A Brief On The Used Car Lemon Laws For All States
A motor vehicle can be purchased in two ways. It can be purchased new or second hand. Every state has legal machinery installed to protect the new car consumer. The problem, however, arises when you go to purchase a used car. The Used Car Lemon Law is peculiar to only a few states.
The lemon laws are statutes enacted by the government to protect the consumers from the unscrupulous sellers in the market. These laws come handy when a hapless consumer ends up purchasing a "lemon" instead of what he intended to buy.
A "lemon" is a colloquial term, which means a defective consumer item. And a defective consumer item can be anything from cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, to computers, televisions, refrigerators, other consumer appliances, and so on.
The federal lemon laws, i.e. the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the Uniform Commercial Code, therefore, cover all consumer products in the market, costing more than US$25. These laws apply to all the states of America. However, the various states have also individually come up with their own lemon laws. These laws apply specifically to these states only. They have to be read along with the federal lemon laws. Hence, in all the states of U.S. if you are looking to sue the manufacturer or dealer, who sold you a "lemon", you will have to understand both the sets of laws and only then you can get the maximum mileage from your civil "lemon law" suit, if any. However, the entire legal machinery gets a bit complicated for those who want to go for a "used car". Lemon law on used cars is peculiar to only a few states. Alaska, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah are those states which do not have any legal remedy as to 'lemon used cars'. All the other states have some kind of provisions for dealing with this situation as well. These states either make it mandatory for the sellers of used cars to provide a full disclosure regarding the history and current status of the machinery, or they have to get the necessary repairs done at their own expenses and only then they can sell their cars. In the lemon law for used cars peculiar to some states, even the express warranty of the manufacturer extends to the subsequent buyers. Whether your state is one of them, you have to find out by consulting a good lemon law attorney practicing in your state. Therefore, from the above discussion, it become amply clear that before you go to buy a used car, you must find out about what your state has an effective Used Car Lemon Law in operation, or not. Only then you should make such an investment. However, to be on the safer side, it is always preferable to buy from a person you know, rather than from a used-car dealer.
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