Lemon laws

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Tue 11 May 2004 22:03
Lemon laws - teabelly
After watching brassed off britain on new cars (glad I don't have a citroen C3 :-) ) I was wondering what other people thought of having lemon laws over here ie if you new car gets returned to the dealer for the same fault 4 times without them fixing it then you are entitled to a refund or a replacement car of the same spec. You would also be entitled to a replacement vehicle if the car spent more than 30 days in the dealers for repairs within its first year.

I personally think that manufacturers could encourage dealers to fix problems sooner by not paying them for fixing the same fault more than twice. The dealer would then be responsible for fixing the car and the money would come out of their own pocket so the manufacturer would stop bank rolling them. Also manufacturers with a poor reputation in quality control would find their franchises disappearing pretty quickly.

Perhaps consumers should be provided with a list of serious faults on a car that would allow them to get an immediate refund so both sides would know where they stood?
teabelly
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Tue 11 May 2004 22:44
Lemon laws - Manatee
I believe Ford used to offer a three strikes and out right on its direct cars - a gentleman I know handed his car back when they failed to fix the radio 3 times - the dealer was fairly stroppy about it but they had no choice.

It sounds like a good idea and maybe it is - the other side of the coin is the added cost, particularly of consumer abuse - and this cost would of course end up with consumers. I don't think manufacturers need any more incentive to make cars reliable - the warranty and reputational cost must be astronomical for some makers.

I think your suggestion that specified faults/days off the road would qualify is a good one - it could give protection against serious lemons without causing too much extra cost.

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Wed 12 May 2004 13:16
Lemon laws - daveyjp
I saw this too. The guy from the motor manufacturers said what I expected him to say! i.e the laws we have in place are adequate for the job. They are adeqaute in protecting the manufacturers - if your car is a lemon how can the ordinary man afford to sue the likes of GM or Ford? Specifics in the law such as how many and how long are very rare in this country - legislators like to use 'reasonable', 'satisfactory' etc as it keeps lawyers in jobs arguing over what these terms mean whilst the consumer picks up the tab!
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Thu 13 May 2004 00:28
Lemon laws - teabelly
Dealers lying about a purchaser's actual current legal rights don't exactly help matters. Yours and the sellers rights and obligations should be in the bumf you get when buying a new car. It should list all the reasons you can return the car and get a replacement/refund and all the reasons that would lead to you having to settle for a repair. Trading standards could easily do this now. All those C3s should have been replaced for a start! A neighbour has one and oddly enough she seems to stall it quite a lot.....

In theory the car supermarkets should be more willing to accept a car for return as they aren't beholden to the manufacturer.
teabelly
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