What Is Lemon Law?

By Author: Ibrahim Machiwala
Total Articles: 463
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The definition of Lemon Law is when a car that gives you grave problems right after you buy it. The defect must be extensive and must occur within a certain time or mileage period, usually 12,000 miles or one year. Usually People get the option of getting a refund or a replacement vehicle for a lemon, but they might have to go to arbitration or court to exercise this option.

Lemon Law refers to the statement from the government which is created to protect clients or customers from defects in automobile. An automobile that has manufacturing defect(s) or requires constant repairs after purchase and if the automobile is under the period of warranty, then the vehicle is termed as a lemon.

If any vehicle such as a car is under warranty period and is suffering from a range of faults that prevent a user to use the vehicle effectively then Lemon law act or the Magnuson Moss Act comes into force.

Lemon law can be enforced on any vehicle be it car, truck, van, SUV, motorcycle, boat or computer, etc. If any of these consumer durables is found to be defective then the consumer is entitled for either money back, replacement ...
... or a cash settlement. The law can be consulted with a Lemon law attorney as various states have different lemon laws. Some states have a lemon law for only the automobiles but some also include other consumer durables.

A dealer or manufacturer should have made number of attempts to repair the vehicle before being declared as lemon. Usually three or more attempts in row over a short period of time are required for any vehicle to be termed as lemon. Lemon law is also valid to vehicles that have been resold and are still under warranty.

To make certain whether a vehicle is a lemon or not one should study certain conditions of the vehicle before pursuing a lemon law suit. A vehicle should exhibit some serious defect or some abnormal condition. Number of attempts for repair should also be taken into account before preparing a lemon law suit. A written notice should also be issued to the manufacturer prior to a lemon law suit.

A vehicle that has been bought back by the manufacturer from the customer is known as a Lemon Buy Back. They are then often sold in auctions as used cars by the manufacturers.

The Lemon law enforced for protecting consumers from the lemon vehicles is Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. This lemon law states that any advertised guarantee should explicitly state relevant information about a warranty. This law ensures that any warranty for goods above $15 should be clearly expressed on the goods and should be clear and easy to understand. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty act enables a consumer to bring suit to any manufacturer, supplier, warrantor, or service contractor for any defective piece of good or services.