Here's What to Do if Your New Car Keeps Breaking
Eight weeks after buying their new Ford Edge, Rebecca and Josh McDonald made the first trip back to the dealer with electrical problems. And thus began a two-year odyssey.
"It was horrible," Rebecca says. "There were different problems every time: the air conditioning, the radio, the backup camera. We had to go back several times, and when I say several, it must've been 10."
The McDonalds tried having their Edge serviced at different dealerships and kept calling Ford for help. But the carmaker refused to take the car back, even though they couldn't fix it. In the end, the McDonalds hired an attorney and pursued a case under California lemon law. It took a while, but they eventually received a settlement and a replacement vehicle.
"Luckily for us, the system worked," Rebecca says. "But it was a long and tedious process.
Know What a Lemon Is - and Isn't
The McDonalds, it turned out, bought a lemon: a defective new car that (impressively, infuriatingly) resists attempts to repair it. There are laws to protect people who fall into the same trap: There's the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a federal law enacted in 1975; plus state laws, which added provisions that force the car maker to provide a refund or replacement if a vehicle with a substantial defect can't be fixed after a certain number of tries.
Just how many tries do they get? It varies by state, but it usually means two tries for a safety defect or four tries for a non-safety-related issue. There are also time and mileage limitations - generally 18 to 24 months or 18,000 to 24,000 miles. (You can find a summary of state laws at The Center for Auto Safety's website).
Lemon laws only apply to cars that are still covered by the manufacturer's original warranty. Exception: You may be able to make a claim later as long as you can prove the problem began before the warranty expired. So hang on to the receipts from every annoying trip to your dealer or mechanic. And get a record of every visit, whether the wrenches come out or not.
"Ask them to write it up even if they can't duplicate the problem," says Steven Simons, a California consumer attorney specializing in lemon law. "Do it as soon as you pull into that service lane."
The mechanic might roll his eyes, but ignore him; by getting documentation, you're building your case for later. A veteran of the business, Simons has seen manufacturers deny that service visits occurred, or claim that a problem was the fault of abuse, neglect, or whatever else they could come up with to avoid paying up.
Maybe your car isn't, in fact, a lemon, and the first visit fixes the problem. Lucky you! If a second issue crops up, though, you're firmly on the lemon brick road. Your next move: "After you've dropped the car off for the second visit, call the manufacturer," Simons says. (The toll-free customer service number is in your owner's manual.) "Then you've given them notice. If it comes back a third time, then you hire an attorney. You've given them time to fix it, now it's time to go to litigation."
Find the Right Kind of Help
Sounds intense, but it's completely logical: Carmakers have a whole lot more legal firepower than you do, and their lawyers have been to this rodeo before. But choosing the right attorney is key. Just Googling "lemon law attorney" will bring up pages and pages of lawyers, some of whom probably run dodgy ads on late-night television.
"Go to the website for the National Association for Consumer Advocates [NACA]," says Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. "Those are the guys. The manufacturers know who the good ones are. A lot of the time, that's all it takes."
NACA lists attorneys by state and area of expertise, which makes it easy to come up with a list of candidates. Then get on the phone (wine and/or chocolate may make this step more workable) and find one who seems like somebody you could work with. And find one who works on a contingency basis (they only get paid if you win), rather than by the hour. The bill can get real high, real fast.
What happens next will depend on a combination of factors: you, your attorney, the strength of your case, and the court you were plopped in front of.
Don't Expect a New Car Overnight
"Probably 90 percent or more of the cases settle," says Simons, adding that the end result can be anything from a small cash award to a full refund (including payments, interest, and a return of the vehicle).
Even after the attorney works her magic, though, be prepared for a wait a while for your new wheels. "I have had manufacturers agree to a buy-back within three weeks and it takes another month to finish everything up," Simons says. "If you go to trial in California, you are looking at one to three years." Most lemon-law programs do allow you to keep driving your car while the legal process grinds on, but that's a bad idea if your defect is safety-related - or if you just don't feel safe in it. If that's the case, it's worth it to find another way to get around.
Original post by Car and Driver editors
