If you have a defective vehicle, you may wonder what is the lemon law in California. There are actually two lemon laws that apply within the state of California: the federal law, called the Magnusson Moss Act, and the California specific law, called the Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. These laws are designed to protect you so if you purchase a vehicle that doesn’t run properly or that requires an unreasonable number of repairs, you can get your hard earned money back.
What is the Lemon Law in California?
The primary law that most people recover under in California is the Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. This act stipulates that the manufacturer has a reasonable number of attempts to repair your vehicle. If the vehicle contains to run improperly or experience problems after the repair attempts, the manufacturer must either replace the vehicle or give you your money back.
Proving Your Car is a Lemon
Because a “reasonable number” of repairs can be hard to define, the Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act does it for you. According to the terms of the act, if the car has been repaired for the same issue four times or more within a period of 18 months or 18,000 miles, then this creates a rebuttable presumption that the car is defective. That means you just have to show the number of times the car went in for repair, you don’t have to prove anything else. The manufacturer, however, can rebut this evidence- or prove that the consistent repairs don’t actually make the car a lemon. This rule applies to both new and used cars.
Of course, if your car has not had a full four repairs within that time frame but has consistently had problems, it may be declared a lemon anyway in court if it breaks an unreasonable number of times. The only difference is, you’ll have to do more to prove your case than just showing the repair records and striking down defenses- you’ll actually have to prove that more than a reasonable number of repairs have been attempted.
What Should You Do?
The most important thing you can do if you have a car that is acting up is to keep careful and consistent records. You’ll need the proof of the repairs- and the time period in which they took place- in order to get the benefit of the rebuttable presumption established by the Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act.
You should also consult with a lemon law lawyer with experience, since filing a case and getting your car replaced or your money back isn’t always as simple as just asking for it from the manufacturer or showing up in court. An experienced attorney can help you to get your evidence in order and can help strike down any defenses the manufacturer makes against your claim.
Our Law Office has years of experience and long standing relationship with the top car companies. If you think your car might be a lemon please contact our office for a Free Consultation. We take all of our Lemon Law cases on a contingency basis, which means we only make money if we can get you money. Call our office at 1-877-702-7274 or e-mail us at info@arashlaw.com.
[...] to find out if your car is a lemon is to see whether it fits in with the definition provided by the California lemon law. Under the Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, if your vehicle has been in the repair shop four or [...]