After over a decade (since 1992) of Congress’ passage of a nationwide database that tracks lemon and stolen cars, the tracking system still remains to be completely implemented.
The Justice Department, the governmental body responsible for overseeing the program, cites that the primary reason for non-implementation is money. The Justice Department further states that it may cost about $11 million dollars to create and manage such a robust interstate database.
The database is part of the Anti Car Theft Act and is intended to track cars and trucks based on its’ vehicle identification number (VIN). The database will include comprehensive information about a vehicle’s lemon status, whether it is a stolen vehicle or not, and etc. The goal of having such a database is to control lemon-car laundering and to provide businesses and consumers with accurate information about a vehicle’s history.
Currently, the database has been partially implemented in 9 states. Namely in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Virginia and Washington. Texas has yet to be included in this database.
Under Texas lemon law, if a vehicle has been repurchased or replaced via the Texas Department of Transportation’s (DOT) lemon law program, then the dealership is required to make appropriate disclosures about the lemon status of the vehicle. However, if the case has been settled outside of the program (for example, via a lawsuit), then it arguably may not require such disclosures.
For more information about the nationwide lemon car database, go here.