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No one likes to feel like they've been duped. This is especially true when making a major purchase, like buying a home or a car. We invest so much trust in those who sell these things to us because we want to believe that no one would intentionally mislead us in such an important decision.
In the same way, we assume that a brand new car or home has been constructed with care and skill and is completely free from defect – trusting that the builders have used the highest quality materials and processes.
Unfortunately, quality control processes do fail, and dishonest salespeople do exist. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, especially in the automobile industry, a significant number of people are sold a product that just doesn't work. We call these products "lemons".
While it is reasonable to expect a small number of problems with a car in the first few years of ownership, some owners encounter a veritable blizzard of issues within mere months of purchase. The second of these cars would be the lemon.
These can be either major problems that entail significant repair or component replacement, such as transmission or engine failure, or an accumulation of small but irritating problems that never seem to be fixed despite repeated repair attempts by the dealership.
What kind of recourse do consumers have when confronted with this problem? Many states have instituted something called a lemon law that deals specifically with these types of situations.
A lemon law essentially allows consumers to be compensated by a dealership or vendor for a car that exhibits the problems described above. This compensation can be financial or could take the form of a replacement vehicle.
As this is a highly specialized area of law, the best resource you can use while considering whether or not to pursue this type of litigation is a lemon law attorney.
These attorneys deal exclusively with these types of cases, and as such are up to speed with all of the documentation that they require from you and from the dealership to attempt to prove whether you have purchased a lemon. They are also familiar with the types of filings that are required by the courts, and with the variances in the laws that apply to your locality.
A lemon law attorney is in good position to judge whether you have a strong enough case to make for your car to qualify as an ‘irreparable’ lemon. Consultation with lawyers in this area is also usually inexpensive, with many states providing for the legal fees of the plaintiff to be paid for by the defendant as part of the lemon settlement.
If you are at your wit’s end regarding the problems with your vehicle, or if you are starting to feel that the new or used car you just bought isn't even safe enough for you to drive, then your next course of action should be to contact a lemon law attorney. A lemon law attorney can get you the answers and compensation you need in order to stop wasting time at the garage and start looking for a new, hopefully defect-free replacement car.