Auto Lemon –Can Your State's Lemon Law Help You?Written by Charles Essmeier
Buying a car is not like buying a radio; you cannot return it to store for a refund if you do not like it, or if it has a manufacturing defect. In fact, for many years, if you purchased an automobile that came from factory with defects, you were just stuck. You could try to get dealer to repair problem, but if problem continued and dealer could not repair it, you were out of luck.
In 1982, luck of owners of so-called “lemons” changed for better, as California and Connecticut passed nation’s first “lemon laws.”
These laws, spawned by consumers who had waged tireless battles against major auto companies, allowed owners of defective automobiles to seek compensation or replacement with help of their respective states. These laws swept like wildfire throughout country, and now all 50 states have some form of lemon law.
The specifics of lemon laws will vary from state to state, but in general, they define a “lemon” as a vehicle that:
Has a “nonconformity” that affects safety, use, or value of vehicle, andThe nonconformity has not been successfully repaired after a “reasonable” number of attempts, and/orThe vehicle has been out of service for a total of a certain number of days for repair of nonconformity.
The length of warranty period also varies; coverage typically runs anywhere from one year or 12,000 miles to two years or 24,000 miles. As previously stated, specifics vary from state to state, particularly number of repair attempts that constitute “reasonable” and number of days that vehicle must be out of service in order to qualify. In some states, repairs that affect brakes or other safety equipment need only one repair attempt to qualify as “reasonable.”
Restitution is fairly consistent from state to state; it usually requires manufacturer to either replace vehicle with one of comparable value, or refund purchase price, along with taxes, registration and delivery fees. Some states leave option of replacement or refund to manufacturer, but most give option to consumer.
What should you do if you think you have a lemon? You should:
| | Ford Moves Aggressively For Mainstream Navigation SystemWritten by Jenny McLane
Ford now looks at latest trend for auto manufacturers of putting navigation system on mainstream cars even as an option.Among six Ford 2006 Ford Motor vehicles to offer navigation systems are 2006 Lincoln Zephyr and Mercury Mountaineer while other four nameplates are said to be Ford Explorer and Explorer Sport Trac SUVs, Five Hundred sedan and Freestyle sport wagon. The idea of popularizing car navigation system on mass produced Ford cars is an attractive feature for most car enthusiasts. Common only in luxury segment such as Lincoln Navigator, on which option costs around $3,000 on 4x4 Ultimate editions, car navigation system will soon be more affordable as foreseen by Ford. This is an aggressive step by Ford to be competitive and sway family sedan market into its turf. Mainstream vehicles will soon find car navigation system on its option list as hand held global positioning phones and concept of beaming satellite map data into vehicles are also being considered by auto makers.
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