Buying a brand-new vehicle is a massive investment. People pay a premium price for the prestige that comes from acquiring a vehicle with no previous owners. Generally speaking, those buying new vehicles expect them to be in pristine condition and to retain a significant amount of their value with proper maintenance and upkeep.
Unfortunately, a small percentage of brand-new vehicles are not in optimal condition. Every year, thousands of people buy lemons that do not conform to manufacturer standards. A lemon is a vehicle that has issues that the dealership or manufacturer cannot repair in a timely or cost-effective manner.
Those who purchase lemons have certain protections under West Virginia law. They have the right to return the vehicle for a replacement vehicle in most cases. They can also ask the dealership to repair the vehicle. The following are some of the warning signs of a potential lemon.
Unexplained system failures
When something goes wrong with a brand-new vehicle, often there is one issue to blame. There could be a single defective part that somehow made it past quality control inspections at the manufacturing facility. A dealership should be able to identify and repair those issues relatively quickly. When a vehicle is a lemon, repairs don’t resolve the underlying issue. In fact, repair efforts may not even be able to identify the actual cause of the concerns the owner has with the vehicle. They may notice that the issue recurs shortly after they reclaimed their vehicle from the dealership.
Repeated, unsuccessful repairs
Under West Virginia law, a vehicle is a lemon if it develops issues that deviate from warranty standards during the express warranty period. Consumers must give an authorized dealer a chance to repair the vehicle before a claim can be made. In cases involving safety-critical issues, one repair attempt is all a dealership has before a consumer can claim the vehicle is a lemon. In cases involving less serious issues, dealerships may make up to three attempts to correct the issues.
Lengthy service appointments
Many motorists with vehicles under warranty bring their new vehicles back to the dealership for basic maintenance and any necessary repairs. Typically, dealership service centers have the necessary workers and facilities to quickly get a vehicle back out on the road after maintenance or repairs. When a dealership has to retain the vehicle for multiple days or even weeks after a customer expresses concerns, that may be an indicator that there are issues addressing the problem with the vehicle.
Understanding when a vehicle might be a lemon can help buyers hold a dealership accountable for selling them a vehicle that does not conform to warranty standards. Those who assert their rights under lemon laws can recoup the losses that a poor-quality vehicle might generate.
