Well, it can start looking like one if you paint it yellow or yellow-green. It will also look like a lemon, if it is crawling while you shift it to speed up. Or if it has a back door that opens voluntarily or an engine that huffs and puffs as your dodgem chugs along. And if the beautiful paint that was widely lauded and advertised by the salesman visibly doesn't want to stay, that can taste of a lemon too.
A lemon in the domain of vehicles and car laws signifies a car with a mechanical defect or defects that remain persistent and considerably impair its use and value, especially after several attempts have been made to get it fixed. Usually the number of attempts to solve the same problem is 4 and after you can claim a buyback. Your car dealer or manufacturer can offer you a new “comparable replacement vehicle”, but if you want your money back you have the right to insist and get a refund.
The other case when your vehicle can be identified as a lemon is when a defect that can lead to a serious injury (the so-called safety-related defect) has not been fixed within one attempt. The criteria depend on the law effective in this or that state. If your car has spent 30 or more days at the repairs, it is also a sign of a lemon crust.
But not every defect can put the vehicle into the lemon rank. A car can be inspected and diagnosed with having 10 non-conformities, which can be and are gradually fixed over the warranty period. According to the lemon law, you should give your car dealer/manufacturer a chance to repair the car before filing a complaint to claim a refund.
Traditionally, a refund is calculated in accordance with the following scheme: “a reasonable allowance for vehicle use” is deducted from the full purchasing price. The refund can include such expenses and additional costs as sales tax, registration fees, modifications added by the dealer/manufacturer with a month after the vehicle has been delivered to you and trade-in value.
If the customer prevails under the lemon law act, the manufacturer undertakes to reimburse all legal fees and costs as well.
Under the law, the seller offering a lemon law buyback (the car that was returned to the manufacturer because of the permanent defect and finally fixed) must disclose that the car is a former lemon and indicate the nature of the defect (defects). To be on the safe side, you can conduct a lemon check by yourself. First you can get access to DMV records, which include lists of lemon vehicles. As well, having a vehicle identification number, you can search databases to make sure you are not buying a lemon car.
What are the measures to avoid buying a lemon vehicle? First of all when you buy a car, truck, RV, or boat ,especially a used one, you should take it for a mechanic review before you turn out your pocket and let the cash change hands. If a dealer refuses to lend a car for an independent mechanic inspection, find another, a more trustworthy one.
One of the things that shouldn't be omitted when talking about lemon deals is service documentation with the date and mileage of the day of repair, name of the dealer, name of the repair service, repair order number,
the exact description of the repairs made, etc. indicated correctly. That will be of essence when you decide to claim a refund or sell a car.
