If the car that you recently purchased from a dealership in Charleston is already having problems, you may justly wonder how a dealer could sale you such a vehicle in the first place. Your frustrations will no doubt be compounded even more if you later discover that the vehicle had been turned in earlier for repair as mandated by the state’s lemon laws. Many have come to us here at The Grubb Law Group after having purchased resold lemons questioning whether or not they have any legal recourse. A better question may be is who would be the target of such recourse: the dealer who sold the car, or the manufacturer who was charged with addressing the problem?
Section 46A-6A-7 of West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act states that no vehicle manufacturer may make a car that has been returned to deal with a defective in accordance with the state’s lemon law to make that vehicle available for resale without correcting the issue which prompted its return. A manufacturer also cannot mandate (either directly or indirectly) that any of its authorized dealers accept a vehicle that has been returned under the lemon law for resale.
If and when a vehicle repaired under the mandate of West Virginia’s lemon law is put up for purchase again, the manufacturer must include a notice to be given to the consumer indicating that the vehicle had been returned earlier for nonconformity to its warranty. These responsibilities certainly seemed to indicate that liability would lie with a manufacturer if you were unknowingly sold a lemon (though it could reasonably be extended to a dealer if it failed to provide you the aforementioned manufactured-furnished notice). More information on the state’s lemon law can found by continuing to explore our site.
