Rhode Island Lemon Law – What You May Not Know
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.
Filed under: Lemon Law