Lemon Laws On Used Cars example essay topic

It happens many times. A person finds the car of their dreams. They drive it around for a few weeks when it happens. The car will not start, it makes a funny noise, or the breaks just will not do anything while stepping onto the pedal. Does the person have to pay for the repairs all by themselves? And if so, what happens when the exact same problem happens more than 3 times?

It is just not fair to pay all this money on your brand new affordable car. But, one should not worry. There is a solution to all these annoying questions one just does not know how to answer. This is how the Magnuson -Moss warranty act comes into this situation. The "lemon law" is a subdivision of this act.

The Magnuson-Moss warranty act, when tied with the 'lemon law,' helps a person of the purchased new car, ensure that they will have the rights to have a properly functioning car. The following will explain what exactly this law is and how it is applied to the state of Nebraska. What exactly is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act? Cartalk explained that the act can be defined as the following. For any product that has a written warranty, if the product or any part thereof contains a defect after reasonable number of attempts, by the warrantor to repair the defect, the warrantor must either provide a refund for or replacement of the product.

Autopedia explained that this is applied to any product that one can buy that does not perform, as it should. They went on to say that the magnus on-moss federal law protects the buyer of any product that costs more than $25 and comes with an express written warranty. This law can be incorporated with cars very easily. When the magnus on-moss warranty act and the lemon law tie together, the results greatly effect the rights of a car buyer. This statement was expressed both by Autopedia and Cartalk. This law guarantees a car buyer that a certain minimum requirements of warranties must be met, and provides for disclaimer of warranties before purchase, told by Autopedia.

The Magnuson-Moss not only plays a role within cars, but other products as well. However, with the cars, it helps a lot when one purchases a deficit car. The lemon law basics set many standards for car owners in Nebraska. The majority of states follow the same basic rules, but when going into detail, states vary in many ways. One major common rule upon all the states is that the manufacturer, NOT the dealer, must take care of the defects. There are a few things that make a car a lemon.

And its not just about little things, like the window not rolling up. It involves more serious things, which can not be repaired within 3 repairs. Autopedia explained that for any serious safety defect, such as brakes or steering, the manufacturer has one attempt. If it is a safety but not serious, they have 2 attempts. And for any other defect, they usually receive 3 or 4 chances to repair. The repairs may not be a result of abuse, neglect or unauthorized modifications or alterations.

The cases must be given to the manufacturer, and they must have responded to your complaint and rendered a decision within 40 days. The terms apply within the express warranty or the first year of ownership from date of delivery, which ever comes first. Another way also is within the first 12-24 months or 24,000 miles. If miles have been put on, the manufacturer may decide to use reduction. In order to do this, they use the following equation: Miles at time of refund x the purchase price 100,000 This equation was found on both the Cartalk and the Autopedia sites. Another point that a consumer may argue, is about the miles put on in between the repairs.

However, the majority of times, it does not work. In events of strike, war or natural disaster that prevent repairs, lemon laws will not help a person with any car troubles. Cartalk had the following information about the specific details of lemon laws in Nebraska. This law is found in Nebraska revenue statue at 60-2701. Nebraska has no lemon laws on used cars and they do not cover self-propelled mobile homes and trailers. It does state that the law covers new motor vehicles used for personal, family, house hold or business sold in Nebraska.

These are the main lemon law rules within Nebraska. There are many experiences that happen with cars that make it questionable as to if the car can be a lemon car. In one example found in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a woman was promised a car she did not receive. The author, Michael Ferry, went on to explain more of the story. The lady had been worried about getting sued because she had stopped paying car payments once the car stopped running.

Ferry replied by saying that she might get sued because of this. Ferry later revealed that with the Magnuson-Moss warranty act, that if the dealer had breached a warranty, he may have violated this federal law. Also, as long as she could keep a record of everything, and maybe even prove that the dealer had changed things on the car to make it look better, that she could receive three times her actual damage plus attorney fees, if she took it to court. Another article found in The Arizona Republic, expressed ideas about keeping all records of your car troubles. The author was unknown, but the author did interview a woman by the name of Joanne Bonfilio.

Bonfilio explained that anyone with a potential lemon law car should keep accurate and complete records of the problems and attempts to fix them. Another piece of advice she gave, was to be careful how you describe your complaint. Lots of times, court cases are dropped due to the arbitration being turned down. The last example is about a truck that was bought in California that had supposedly been safe and belonged to a GE executive.

The article was in The Progressive, written by Nina Siegal. The article explained that many cases filed are turned down. Another piece of information that Siegal talked about was that a lot of dealer would do lots of things in order to sell a car. In a certain case that she talked about, a woman had purchased a truck and was lied to, after the truck had nearly killed her and her husband. When she went to fix the car, the mechanics accused her for driving too fast. After tracing the history of the truck, they came to the realization that the car had been in the shop for multiple reasons, and was not fixed.

These are many reasons that people have to be careful when dealing with new cars. People must always think about the warranty and other factors that will help them, if the car is a lemon. With all the information given, one can make the conclusion that a lot of cars are lemons. A lot of times, they are not dealt with properly. With the help of the Magnuson-Moss warranty act, and the lemon laws, people can be ensured that the car they have bought is safe. And if it is not, with a careful statement and good record keeping, one will be dealt with fairly.

The consequence from having so many lemon cars and the dealers selling them, is that more and more people can be injured from bad selling. Hopefully, people will be able to get the cars fixed properly. With this, both consumer and manufacturer will lose less money.

Bibliography

1. Siegal, Nina. Putting the squeeze on lemon dealers. Regulating the sale of defective automobiles. Vol. 62, The Progressive, 2-01-1998, pp 36.
2. Author Unknown. Keep Good records if you think that car's a lemon., The Arizona Republic, 07-31-1999, ppB 5.
3. Michael Ferry; Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Some help when buying cars., St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 04-22-1995, pp 07 D 4.