Texas Lemon Law Blog
Often times, a frustrated Texas lemon law client will seek my advice on what they should do when taking in their new vehicle to the service center for repairs. Last week a client of mine from Houston, Texas was so frustrated with the Chrysler service manager, that he threatened to leave his truck parked at the dealership until they fix the “check engine light” problem.
I hear it often, the client will say, “every time I take in my car/truck, they tell me they can’t find anything wrong with it… they tell me they can not duplicate the problem and put NPF… no problem found on the repair invoice.”
My response to the client starts off with the following quote by Albert Einstein: “Insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
In the case of dealerships and service centers, it is important that the client or consumer be prepared BEFORE bringing the vehicle in to be looked at. I suggest the following:
Take photographs or video camera recordings of the vehicle’s defect. Bring the photograph or video and show it to the service manager of the car dealership. For example, if it is an intermittent noise issue and the service manager has been unenthusiastic in replicating the problem, then showing this “video” evidence will help the service manager swallow his or her own words.
In this day and age, the consumer or client has no excuse not to have proof of their complaint,…a cheap cell phone should likely have a camera or camcorder functionality built into it.
For photographs, make sure that you keep track of when the picture was taken — having a date and time stamp on the photo is recommended. For video recordings, make sure you state your name, the date, the time, the description of the vehicle, and the current mileage on the vehicle.
When you pick up your vehicle after the dealership has looked at and repaired the defect, make sure that you check the repair invoice and confirm that what is written on it is accurate.