Warranties


Friday, September 25th, 2009

The Disincentive In Repairing Defects

You’re in the showroom and, despite the recession, you’ve got the financial resources for the high-end luxury car you’ve always wanted. In addition to showing you all of the bells and whistles that will enhance your driving experience, the sales person is assuring you that all of the cash you’re about to shell out will guarantee a very safe and reliable car. There is no chance that a car of this caliber could be a lemon car. Certainly the dealership will have every incentive to make very sure that the car you drive off their lot will give you plenty of trouble-free, high performance driving, right?

Not necessarily. A recent study of Mercedes dealers indicated that their profitability depends on service more than sales. When dealers perform work on your car under warranty they send the bill to the manufacturer for reimbursement. In cases where the repair is not covered under warranty or the warranty has expired the consumer is responsible for repair costs. When there is a question of whether or not the defect is covered under warranty, the dealer asks for approval for a tear down to inspect the defect and submits the claim for warranty approval with the caveat that the consumer may be responsible for the costs of a tear down and repairs if it is decided that the warranty does not cover the defect. When Mercedes put out cars that broke down every few thousand miles, the dealers were raking in the dough. Oddly enough, as Mercedes has tried to improve their product quality, some dealerships have felt a financial pinch.

It’s tough to trust a system where the business that sells you the car has a disincentive to make sure it’s going to be free from defects. This is just another reason why consumers need to know their rights under California lemon law or the state in which they live.

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Thursday, September 24th, 2009

California Lemon Law: Repair Order Alteration Dealer Trick #2

One of the tests for determining whether a vehicle is a lemon is whether there have been repeated repairs for the same problem. To avoid this, the dealership will often write up the same problem in different ways to make it look like different problems. This is subtle, and you might not even notice it, so pay attention when the service writer at the dealership fills in your repair order.

For example, you describe the problem as “check engine light comes on, car stalls.” The service writer suggests it might be something wrong with the Emission Control System, so he writes down “ECS problem” This is not what you said. Be absolutely sure the service write puts down exactly what you tell him to write down. It matters!

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Posted in California Lemon Law, Engine Problems, Warranties, lemon law | 2 Comments

Friday, September 18th, 2009

California Lemon Law Attorneys- Anyone Can Afford One.

The California Lemon Law was created to give consumers rights to a replacement or refund once they have given a manufacturer through it’s selling dealers a reasonable opportunity to repair defects that substantially impair the use value or safety of their vehicle.

But what about hiring an attorney to enforce your rights? Isn’t that expensive? An attorney who has experience representing consumers in lemon law knows he will be compensated by his client’s right under the law to recover attorneys fees as part of the recovery from the manufacturer. The law was designed recognizing that consumers have limited funds and sought to encourage consumers to pursue their rights, and to encourage attorneys to represent these consumers, by ensuring full compensation for time expended regardless of the consumer’s monetary recovery.

The California Supreme Court said: “… the primary financial benefit the Song-Beverly Act [lemon law] offers to consumers who sue thereunder to enforce their rights: their ability, if successful, to recover their ‘attorney’s fees based on actual time expended.’ Such fees generally comprise the lion’s share of the litigation costs, and the prospect of having to pay attorney fees even if one wins a lawsuit can serve as a powerful disincentive to the unfortunate purchaser of a malfunctioning automobile. By permitting prevailing buyers to recover their attorney fees in addition to costs and expenses, our Legislature has provided injured consumers strong encouragement to seek legal redress in a situation in which a lawsuit might not otherwise have been economically feasible.”

So don’t let the idea that hiring an attorney to represent your rights in the context of a Lemon Law claim back you down from going forward. This law was made for you if you own a “lemon.” Use it.

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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Another Lemon Law Defense Trick; Lack of Maintenance

How many of you keep track of the due dates on the maintenance required for your vehicle? I’m good with oil changes, but I don’t really keep good track of the special maintenance service. This could prove to be very costly in ways you might not imagine.

In a period of two weeks I have had two ladies contact me to review their prospective lemon law cases. They both had defects which they had reported with regularity to the servicing dealer. Both presumed that the dealer was performing the required maintenance on their vehicle, which had come as part of the purchase. As it turned out in both instances, the dealer failed to advise the client during their multiple warranty repair visits, that their vehicle was due for some sort of scheduled maintenance service. Later, after the lemon law claim became clear, the manufacturer blamed the client for failing to properly maintain the vehicle, which they maintained was the true source of the defect. There was enough plausibility that I had to decline both cases.

But it was disturbing to me that a client who had paid for maintenance as part of the purchase contract would have the duty to bring the maintenance schedule to the attention of the servicing dealer. Sure enough, in the warranty manual in each case, the duty lies squarely on the shoulders of the buyer. Nonetheless, what type of operation would neglect to point this out to a customer, especially with the idea of creating a repeat customer? I own a vehicle where maintenance came as part of the purchase price. My dealer keeps me informed always when my vehicle is due for maintenance. I don’t instruct them to perform it – although according to the manual it is my duty. My dealer wants my business, so he takes care of me. They bring to my attention anything that is due and it gets done.

In the two instances cited above, neither woman was informed they were due for maintenance, though it came as part of their purchase contract. Both told me they instructed the dealer to do whatever was necessary. Apparently this wasn’t good enough. But for the lack of maintenance, they both had legitimate lemon law claims. Failure to properly maintain a vehicle is a potential defense in a lemon law claim – if it relates to the defect about which the owner complained. Unfortunately for these two ladies, for lack of proper maintenance that related to their defects, I had to turn down their cases. Now they may be stuck with a vehicle that is plagued with a problem that will never get right, or will cost them countless visits until a technician is lucky enough to remedy the defect; probably after the warranty expires and she has to pay for the service.

Did the dealer see a lemon coming down the road? Is this why the dealer chose not to give the client the “heads up” that maintenance was due – because they knew they could blame the customer for lack of maintenance as a defense to the lemon law claim? Having practiced California lemon law for over 22 years, it would come as no surprise if this were true. Just when I think I’ve seen everything…

The moral of the story is, don’t rely on your dealer to keep you informed when maintenance is due on your vehicle – especially if you have already had the vehicle in for warranty repairs repeatedly. Don’t jeopardize your lemon law rights by giving the manufacturer ammunition to use against you by failing to adhere to your maintenance schedule.

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Friday, September 11th, 2009

Lemon Laws and Product Liability

Product liability suits against auto manufacturers have been in the news recently. They are a serious matter. According to one consumer organization, “Every year, there are about 500 to 1000 serious injuries or deaths due to cars that are designed or built with defects.” Fortunately for consumers, lemon law can provide relief from a car with a serious safety defect without having to wait for a tragic accident. It’s sometimes hard to understand why manufacturers often fight completely legitimate lemon law claims. Aside from the human costs, buying back a lemon is far, far cheaper than paying out a multi-million dollar product liability judgment.

There has been recent media interest on this subject due to the Chrysler and General Motors bankruptcies and whether the “new” companies emerging from bankruptcy will be responsible for product liability claims brought against the old. Many articles have described the horrific details of people whose lives have been devastated forever due to defective vehicles.

Anyone who has worked in the field of lemon law is continually amazed at the ways owners manage to cope with their problem cars and trucks. But when safety is at issue, putting up with a defect is the wrong thing to do. Lemon laws in California and many other states have special provisions for serious safety defects. If you think your car may fall into that category and you’ve been brushed off by the dealership or manufacturer, you should contact a lemon law attorney.

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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

California Lemon Law- New Designs Same Excuses

There are many situations in which car owners need to know their rights under the California lemon law. For example, let’s say you just spent thousands on a new car and the transmission starts lurching and hesitating after a few thousand miles. You bring it back to the dealer and instead of being told “we’ll fix it right away” what you hear instead is “the manufacturer is working on a solution” or “there’s supposed to be some new software to resolve that problem (at some unspecified future date).” Many consumers have found themselves in this predicament.

What’s wrong with this picture? Behind every new model are thousands of hours of research and development. One would think that prior to being put on the market the manufacturer would have all these problems worked out. But new motor vehicles are complex and apparently development and research does not always spend the time necessary to test their goods completely before putting them on the market.

Fortunately, under California lemon law and the laws of most other states, this scenario remains the automaker’s problem and not yours. The manufacturer is entitled to a reasonable opportunity to repair your vehicle, whether they have a fix or not. Opportunity is the operative word. If you present the vehicle for repairs and they do not have a fix, be sure to document your visit as this counts as an opportunity for them to get it right. After a reasonable number of these chances to get it right, and failing to do so, and providing it is a “substantial” defect, the manufacturer now has a duty to buy your vehicle back. “We don’t know how to fix it yet” is not a valid excuse. Contact a lemon law attorney to find out more about solutions that actually work.

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Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

California Lemon Law Update: The Latest Dirty Tricks by Dealers/Manufacturers

Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all, a new method is devised by manufacturers and dealers to avoid their responsibilities under the lemon law. Manufacturers many times put limitations upon dealerships on how much they will pay to have warranty work performed. If the dealer didn’t get it right the first time, they may deny payment to the dealer claiming they should have done it right the first time. Or, they do not pay the dealer for diagnostic time to determine the true source or cause of a particular defect so it can be properly addressed. This causes mechanics to guess what the true source of the problem might be in certain situations, or worse yet think of reasons to deny the problem exists. In short, there is often a disincentive created by the manufacturer to have its dealer dig in and find the real problem and properly service the consumer.

The latest trick being pulled by manufacturers through their dealerships is to require that a consumer sign a Release of All Claims when the consumer comes in to ask for his repair orders that he may have thrown away. These repairs orders are the best evidence of a lemon law claim. Manufacturers and dealers know this. So, in an effort to thwart a potential claim, and in “exchange” for providing the back repair orders the dealer tries to get the consumer to sign a Release. They hope to use this against the consumer in the future if they were to bring a lemon law claim. Fortunately in many states, like California, a consumer cannot waive their rights, and this tact would probably fall flat on its face if tested in court.

Another trick recently uncovered is a spin off from the latest defensive craze employed by manufacturers – and that is to claim that tampering with wires or “outside influence” is causing the defect to exhibit itself. For example, you may have a check engine light coming on. You take it in and the dealer tells you that the that someone – maybe you, or another played with the wires under hood to cause the check engine light to come on, or the hesitation upon acceleration to occur. There may have been very few instances in this world where this actually happened, but the manufacturers and their dealers saw an opportunity to lay blame at the door step of many consumers where it is completely unfounded. They allege “outside influence” to pin the blame on the consumer and deny the warranty claim. Where such an accusation appears to be completely unfounded, they might resort to telling the consumer there has been tampering with the vehicle and that the consumer must report the matter to the police to document the vandalism. What this effectively does is get the consumer to assist in creating a paper trail to bolster the basis of denying the warranty claim due to the “outside influence” that was probably a sham in the first place. Don’t fall prey to this new trick. In these days of corporate greed and cutting corners, it is amazing to the see the lengths manufacturers and dealers will go to save money by denying your warranty claim.

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Friday, July 31st, 2009

The Perfect Service Visit- Part 2

What is a “perfect” service visit for a consumer? You really want to have your vehicle fixed so it stays fixed. Failing that, there are some things you should know that will make it easier for a lemon law attorney to help you if the technicians can’t solve your difficulties.

When a consumer takes their vehicle in for service, the dealer should provide a work order that describes the symptoms that the consumer has experienced and the reason for the visit. The work order should reflect the accurate date, VIN number, and mileage when the vehicle was brought in. Upon pick up, a closing invoice should be provided which reflects the current date and mileage when the vehicle was returned. Furthermore, the closing invoice should have an explanation of what was done to correct the problem, including any error codes or parts that required replacement. The consumer can then drive off with a vehicle free of defects.

We don’t live in a perfect world so not all service visits go smoothly. When you drop your car off or the dealer tows it in you’ll usually be told something like, “don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.” However, when you get it back hours or days later, the repair order says “no problem found”.

This can be daunting for the consumer. The technicians are the experts and they say there’s nothing wrong. Well, they may know more about cars than you do, but remember you drive the car every day and they don’t. Trust your observations. One easy way to see how thorough they were is to look at is the mileage in and mileage out on the repair order. Did they even bother to road test it? Ask them what they did. Ask if there are any technical service bulletins or recalls that address the problem. Inquire whether other owners have made similar complaints. Be polite but get your questions answered.

Don’t let the “no problem found” or other gimmicks which we’ll discuss in future posts stop you from exercising your rights under the lemon law. When you run into refusals to repair your car, contact a lemon law attorney. One thing the attorney will need to help you is evidence that you’ve given the manufacturer a reasonable number of opportunities to repair the defect. Don’t give up if your car isn’t fixed. Take it in again.

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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

California Lemon Law- June Car Sales: A Lesson for Chrysler?

The last few months have been quite eventful for California Lemon Law advocates and consumers alike. The downward trend in sales, bailouts and bankruptcy proceedings were contributing factors. The June sales figures are in and while the news isn’t good, there are signs that the market is beginning to stabilize. Of the automakers with a major presence in the U.S., Ford showed the best results with sales dropping only 10.7% compared to last June and reporting a gain in market share. Overall, the drop in sales reported by all manufacturers was 27.7% – almost exactly the same as Toyota. General Motors and Honda were worse than average at 33 and 30 percent respectively. The big loser was Chrysler whose sales plummeted a whopping 42 percent.

Most analysts figured that the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies would hurt their sales and it appears that the experts were right. Ford, on the other hand, seems to have won a lot of consumer confidence by refusing government bailouts and remaining self-sufficient.

Chrysler fared much worse than GM, at least on a one-month basis and a good question is why the difference? There is probably not a single answer. One reason might be in how the two manufacturers have dealt with warranty matters (i.e. demands for buybacks under the California lemon law and other state lemon laws) while under bankruptcy court protection. Early in the process, GM got court approval to continue to honor warranty claims as it always had. Chrysler, on the other hand, created a lot of ill will and bad publicity by bouncing settlement checks. It has tried to use the bankruptcy to change the terms of settlements previously agreed to. Did the public conclude that Chrysler was using the bankruptcy to hide from its responsibilities? Hard to tell for sure, but one thing is certain. Your rights to warranty protection are an essential part of car ownership. When these are threatened, you should request legal assistance and consider taking your future business elsewhere.

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Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

California Lemon Law and Repair Orders- The Cardinal Rules

California lemon law requires consumers to give the manufacturer a reasonable opportunity to repair the defect(s).The paperwork the dealership gives consumers with each repair is an important legal document for a lemon law case. Consumers should resist the temptation to toss what often seems like a confusing jumble of abbreviations, auto mechanic jargon and undefined computer codes into the recycle bin. If a car turns out to be a lemon, these repair orders will be vital evidence in getting a buyback- a warranty refund.

There are three cardinal rules that every consumer should follow

1. Take your car to the dealership for repairs when it first starts to give trouble or if the defect is still not fixed after repair. Sometimes people with busy lives prefer to limp along with a defective car, figuring that they’ll take it up when they next bring the car in for service. This can be a big mistake. Why? When manufacturers buy a car back, California lemon law allows them to deduct an amount from the refund proportional to the mileage on the car at the time it was first presented for repair of the major defect. In other words, every mile you drive the car after it starts acting up could cost you money. If you make follow-up visits promptly, it will be easier for your attorney to prove that you were diligent in trying to get your problems addressed.

2. Always give the service writer a complete description of your car’s problems to the best of your knowledge and make sure that he writes down exactly what you say. Lemon laws generally require that a manufacturer be given a “reasonable number of opportunities” to repair the defect. Without repair orders that say exactly what the problem is, it is hard to prove that the manufacturer’s authorized dealers were given the required chances to fix the problem.

3. Always remember to get a repair order and keep it in a safe place for as long as you own the car. Dealerships may try to avoid giving them out. If you have already been in for the same problem several times you might hear, “you already know we can’t fix it (or we don’t think there’s a problem) and so we didn’t do any work. So, we don’t have to give you a repair order.” This creates a problem. They can’t repair your car but they won’t give you the document you need to prove it. If polite persistence doesn’t work, you can write them a letter stating the date and time you presented the car with a statement of the defect you brought it in for. If relations have deteriorated to this point, it is probably already time to consult a lemon law attorney.

The California Bureau of Automotive Repair publishes a guide called “Write it Right” which is also available on their web site (www.bar.ca.gov/). It states exactly what needs to be written on a repair order in California.

Hopefully, technicians will be able to fix the problems with your car somewhere during the repair process and you will wind up with the car you paid for. But if not, you may need to seek a warranty refund. Following the three cardinal rules of repair orders will give you vital documentation you need when requesting a buyback in a lemon law case.

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