A “lemon” is a term for something that’s defective, run-down, or useless. It came all the way from British poolhall slang to American legal terminology.
Lemon Laws are laws in place to protect buyers from automotive dealers who wish to scam them. It’s easy for a car to break down, and, unfortunately, it’s also easy for a conniving salesperson to make a car look good just long enough to sell it, only for it to break down soon after.
Do you believe that you’ve had a lemon sold to you? Then you’ve come to the right place. This article will walk you through a brief guide to lemon law and provide you with some lemon law tips.
1. Repairs Do Not Make a Lemon
If a car has certain defects and needs repairs that you didn’t realize, you might think it’s a lemon. However, this is not necessarily true.
If the damages are minor enough that they don’t affect your ability to drive — they just annoy you — the car is not considered a lemon. If the dealership offers to fix the car, you might have problems getting it defined as a lemon also.
If you think you’ve been sold a lemon, we recommend starting your case as soon as possible. The quicker you get the ball rolling, the better case you’ll have. If you’ve owned the car for a while, the dealer can claim that you caused that damage yourself.
Speak to an attorney who specializes in this sort of law to help you know what is and isn’t a lemon. Check out this lemon law attorney we found.
2. You Don’t Need to Go to Court
You might be avoiding going to the law about your lemon case because you don’t want to spend time in court. We understand this, court cases take a long time and they’re often more draining than they’re worth.
However, lawyering up about a lemon case does not always mean you’ll wind up in court. It’s likely that the dealer doesn’t want to go to court either, and might compensate you for the damages.
3. It’s Not Just for Cars
While cars are the most common type of vehicle covered in lemon laws, they apply to all sorts of vehicles. If you believe you’ve been sold a faulty RV, Boat, Motor Home, motorcycle, etc, we also recommend heading to a lawyer.
At the end of the day, lemon laws exist to make sure that you get what you paid for, no matter what type of vehicle it is.
Understand Lemon Laws
Now that you understand lemon laws, you have more of an understanding of whether or not you’re entitled to financial compensation. Not every low-quality vehicle is a lemon.
However, this shouldn’t stop you from fighting for the compensation and money that you deserve.
For more articles like this, check out our “traffic law” section.