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Question: Need help with lemon laws?

(Posted by: 5113391 on 2010-02-06 17:03:14)

Last September i bought a car from a private dealer. since then i had to replace a battery, radiator, and the oil was almost empty and black. A little while after the purchase, the check engine light came on (seems like they turned it off because now it isn't passing inspection) and sometimes the head lights don't turn off causing me to have to unscrew the battery to turn them off. what is the time period of when I can still have the previous owner pay for the repairs or even take the car back with full refund? does anyone have any suggestions for me? thank you i'm in philadelphia, pennsylvania

Posted by: DA KING on 2010-02-06, 17:06:58

WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED

Posted by: alfredb1979 on 2010-02-06, 17:12:21

Technically, you need NO help with lemon law as this car evidently is not covered by factory warranty anymore...so it can't be classified as a lemon. You have no legal recourse and are certainly entitled to repair the car with your own money. Good luck. Generally, if a NEW car has been repaired 4 or more times for the same Defect within the Warranty Period and the Defect has not been fixed, the car qualifies as a Lemon.

Posted by: Derrick S on 2010-02-06, 17:14:34

The "Lemon Law " only applies to NEW car purchases from an authorized dealer. You also must be the "Original " purchaser of the vehicle. The vehicle cannot have been in a wreck of any kind, been in a flood or fire either. The same problem must reoccur three times within a period of one year to qualify for the Lemon Law. The dealer must, in good faith, try to repair or replace the problem. You must keep ALL documents of the repairs. If the car does qualify for the Lemon Law, you must file the complaint with the State Bureau of Automotive Repairs. They will notify the car manufacturer and you will be contacted by the auto maker regarding the case. I know all of this since I had a vehicle that qualified under the Lemon Law and went to arbitration. The arbitrator found in our favor and demanded the auto maker to buy the vehicle back, less the miles on the odometer. So we ended up having to still pay almost $5600 for the use of the vehicle. Nobody ever gets 100% of the money returned. There's little that you can do at this point, unless the private dealer gave you a written warranty for a year. You can try to take him to Court and try to recover some of the money, but it's not likely that you'll prevail in court. You'll need to take the car to a different repair station to find the problems and document them from the new shop if you plan on going to Court.

Posted by: xx_satanic_mechanic_xx on 2010-02-06, 17:40:38

"what is the time period of when I can still have the previous owner pay for the repairs or even take the car back with full refund? " 0 months, 0 days, 0 hours. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Once ink is on paper you own a car and all its problems. The time to inspect a car and verify its condition is before you hand over your hard-earned money. Once that happens, there is no going back. Period. You were shown a car. You looked at it, checked it over, drove it, and agreed to accept it in the condition you saw it. This is why we preach to ALWAYS get a mechaincal inspection BEFORE you buy. It would have cost you $100 or so, but look how much it would have saved you.

Posted by: N on 2010-02-06, 18:59:55

Its just amazing how many people think some fictional lemon law for used cars will give them their money back. Even if your car was brand new, it wouldn't be a lemon.

Posted by: mccoyblues on 2010-02-06, 19:56:18

Nothing you mentioned qualifies under any current Lemon Law. Lemon laws are created to protect buyers of NEW CARS from warranty defects the dealers can't repair. They do not apply to used cars at all.