How To Set Up Your Lemon Law Case - Podcast

"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
07/07/2016 at 09:00 • Filed to: None

Your brand new car is giving you fits? It might turn out to be a lemon. Here is what you should do in the meantime to make sure you are prepared if and when you reach full Lemonocity.

I get a lot of phone calls at my office from people who are upset with their cars. And many do not qualify for the lemon law - yet. But I always tell them to hang in there. And in the meantime, there are things you can do which will help your case later. And, most of this is stuff you should do anyway if you are a conscientious car owner.

When you take it in for service., make sure the service writer writes down your actual complaint. If you tell them the car stalled, make sure the words “car” and “stalled” appear somewhere on the repair order, particularly in that order, preferable adjacent to one another.

And get copies of the repair orders and save them. Ideally, not in your glovebox. Pay attention to how many times you bring it in for each complaint and when you get to three failed repair attempts (or 25 days in the shop in the first year), get out your paperwork and call an attorney. Those papers will provide the answers to all the questions the attorney may ask you.

For more, here is the audio:

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And the video:

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The picture at the top? I took that and from what I can tell, the deputy is demonstrating how to perform the ultimate sobriety test. If you can ride your motorcycle like this, you must not be drunk.

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This website may supply general information about the law but it is for informational purposes only. This does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not meant to constitute legal advice, so the good news is we’re not billing you by the hour for reading this. The bad news is that you shouldn’t act upon any of the information without consulting a qualified professional attorney who will, probably, bill you by the hour.

DISCUSSION (4)

Wil Haginen > SteveLehto
07/07/2016 at 10:08

Have you ever had a client who came in with just a general shitty car but didn’t qualify for a lemon law?

Things that I’ve had wrong with my brand new 2012 car (finally got rid of it in 2015):

- Bluetooth would randomly drop (for three different phones with 3 different mobile OS, and those phones worked fine in other bluetooth cars), wouldn’t play the right channel.

- Sunroof would randomly leak, but of course, would never be duplicated in dealership.

- Windows would leak. But never at dealerships. And having photo / video evidence wasn’t enough.

- TPMS failed.

- Failed window regulator in the first year of ownership.

- Foam bits in the door frame (I think designed to keep water and ice out of the A-pillar) disintegrated in the first 3 months of ownership.

- Went through 2 batteries in as many years. Even with a “smart” battery conditioner attached at nights.

- Persistent rattle that was never properly fixed (though it was located), and after a year of ownership, dealership said it was outside of the squeak and rattle warranty.

I’m sure there’s more...

SteveLehto > Wil Haginen
07/07/2016 at 10:28

Yes. I have seen quite a few that managed to slip through the cracks. 3 times for one thing, 3 times for another and so on. The ones I hate to see though are the ones where someone has problems just outside of the lemon law. 5 or 10 times for a major problem - that started over a year after the car was bought.

There still might be a case under Mag Moss but it is never as easy.

Wil Haginen > SteveLehto
07/07/2016 at 10:34

I think you’re doing a great service. Frankly, until you started this podcast series on what constitutes a lemon, I was under the impression that lemon-law specific attorneys didn’t exist, AND that if I had to get an attorney, I might get my problems fixed, but I’d still be out of pocket hundreds of dollars in legal fees.

Now I know better. Knock on wood, I don’t need a lemon law attorney, but I’d imagine there have to be more than a few listeners who suddenly had a “eureka” moment and learned that their problems aren’t insurmountable after all.

There’s a lot of ignorance out there on consumer protections, rights, and laws. It’s a damn shame, but I think we really under-utilize the protections that are in place.

SteveLehto > Wil Haginen
07/07/2016 at 10:42

Thanks. That’s my goal - to get people to know they can get help if they need it. And to teach people when they need to get help.

I just got a rude comment on a year old piece I wrote where a car seller (surprise, surprise!) said I was trolling for clients who I would charge “$3,000 retainers” to take on their cases. I had to explain to him that no, I do not charge retainers and - the fun part - my fees are paid by people like him when they lose.

[Even the bad guys don’t know the law!]