Lemon Laws FYI

The California Lemon Law is one of the most complex and complicated pieces of consumer protection legislation of any of the 50 U. S. states. Fortunately for car buyers, the California Lemon Law puts in the hands of consumers rights that are not afforded in other states.

For instance, the California Lemon Law covers new cars, leases and used cars as well. Some other states do not cover used cars. In addition, if a car is deemed a lemon in California, then this has to show up on the car’s title.

This prevents dealerships from shipping lemon cars across state lines and selling the vehicle to unsuspecting consumers in other states. The California Lemon Law is actually comprised and several different codes and pieces of legislation.

For instance, to protect auto buying consumers there is the Automotive Consumer Notification Act, the California Car Buyer’s Bill of Rights, California Consumer Warranty Protection, California Lemon Law Buyback, California Motor Vehicle Codes 1795.90 – 1796, California Odometer Disclosure, California Tanner Consumer Protection Act, California Used Car with No Warranty info, California Vehicle Complaint Form and the California Warranty Buyback Notice.

Included in some of this state legislation is the Song-Beverly Act and on a federal level, consumers will find more help in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. So, in other words, car buyers in California have many options with regard to lemon cars. California Lemon Law may be complex but if you spend some time reading about it you’ll soon realize that you are more protected than you think.

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Most U. S states have some sort of lemon law for cars, but the Indiana Lemon Law is different in a couple of different ways. First, the Indiana Lemon Law covers cars, trucks and recreational vehicles. In many states, the RV’s are excluded under the law.

Second, the Indiana Lemon Law covers these vehicles for 18-months or 18,000 miles, which is at the upper limit of what most U. S. states offer. Other states may offer 12-months and either 12,000 or 15,000 miles.

In regard to business days that a car must be in the shop for it to be considered a lemon, in Indiana it is 30 days. This is more generous to the car dealers than in many other states. In other states the lemon laws read 30 calendar days or 20 business days.

In regard to how many times does a new car or lease have to be taken in to be fixed for the same problem, the number is four which is on par with other states. What about used cars?

Indiana does not protect used car buyers like some other states do as the Indiana Lemon Law does not cover used vehicles and car owners must use the warranty they received when buying the vehicle to its full extent.

In summary, this is a comparison and contract regarding the Indiana Lemon Law to those in other states. On the positive side for consumers, RV’s are covered and on the negative side used cars are not.

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Most states have lemon laws to protect consumers who purchase new cars. But, each state’s lemon law statutes vary, so strap on your seat belt and let’s get started on a few aspects of the Rhode Island Lemon Law that you may not already know.

The RI lemon law protects consumers of new cars who take their vehicle of 10,000 pounds gross weight or less into the dealership for repair for the same problem. The dealership has a “reasonable number of attempts” which in Rhode Island is 4 attempts to fix this problem within one year or 15,000 miles.

If the car or vehicle is out of service at the dealer for 30 cumulative calendar days during this period it is considered a lemon. Rhode Island is more restrictive than some other states who give consumers 18 months or 18,000 miles and the dealer only 20 business days to fix the problem.

Now, many consumers will say their car is a lemon because they keep having to take their vehicle back to the dealership for different problems. Under Rhode Island Lemon Law, as with other states, this is not considered a lemon. The dealer has to try to fix the same problem a minimum of 4 times for it to be considered a lemon.

For those who lease cars in Rhode Island, they are covered under the same lemon law protection as those who buy new cars. Unlike some other states, Rhode Island does have a lemon law for used cars. The used car must have a warranty, however.

The RI used car lemon law goes like this. The dealership must have tried to repair the same problem 3 times and failed and the vehicle must have been out of service for 15 days for the lemon law to kick in.

If you think you have a lemon of a car in Rhode Island, then first contact the dealer to see if there is an informal dispute process that must occur. If you don’t get satisfaction with this method you can contact the RI Attorney General’s office who may have an independent arbitration procedure for your case. And, finally, a Rhode Island Lemon Law lawyer may just get the quickest and most satisfactory results.

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