Used Car Lemon Law

If you’re planning on buying a used car in the state of Massachusetts than you’ve picked probably the safest place to buy. Have you heard of the Lemon Law? Well, the Lemon Law, also known as the Used Vehicle Warranty law, is meant to protect buyers that purchase cars from dealers or private parties. This law obligates dealers to offer the customer a written warranty. Private parties are also forced to disclose any safety defects or known use. Not doing so make the buyer eligible to sue and 95% of the time win the case.

The Used Vehicle Warranty Law offers protection and remedies such as mandatory repairs, possible refunds or repurchases. Of course this doesn’t mean that any defect found on the car makes you eligible to get refund or repurchase possibilities. In case you’ve purchased a vehicle no later than 14 days ago, than the fastest way to get help is through the conditions developed by the Lemon Aid Law.

This law covers used cars, vans, or trucks and demonstration vehicles which are not covered by the New Car Lemon Law and respect a certain set of conditions such as: being sold by a dealer in Massachusetts or a private party in the same state, vehicles with a minimum value of $700 (dealer sales only), and a limit of 125000 miles registered on the odometer.

The vehicles that aren’t covered by the Lemon Law are: motorcycles and mopeds, leased vehicles, auto homes or vehicles that are built for off roads.

When it comes to private parties, the Used Warranty Law applies differently compared to vehicles purchased from dealers. A dealer can be classified as a person that sells a minimum of 4 cars in a 12 month period. This law requires private parties to tell the potential buyer about all the known defects their car holds, that could affect its safety ratings or impair its use. This law applies no matter what car is sold. If you find out a defect that severely impairs the vehicle’s safety performance and you can prove that the seller has known about it, than you may cancel the sale if you keep within the 30 days limit. In this case the seller must refund the entire sum, minus the number of miles taxed 15 cents per mile.

You must know that the Lemon Law covers only defects that affect the vehicle’s performance or its defects. Defects will not be covered if they only affect the appearance, or are covered by the express warranty provided by the manufacturer, are caused by abuse or vandalism, negligence or possible accidents.

Any individual that sells four or more vehicles in a 12 months period is automatically considered as dealer and therefore is obliged to provide any buyer with a warranty. These warranties cannot be avoided under any circumstances. As a dealer you are forced to provide the buyer with a legal, correct, signed and dated paper that proves the fact that you’re offering a warranty that covers a series of components on the car. This automatically means that any defects that might occur to one of the covered components must be covered by the dealer that emits the warranty.

If the dealer does not provide a correct warranty, or provides you as a buyer with n incorrect or incomplete warranty, you are still entitled to all the warranty repairs. Furthermore, your warranty will not suffer from any countdown until you receive a complete and correct warranty.

This law is one of the best safety nets, the government has to offer.

Post tags: Tags: Car Law Lemon, lemon law, Used Car Lemon Law, used cars