MYTH #1: Your Car Does Not “Qualify” Under The Lemon Law.
USUALLY FALSE. There are NO easy black and white QUALIFICATIONS under the Lemon Laws that automatically exclude you from recovering thousands of dollars OR getting rid of your lemon. If someone who is not looking out for your best interests told you this, such as the dealer - Be Careful! Many times dealer employees have never even read the law. More importantly, there are multiple Lemon Laws available to help you that only a lawyer would be aware of and able to properly interpret.
MYTH #2: You Must File Your Claim Within a Very Short Amount of Time.
FALSE. This is commonly misunderstood by non-lawyers and lawyers alike who do not focus on Lemon Law. In many cases, there is either no time specified under the Lemon Laws or the time limit depends on how long the relevant warranty is or when the Manufacturer or Dealer failed to live up to the warranty. Furthermore, this myth is normally in reference to one law, but there are multiple Lemon Laws available to help you with varying time limits.
MYTH #3: You Have No Case Because You Have "Traded in" or "Sold" Your Vehicle.
NONSENSE. You can recover thousands of dollars of cash even if you have traded in or sold your vehicle! Remember, you were making full payments on a substandard product and/or made a down payment. Are you being reimbursed for any portion of that? Are you rolling any amount you still owed the bank into the price of the new vehicle (known as "negative equity"), thus substantially increasing the cost of your new car? The law recognizes this as being unfair and this money can be recovered even if you no longer have possession of your vehicle!! Here is an example to illustrate what can happen:
(Click on the Picture to Enlarge)
*Based on a 60 month loan at 7.5% APR.
MYTH #4: You Are Not Entitled to Anything if Your Vehicle has Been "Fixed."
NONSENSE. After all, why should you have to continue to drive a potentially unsafe vehicle in order to be protected by the law. If they did not fix your vehicle in a reasonable amount of time (although this could weaken your claim) your rights are triggered and the manufacturer cannot take those away from you by "finally" fixing your vehicle after putting you through even more inconvenience, expense and/or missed days from work!
