Lemon Car: What is a lemon car?

State and federal lemon laws provide car owners the right to a refund or a replacement vehicle if a dealer or manufacturer is repeatedly unable to repair it after a reasonable number of attempts.

There are many types of problems you may experience with your new or used car that would determine that the vehicle is a lemon car. The Law Offices of Norman Taylor & Associates have successfully resolved thousands of lemon car cases in practicing California Lemon Law since 1987. Here are some actual examples:

Transmission problems - engine trouble - peeling paint...and many more types of car defects define a lemon car.

• Key switch not locking when I removed the key
• Warning light to "Check Coolant Level" coming on and the coolant being full
• Alarm not setting and other times not "unsetting"
• rough idle
• hesitation upon acceleration
• check engine light on
• vehicle surge
• Door unlock/lock switch not working part of the time
• Radio staying on after the car was turned off
• Leather was coming apart from the side door
• stalling while driving or coming to a stop
• hard to start
• transmission clunk
• clunk when shifting
• transmission/engine leak
• My windshield wipers would come on intermittently for no reason
• engine knock; engine pinging
• Dash information panel would light up and have no information in it
• transmission slipping
• transmission banging into gear
• pulling to the left or right
• pulling when brakes applied
• won't hold an alignment
• oil consumption
• stuck in gear
• stuck in park
• power window failure
• power locks don't work
• phantom locks
• sliding door failure
• brake failure
• brakes pull or grind
• front end shakes when brakes applied
• abnormal tire wear
• poor gas milage (can indicate bad computer)
• black smoke from tail pipe
• white smoke from tail pipe
• catalytic converter problems
• rotten egg smell from engine
• mold/mildew bad odor from A/C
• head lights dimming or failure
• seat belt failure
• The repair shop is telling you your gas cap isn't tight
• fuel sending problems
• gas guage wrong
• front end problems
• leaky manifold
• drive line clunk
• coolant leaks
• engine overheating
• water leaks
• roof leaks
• air leaks
• paint defects
• tail lights not working
• continuous blown fuses
• power steering grinding, leaks, or failure
• Transmission froze up
• Suddenly the engine froze up
• The roof leaked
• Tail lights did not work
• Electrical problems
• Steering alignment
• Front-end problems
• Constant excessive wind noise from problems with all of the seals around the windows
• After replacing the tires, I found that the shimmy was still there

...and what can you do about it?

Peeling paint, transmission failures, and other major problems have all been traced to factory defects. At the dealership, ask the service department for a written estimate. Document each trip to the shop. Seek legal help if you suspect you have a lemon car. Attempts to resolve it with the dealer or manufacturer can be substantially reduced if you have the help of a competent attorney who specializes in lemon law for your state.

There is no reason to suffer aggravation, time consuming trips to the dealer, repeated attempts to fix the same defect. If you suspect you have purchased a lemon car, click here to find out.