Reasonable Attempts to Repair

In California, a manufacturer or dealership cannot be held liable unless they are given proper notice of the problem. Simply put: Lemon Law defendants are not expected to read your mind with respect to the vehicular defects at-issue. If your vehicle is defective, then you’ll have to take your vehicle into the dealership to have it evaluated. This effectively puts the manufacturer and dealership “on notice” that there is a problem.

It’s also worth noting that your motor vehicle will only qualify as a “lemon” if you — the purchaser — have made a reasonable number of repair attempts. As such, it’s critical that you invest the time and effort necessary to follow-up if the original repair attempt didn’t work, or if a new defect has cropped up. Once you have made multiple repair attempts, your Lemon Law claim could potentially be actionable.

Documentation and Factual Accuracy

Though dealerships are supposed to keep comprehensive documentation of the repair attempt and what they discovered, the reality is that many dealerships fail to maintain proper record-keeping. In fact, it’s not uncommon for the dealership to identify a problem but fail to include a repair order that references the particular defect.

Also, make sure that documentation reflects the actual expressed opinion of the individuals you engage with. If the dealership admits that they cannot fix the defect at-issue, get it in writing. This will be useful later on if the defendant tries to avoid liability by claiming that you did not do enough to fix the defect.

Avoid Reliance on Assumptions

You’ll often find that dealerships and manufacturers take a negative slant towards Lemon Law claims, and will try to discourage you by framing the dispute as impossible or pointless. Do not rely on these assumptions — typically, you’re not speaking to a lawyer, and even if the party in question is a lawyer, they are incentivized to discourage you from pursuing your Lemon Law claims.

Consult an Attorney

To succeed in bringing a Lemon Law claim, you’ll want to consult a qualified attorney with the requisite experience in handling such claims. Further, you’ll want to do so in a timely manner, before the statute of limitations period expires — if you wait too long (so that the deadline passes before you file the claims at-issue), then your Lemon Law claims could be automatically dismissed.