May 15 2008
Lemon Laws Can Be Circumvented by Used Car Dealers. Be Careful.
Buying an automobile is not a process most people enjoy. Cars are expensive, and if you choose poorly, you are stuck with the car for quite some time. So you want to buy one that’s comfortable, suits your needs and is mechanically reliable. Fortunately for buyers, every state now has some version of a lemon law, designed to protect buyers from vehicles that are both mechanically unreliable and seemingly unrepaireable. If a vehicle spends a month or so being repaired during it’s warranty or needs three or more repair attempts to fix the same problem, most states require the manufacturer to either replace it or refund the purchase price.
But what about used cars? Buyers of used cars are generally on their own, but some states, such as California, have passed separate laws protecting buyers of used cars. Not every state has such protections, as that sort of legislation is still in its infancy. There is a small amount of protection available, however. Most, if not all, states have strict regulations regarding how manufacturers dispose of vehicles that have been determined to be lemons. These vehicles, returned to the manufacturers by their original owners, are usually repaired and resold. And most states require that these vehicles be prominently branded as such, usually on the title. In addition, most states also require that any dealer selling such a vehicle must disclose the vehicle’s history to any potential buyer.
That sounds like a good idea. What if something goes wrong?
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How inmportant is it to have ALL the documents in hand to prove a dealer fraud?
Ideally having all the documents makes it easy to prove a case, but since we have a means of obtaining all documents from the dealership once the case gets filed with the court, it is really not that important whether you have the docs at hand. The key is for you to know the facts and explain to us that the dealership has done wrong. Once we determine that a fraud has been committed there are many ways to get the proofs. At the end of the day the jury will need to decide who to believe and more likely than not we have the upper hand even if we are missing some documents. Winning is more about having the most aggressive and driven legal representation. The best thing to do is to always have us review the facts of your case and the documents in your possession in order to properly evaluate the likely outcome.