Lemon Law and Used Cars

For the past several years, used car buyers in California have had to pay a stiff fee of $30 if they wanted a vehicle history for any car they were considering purchasing. Many other states make such information available over the internet for a mere $2.50, and thankfully California may soon be joining them. California’s high cost was because of a contract between the state and the owner of Carfax—the company that state residents must turn to in order to purchase a vehicle history—and new legislation may soon be changing that arrangement.

The bill recently passed by state lawmakers that will make vehicle histories available for a low fee over the internet has now been sent to the governor for his signature. The expensive (for consumers) agreement with Carfax came about when R.L. Polk & Co., parent company to Carfax, made an agreement to assist the state in providing vehicle information to a federal database, an activity required by a law passed by Congress in 1992. In exchange for the help provided by Polk, the state agreed not to join 14 other states in making vehicle histories accessible online.

Life can already be tough for used car buyers. For years the “used car salesman” has been the butt of jokes—based on the fact that the buyer can’t see under that hood and find out what might be wrong with the car, and salespeople with low morals take advantage. The new law, if signed, will certainly make those lives easier. In addition, however, used car buyers should know their rights under the lemon law.

“A used vehicle is sometimes sold ‘as is’ or ‘with all faults,’” said Norman Taylor, leading lemon law attorney. “Ordinarily, this means that the buyer is simply agreeing to take the vehicle in the condition it is in, regardless of what that condition may be. In such a case, there is no protection the lemon law can offer.”

Taylor knows lemon law well. He has been a lemon law specialist since 1987, and he and his firm, Norman Taylor and Associates, have handled over 8,000 cases for consumers with a 98 percent success rate. He is one of the leading California lemon law attorneys in southern and all of California.

It highly benefits a consumer to only buy a used car if a warranty can also be had with the vehicle. “Consider carefully before buying a vehicle without the valuable protections that warranties can provide,” Taylor added.

To be absolutely certain before the sale is closed, the buyer should check the vehicle buyer’s guide where the type of warranty for the car is shown.

About Norman Taylor & Associates

Norman Taylor and Associates have been assisting consumers since 1987. At Norman Taylor and Associates, the goal is to provide clients with the highest quality of legal representation if they are one of the unfortunate residents of California who have had the misfortune of purchasing defective vehicles or goods and who have recourse under the Lemon Law. The firm represents consumers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. With a twenty-two year history of successful cases, Norman Taylor & Associates has established their reputation as a firm of consumer advocates that get the job done.


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Lemon Law: Beware the “Diagnostics”

The necessity for protecting consumers with the lemon law continues to be demonstrated—and not just in the US. China has had an auto recall system in place since 2004, and the system now has to be utilized in the recall of nearly 700,000 Toyota passenger cars with defects in their electric window systems. The faulty equipment can apparently lead to malfunctions, short circuits or even fires.

When a consumer is having a problem with a vehicle defect, the first course of action is always to take the vehicle into the dealer. Dealers have numerous methods of deflecting lemon law claims, however, and much of the time will go out of their ways to “prove” to a consumer that there really is no defect.

Although it may not be intended as such, one such deflective method is that of computer diagnosis. It is not because the dealer isn’t performing diagnosis—it’s that diagnosis is usually ineffective.

“Diagnostic tools in the repair shop seldom find the problem,” said leading California lemon law attorney Norman Taylor. “They only point in the general direction. In fact, during diagnostic tests, a significant percentage of defective electrical and electronic parts typically pass, returning ‘no fault found’ codes even though they are defective.”

Taylor knows of what he speaks. He has been a lemon law specialist since 1987, and he and his firm, Norman Taylor and Associates, have handled over 8,000 cases for consumers with a 98 percent success rate. He is one of the leading lemon law attorneys in southern and all of California.

“Additionally, many electrical and drivability problems on today’s automobiles are intermittent,” Taylor added. “Not all technicians can troubleshoot problems accurately. Of those, only a portion can troubleshoot intermittent and more difficult problems.”

This of course means that numerous repair attempts can result in the dealer saying, “No problem found,” leaving the consumer with a defective vehicle and no solution.

For this reason and many others, the most effective action a consumer can take, when a lemon car (aka, a lemon) is suspected, is to contact a qualified lemon law attorney right away.


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