Texas Lemon Law Blog

I often joke about how the Texas Lemon Law should be better known as the car manufacturer's lemon law because of its bias in favor of the manufacturers and its dealers, rather than favoring or protecting automobile consumers. Today, I am happy to report that at least the Texas Lemon Law is better than Missouri's newly proposed lemon law against fraudulent, deceptive, and misrepresentation cases.

The newly proposed Missouri Lemon Law will increase its restrictions by disallowing consumers to go after car wholesalers in court. With the new law, consumers can only pursue car dealerships and possibly the car manufacturers. The law is intended to reverse the recent Missouri Supreme Court decision that found in favor of consumers by allowing victims who are sold lemon cars to go after both the car dealer and its wholesalers. The law has not passed yet and will go to the governor of Missouri for signage.

For more information, go here.

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Dave, a consumer internet blogger, recently wrote about his experience with his Ford lemon vehicle (click here for his post). Like most other consumers, Dave provided Ford with ample opportunity to do the right thing. Ford not only failed to do the right thing, but it seems that Ford has lost another loyal customer.

I wrote to Dave offering assistance and here is his response, "I appreciate your concern, but I have conceded defeat in this matter. As the 'little guy', I cannot compete with Ford Motor Company under the law. My belief that I was 'doing the right thing' by giving them the chance to repair the vehicle, 'bit' me, as FMC is unconcerned with 'doing the right thing."

If you have a Texas lemon vehicle, please make sure that you document everything. Regardless of whether you go with my law firm or my competitor, it is important that you do something to make sure that Ford or other manufacturers such as Chrysler or Mazda does not win for selling you a lemon.

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In Missouri, the House recently approved a lemon law bill that limits consumer's right to only sue the car dealer and no one else. That's right, no one else, including the car manufacturer or others who were involved in selling the consumer the lemon vehicle.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Jay Wasson and harshly opposed by Kansas City representative John Burnett, who is a Democrat. The lemon law bill is called HB1970 and has been sent to the Senate. There is currently no calendar date for it and the proposed effective date for it is 08/28/2008.

I personally would oppose this bill because it is written too narrow. There are many situations where it is important for the consumer to have the right to sue other parties besides the car dealers in lemon law related claims, especially in resale situations.

I urge folks who reside in Missouri to please write to your state representative and voice your opposition to this bill. For more information about the bill, go here and here.

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Ever wonder what happens to life after death? Of course, I will not be analyzing such a complex issue, but in a similar line of thought,... have you ever wondered what happens to lemon cars that have been repurchased or bought back from car manufacturers? Or, ever wonder what happens to wrecked or salvaged cars?

Last week, fellow Lemon Law attorney and blogger, Jonathan Rudnick, wrote a short article that might have partially answered this hypothetical question. His article focuses on how there exists an entire market for buying and selling damaged cars.

This makes sense, because it is impractical and unprofitable for car manufacturers to simply dismantle and take lemon cars out of commission when it is so much easier to possibly sell it to another uninformed buyer who is in the market of buying a preown car. The Texas Lemon Law covers used car cases in very LIMITED situations. As a general rule, the law is intended to protect new car buyers.

I challenge car manufacturers such as Ford, Chrysler, and Mazda to re-consider their practices of lemon laundering and think about how unethical it is to pass along their problems to consumers. If there has been a lemon law buyback on a car with airbag or seat belt defects, does it make sense to put it back into the market used car market?

Lemon car recycling is bad.

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Dave, a fellow internet blogger, recently wrote about his experience of how a consumer can be put in a disadvantaged position for being a nice person. I must say, I do agree and hear about these situations more often then not.

In a nutshell, Dave experienced defects on his Ford truck early on during his ownership of the vehicle. He brought the vehicle in at least 7 times to the Ford service center. Each time, they repaired something, but the problems keep coming back. Now that Dave's warranty is about to expire, he finds himself with limited options.

The reason why his options are limited is because the Texas Lemon Law hates nice guys. Well, maybe it does not really hate nice guys, but it is certainly unfriendly to consumers who have a legitimate reasons for not pursing their claim early.

The law requires that you file a claim with the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) within the first 24,000 miles or 24 months, whichever occurs first. After you miss that deadline, you have a 6 months grace period. After that, your options may be significantly more limited.

Some lessons to learn from Dave's experience includes,... file your lemon law claim early! If you do not file early, at least speak to a lemon lawyer like myself as early as possible to know your rights and what to look out for. My parents always tell me, "the worse thing you could do is wait until after you've broken the dish to find out the ceramics are fragile -- ask first and ask early."

To read more about Dave's experience and article, go here.

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Renee Walsh, a fellow blogger and attorney, recently wrote a very informative blog article regarding the Michigan Lemon Law and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

Ms. Walsh's article mentions the lack of coverage that current Michigan Lemon Law has on used or preowned cars. Thereafter, she explores alternative remedies that a consumer may have against sellers of used and defective cars. The article also outlines the the exact language of the Michigan consumer protection statute.

Similar to Michigan, Texas has a Texas Lemon Law that aims to protect buyers of new cars. Further, Texas also has a consumer protection law, entitled Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). The DTPA has been successfully used to sue car car dealers for deceptive and dishonest practices.

For more about the article, please go here.

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In the United States, a car that has been labeled a “lemon” has significant problems. Often times, the car manufacturer has been unable to fix the vehicle after numerous repair attempts. Usually, each state has its own lemon laws (such as the Texas Lemon Law). In Canada, however there is currently no similar law that protects the selling of “lemons.”

Since there is not a law in Canada that prohibits the selling of “lemons,” Canadian consumers may be unaware that they are purchasing a defective car. It has been reported that more than 130 lemons have been sold to Canadian consumers. The act of exporting lemon cars from one geographic location to another is also better known as lemon laundering. Here, manufacturers are exporting lemons from the United States and reselling it to Canadian residents without properly disclosing the lemons status of the vehicle.

The Manitoba government (Manitoba is a province in Canada) previously had no plans on adding, changing, or amending any legislation that would address this issue. Now, it has reconsidered the issue and an amendment may be tabled as early as next spring.

The article above is written by J. Jones. It summarizes CBC’s recent article on Manitoba’s lack of lemon laws for citizens of its province. Ms. Jones is a law clerk at my office.

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What do you do when your brand new vehicle is already out of commission and you purchased the vehicle new in Georgia? If this scenario sounds familiar to you, then the Georgia Lemon Law might be helpful in your case.

In Georgia, anyone who has purchased, registered, or leased a new vehicle gains protection against recurring defects. A new vehicle is covered under this law for the first 12 months after the day the car was delivered or the first 12,000 miles of use.

If a problem keeps occurring even after numerous attempts to repair it, the car buyer may apply for an arbitration hearing in order to decide if the buyer is entitled to a refund or replacement vehicle.

Comparatively, Texas Lemon Law has a longer deadline (statute of limitation) time period.

Specifically, Texas Lemon Law allows a consumer to participate in the lemon law administrative hearing if a case was filed within 24 months from the date of delivery or 24,000 miles. This is 12,000 extra miles/12 months extra that a car buyer in Texas has over a consumer in Georgia.

The above posting is K. Johnson's summary of TheWeekly.com's recent article on Georgia Lemon Law. Ms. Johnson is a law clerk at my law office.

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As we say goodbye to 2007, I have compiled a list of top 5 Texas Lemon Law articles I've written this year. The purpose of this is to re-cap articles that I find is helpful for consumers who may be stuck with a lemon car.

1) Lemon Laundering -- this article defines what lemon laundering is about and also provides a background on how the coin is termed.

2) Tricks that car manufacturers, dealers, and service centers use to avoid liability under the Texas Lemon Law.

3) Three factors or requirements of the Texas Lemon Law.

4) Deadline to the Texas Lemon Law. Don't wait until it's too late!

5) This article talks about whether used or pre-owned cars are included in the Texas Lemon Law. Keep in mind that there may be other laws that may help you as well.

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Lemon laundering is the practice whereby car manufacturers resell a vehicle to a third innocent subsequent car buyer after it has been repurchased or replaced from the original car owner under applicable state lemon laws. Here at my Dallas, Texas lemon law practice, I get calls about this very often.

The term "lemon laundering" is believed to be first used by Gayle Pena to describe a personal experience she had with purchasing a pre-owned/used lemon car. The car she purchased was a Chevrolet Suburban with defective brakes and transmission.

Contrary to popular belief, the act of lemon laundering is not necessarily illegal, as states have different and varying lemon laws -- it is, however, highly unethical. Unfortunately, car manufacturers are not in the business to be ethical and do it more often than not.

Some state lemon laws do not even address or acknowledge that such practices exist. In fact, car manufacturers use this fact to its advantage to get rid of lemon cars that have previously been repurchased or replaced.

Here's how the scenario works, a car manufacturer drafts an Excel worksheet that lists all 50 state lemon laws in the United States, indicating which state lemon law requires a formal disclosure to consumers that a vehicle has been marked a lemon due to a repurchase or replacement status. The car manufacturers then transports those lemon cars to be sold in those specific states that do not require lemon disclosures.

Image Source: www.safetyforum.com/lemon

Please contact your state legislatures about this loophole in your state lemon law. Do not wait until you've been a victim of lemon laundering to act against these car manufacturer's unethical behavior.

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The state of Wisconsin is considering a puppy lemon law to protect consumers from puppies or animal with health problems that are unknown to the buyer and were not disclosed prior to the time of purchase by the seller. This will help combat puppy mill establishments and also shift the responsibility over to sellers of puppies and other animals.

This type of law is aimed to avoid a situation where a consumer purchases a puppy/animal and later finds out that the animal has health problems that requires thousands of dollars in subsequent medical bills.

Currently, the Texas Lemon Law does not officially cover animal or puppy lemon laws. I would find it difficult for Texas to mimic or follow suit because the current Texas Lemon Law is being administered by the Texas Department of Transportation to adjudicate defective lemon vehicle claims.

A consumer may be able to file a claim against a pet seller under the current Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). However, I would like to see the Texas DTPA be updated and expanded with more specific language to cover puppy or other animal purchases so that there is a bright-line test as to what is considered a lemon and what is not.

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Often times, consumers who purchased lemon cars call my office to seek guidance under the Texas Lemon Law, but I have yet to encounter a potential client that has done this before...

To signify that the vehicle she purchased is a lemon, Christy Direnzo painted yellow lemons and the car dealership’s name on a car she purchased from DJ Enterprises. Thereafter, she parked it near the dealership to warn other car buyers. When she purchased the car, she was informed it only needed $300 worth of repairs. She soon found out it needed approximately $1,500 in repairs.

Another car buyer in Charleston, South Carolina, Mary Grodjeski, also bought a truck from the same dealership. A few weeks later, the transmission and engine went out. Both women tried to take the vehicles back to the dealership in order to get their money back, but were refused. The dealership claims that the vehicle was sold "as-is."

Consumer lawyer, Steven Moskos, informs them of the revocation of acceptance statute that allows a person to ask for a refund based on defects that show up in a reasonable amount of time. This statute is usually not enforced by any state agency and must be fought in civil court. Also, it is easier to win a suit if a warranty or service contract was purchased and the dealership refuses or cannot fix the vehicle.

Unfortunately, if the situation is not covered by state lemon laws that has attorney fee shifting provisions that require the dealership or car manufacturer to pay for the consumer's attorney fees, then cases like these might be cost prohibitive to sue on because of the costs of litigation.

For more information on the story, go here.

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Jalopnik, an online website dedicated to car fanatics, recently posted a guide to lemon laws. Although the discussion on this article did not mention specific Texas Lemon Law, it is still worth a good read to learn about general lemon laws and other related laws that might be helpful to consumers with broken cars.

The article also mentions information about the Magnuson Moss Act, one way arbitration programs, and the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) AutoLine Lemon Law program. Unfortunately, the article attributed Kate Moss to being the co-author of the Magnuson Moss Act -- it is actually Frank E. Moss.

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Last month, I compared the current Texas Lemon Law with Australia's upcoming lemon law and also provided information on how Australia's new lemon law invites feedback from the Australian public.

This morning, I received notice of a public hearing at the Wangaratta (Australia) forum yesterday, where consumers and the public are being asked to provide input and ideas of what requirements to include and exclude in the lemon law for new cars.

So far, it seems like Consumer Affairs Minister, Tony Robinson is doing a great job of investigating the issues surrounding the responsibly of drafting a car lemon law that would be beneficial to the people it is intended to help, consumers. At the forum, Mr. Robinson states that a motor car is the second largest purchase that Victorians make. He also mentions that currently in Australia, most car manufacturers are only required to repair defects, not replace or refund broken cars.

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As an attorney who frequently handles Texas lemon law cases, I often receive calls from potential clients regarding lemon law coverage for non-vehicles such as computers, electronics, and other consumer household items.

Unfortunately, at this time, the Texas lemon law does not extend to non-vehicle related items (other state and federal consumer warranty laws may help you instead). One alternative is to look up the dealer or supplier of the wheelchair and file a Better Business Bureau claim (BBB) against the people who made or sold the wheelchair.

Interestingly, this morning, I came across a very interesting article today regarding lemon laws for wheelchairs, but only if you purchased the wheelchair within the state of New Jersey. The "wheelchair lemon law" was enacted a little over ten years ago to protect NJ residents from manufacturers of defective lemon wheelchairs.

It is important to note that this law only applies to wheelchair manufacturers and not suppliers. The article further goes into detail about what the wheelchair purchaser (plaintiff) went through before they were able to settle the case out of court.

If I have a wish list when it comes to the ability to amend or modify the current Texas lemon law, I would change it to include additional consumer items, such as wheelchairs, consumer safety equipment, limited appliances, and some electronic devices that costs above a specific amount.

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Posted In: Consumer Warranty , General Lemon Laws , Texas Lemon Law Information

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Regardless of whether you are scheduled to attend either the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) Arbitration or the Texas lemon law administrative hearing (in order to get a lemon vehicle buyback or replacement), it is important to be prepared with essential documents that will help you win your case.

Before proceeding further, I must caution you that although I am an attorney who concentrates my practice to Texas lemon law related cases, that the information found here is not and should not be treated as legal advice. The reason is because every case, regardless of how similar, is different. Therefore, this information is simply a public service presentation and you should contact a Texas lemon law attorney as soon as possible in the event that you have recently purchased a new lemon car.

Because both of the above-mentioned programs generally do not have an attorney fee shifting provision that requires the car manufacturer to pay for your attorney fees if you prevail -- having an attorney represent you in these hearing can be cost prohibitive. Under Texas lemon law, the only time the attorney fee shifting can be invoked by the consumer is when the automobile manufacturer is represented by an attorney at the hearing.

Documentation is key at the hearing. You must have written proof that your car meets the rebuttable presumption of the program. For example, if you are arguing that your car is a lemon because it has been subject to repairs for the illumination of the check engine light, then having for documented repair invoices issued by the service center will solidify your case, rather than relying on the arbitrator or administrative judge to take your word for it.

Continue reading "Essential documents to bring at the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) Arbitration or the Texas lemon law administrative hearing" »

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After over a decade (since 1992) of Congress' passage of a nationwide database that tracks lemon and stolen cars, the tracking system still remains to be completely implemented.

The Justice Department, the governmental body responsible for overseeing the program, cites that the primary reason for non-implementation is money. The Justice Department further states that it may cost about $11 million dollars to create and manage such a robust interstate database.

The database is part of the Anti Car Theft Act and is intended to track cars and trucks based on its' vehicle identification number (VIN). The database will include comprehensive information about a vehicle's lemon status, whether it is a stolen vehicle or not, and etc. The goal of having such a database is to control lemon-car laundering and to provide businesses and consumers with accurate information about a vehicle's history.

Currently, the database has been partially implemented in 9 states. Namely in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Virginia and Washington. Texas has yet to be included in this database.

Under Texas lemon law, if a vehicle has been repurchased or replaced via the Texas Department of Transportation's (DOT) lemon law program, then the dealership is required to make appropriate disclosures about the lemon status of the vehicle. However, if the case has been settled outside of the program (for example, via a lawsuit), then it arguably may not require such disclosures.

For more information about the nationwide lemon car database, go here.

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While driving through Austin, Texas and listening to the radio in my Toyota Rav4 several months ago, I heard a public service announcement (PSA) about the "Texas Lemon Law". Apparently, the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT), the administrative body that is responsible for adjudicating Texas Lemon Law claims between the consumer and car manufacturers, paid local Austin radio stations to inform the public about the law and their legal rights...

The jingle, mixed with male vocals and a guitar being played in the background, goes as follows:

"If your car ... won't go ...
It's a lemon. It's a lemon.
But you should not despair ...
over having it repaired ...
the Texas Lemon Law is here"

Although I am intrigued that the Texas DOT is placing these PSAs in local city radios stations, I wish that they would also inform consumers of the deadlines to filing a claim under the T