LEMON USED VEHICLE
Salvage, Flood, Lemon and Wreck vehicles. You may have a claim if:
a. your vehicle was involved in a flood, collision or fire before you bought it; or
b. your vehicle is a Lemon Buy Back (the manufacturer bought your vehicle from an earlier consumer because of warranty complaints);
The Seller should have told you about these problems. If the Seller did not tell you about these problems you may have a claim.
Remember that a CarFax report is NOT conclusive evidence as to whether the vehicle was in a flood or wreck or Undisclosed Lemon. Car Fax does not obtain all information, particularly regarding insurance claims. MANY cars are declared a Total Loss by insurance companies but are rebuilt and returned to the road with no disclosure or title branding. Also, most rental car fleets are self insured and repair and sell their wrecked vehicles with no disclosure of the damage.
Odometer. Odometer rollback claims do not have any mileage limits although no odometer disclosure is required for vehicles that are 10 model years or older. If a seller makes an odometer disclosure, it must be accurate. If you bought a vehicle with an altered odometer call me.
Remaining Factory Warranty. Used vehicles with remaining manufacturer warranty should be treated the same as new vehicles with similar problems. If you are the later owner of the vehicle and the dealer/manufacturer will not repair the vehicle, you should obtain a clear statement of why the warranty will not be honored, preferably in writing.
Certified Vehicle/Extended Warranty. Certified Used Vehicles offer warranty protection like a New Vehicle and the Certification protection gives you almost the same remedies as if you buy a New Vehicle. Repetitive problems with a vehicle or the failure of the selling dealer or repair facility to honor the warranty are the most common complaints in this category.
Purchase Problems: the first 30 days. Many Buyers want to cancel their purchase in the first 30 days as they learn about vehicle problems that the Seller did not disclose. If this happened to you I may be able to help you with the cancellation of your vehicle purchase. The cancellation would need to be for good cause, not just a case of 'buyer's remorse." Although there is no automatic 3, 5 or 30 day right of cancellation for the purchase of a vehicle I have successfully obtained cancellations when there is good cause.
Purchase Problems: YO YO Sales. Many Dealers will deliver possession of a vehicle to a Buyer pending credit approval. These types of transactions are referred to as Temporary Delivery Agreements, Bailment Agreements, Borrowed Car Agreement, or Courtesy Delivery Agreement. If the Dealer determines that it cannot sell your purchase contract to a finance company, it may ask you to return the vehicle. The return of the vehicle makes this a Yo Yo sale. The law in this area has recently changed and many Auto Dealers don't know about it or ignore it. If you do suffer the indignity of the YO YO sale, the Dealer should return your trade vehicle and any deposit you made. The Dealer may only reduce your deposit for excessive mileage or damage to the vehicle.
Commercial Trucks and Diesel Engines. Of course, diesel engines and commercial trucks would be considered differently than passenger vehicles. Because of their longer life and durability these vehicles would be expected to last longer, both in miles and years.
Used Vehicles. Almost all used vehicles in Texas are sold with an AS IS No Warranty disclaimer. Unfortunately, this law often prevents buyers of older higher mileage vehicles from obtaining compensation for a defective or unsafe vehicle. Except for the Situations noted above it is difficult to obtain compensation for a vehicle that is more than 5 years old or has more than 80,000 miles at time of purchase. In EVERY used car purchase you should have a mechanic of your choice inspect the vehicle immediately before you purchase it.
