses
the manufacturers “extra power-train warranty
coverage” as lemon law protection for consumers. These
“power-train” warranties often provide for repairs as
long as 100,000 miles, and under the California lemon law
can be utilized to qualify a vehicle as a “lemon”.
When our California lemon law was passed many years ago,
the automobile manufacturers were allowed to set up
NON-binding arbitration as an OPTION for the consumer to
utilize in an attempt to settle their lemon law dispute.
Consumers in California must realize that these dispute
resolution mediums are often nothing more than a way for
automobile manufacturers to be given “another chance”
at fixing the consumers vehicle. One of the three
potential decisions that can be handed down at an
arbitration hearing is “the repair decision”. The
automobile manufacturers representative argues to the
arbitrator that the manufacturer should be given an
additional attempt to repair the vehicle, or argue that
they (coincidentally) “now have a fix developed” for
the consumers repeated defect. The consumer often goes
into a arbitration hearing expecting a “win” or
“lose” decision, but becomes stunned when finding out
that the outcome of their arbitration hearing for their
lemon law claim is simply to have their vehicle repaired
again! Arbitrators are not lawyers. Arbitration is NOT
required to pursue legal remedy in California under the
lemon law.
“Customer Assistance Centers”. Consumers can call the
manufacturers toll-free “assistance center”. They can
explain that they feel they have a vehicle that qualifies
under the California lemon law. The representatives will
give out a “case number” to the consumer. Often times
the unknowing consumer thinks this “case” number means
something, especially when followed by the potential
language of “we are opening a case number for you”.
Consumers can be potentially mislead that this is the
“opening” or “start” of a legal California lemon
law case. It is NOT. A “case number” is often nothing
more than a REFERENCE number to the consumer calling in
their complaint(s) that allows the automobile manufacturer
to establish a numerical file on the consumers call-in.
“Dealer Trade Assist”. Consumers need to be VERY aware
of this “trick of the automobile trade”. Consumers who
have been having repeated problems with their vehicle will
often seek lemon law relief by asking their car dealer to
“buy back” or replace their vehicle. What the consumer
does NOT know is that the dealer has nothing to do with
the California lemon law, nor do they have any
responsibility under the California lemon law to
repurchase or replace the offending vehicle. This is where
“opportunity knocks” for the car dealer in many
instances. The car dealer “responds” to the consumers
request by “offering” to resolve the consumers
dreadful car situation by offering “to take them out of
their car” or “get you out of this car and into a new
one” or similar verbage. This is NOT the California
lemon law. This is an example of an opportunistic dealer
sales tactic of making the consumer believe that they are
getting California lemon law relief, but in reality the
car dealer is taking the offending vehicle in trade, and
simply selling the consumer another vehicle! The dealer
often hears consumers say “you have to get me out of
this vehicle”. They are simply taking the customers
grief and turning it into profit, while the consumer loses
part or all of their earned equity in their vehicle, often
resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars. This
“dealer trade assist” can often result in the dealer
inflating the price of the “replacement” car and
putting the consumer further into debt. Consumers should
be very aware that the car dealership is in business to
make a profit, and to sell cars. The “dealer trade
assist” is just another example of how a consumer in
California can unknowingly THINK they are getting relief
from the California lemon law, but are simply being taken
advantage of.
What is the consumer to do? Consumers can simply the
entire California lemon law process by utilizing the
services of a lemon law attorney. We are The Law Offices
of William R. McGee, California Lemon Law Attorneys,
California’s largest lemon law firm. You can call us
toll-free at 1-800-CA-LEMON (1-800-225-3666) for a free
consultation or review of your repair documents to see if
you qualify for protection and relief under the California
lemon law. The California lemon law has a provision for
attorney’s fees, making the automobile manufacturer pay
the attorney for time spent on a lemon law claim. |
