If you’ve purchased a vehicle or have long been driving a car, you may have heard of the California Lemon Law and learned how important it is. This law is important to know because even brand new cars aren’t invulnerable to damage. If your purchased vehicle shows some defects during the warranty period and the manufacturer’s repairs haven’t solved the problem, you may need to lean on this law.
In this article, we’ll share with you what you need to know about the California Lemon Law. Keep on reading to see if you need a Lemon Law attorney in San Diego, California.
California Lemon Law in a nutshell
Under the California Lemon Law, a vehicle manufacturer should replace or repurchase your vehicle if it fails to repair your vehicle according to the express warranty after reasonable repair attempts. Let’s delve deeper into the law:
- Qualifications: You are generally qualified to be under the California Lemon Law if your vehicle has a defect during the warranty period that the manufacturer failed to repair.
- Repair visits: For the law to apply, your manufacturer must have performed a reasonable number of times to fix the vehicle within the warranty period. The law does not require any specific number of repair visits; however, four visits for the same defect will most likely qualify.
- No visit requirement: There has been some confusion among consumers that the law requires for the repair visits to occur within the first 18 months or 18,000 miles of use. This requirement doesn’t apply at all. As long as your repair visits occurred within the warranty period, then you will be afforded the protections of the law.
The benefit of California Lemon Law
What can you get out of this qualification under the California Lemon law? Once your vehicle qualifies under this law, you will be entitled to the following:
1st option:
- Refund – You will get a refund of your down payment as well as any monthly finance payments.
- Payoff – Your vehicle loan will be paid off in full.
- Incidental damages reimbursement – This includes damages such as rental car expenses, repair costs, and towing expenses.
2nd option:
- Vehicle repurchase or replacement – You may have your vehicle replaced with a similar vehicle instead of a refund.
Types of vehicles covered by the California Lemon Law
The California Lemon Law applies to the following types of vehicles:
- Used vehicles: Any used vehicles are covered by the scope of the law, as long as the repair visits occurred within the original or extended warranty period.
- Leased vehicles: It’s worth knowing that this law applies to both purchased and leased vehicles as well.
- Anything other than vehicles: This law applies to all consumer goods such as motorcycles, boats, and recreational vehicles.
Conclusion
Overall, it’s a good thing that there is such a law as the California Lemon Law that will protect the drivers or consumers against vehicle dealerships and manufacturers.
If you think your vehicle qualifies under the law based on the valuable information mentioned above, it’s best to hire a lemon law attorney in San Diego, California. A lawyer specialized in this law can help you out with getting a refund or repurchase for your defective purchased vehicle.
We are a law firm working with consumers pursuing California Lemon Law claims against car dealerships and manufacturers. If you’re looking for the best Lemon Law attorney in San Diego, get in touch with us to see how we can help!
