Texas Lemon Law Blog

Washington Lemon Law requires that repurchased or reacquired vehicles must have special disclosures so that consumers are informed of the vehicle’s status when the consumer purchases the pre-owned vehicle. Specifically, a bright yellow flier must be placed on the vehicle’s window and it must state, “Lemon Law Resale Notice of Nonconformity or Serious Safety Defect.”

Recently, McCann Motors of Fife, Washington reached a settlement agreement with the Washington Attorney’s Office over a controversy where the car dealership failed to provide the disclosure to seventy-nine customer who purchased luxury cars from the dealership.

Texas lemon law also requires similar disclosures as Washington’s lemon law. However, the law only requires such special disclosures only if the vehicle was repurchased or reacquired through the state’s formal lemon law program — that leaves out a lot of vehicle that has been repurchased informally without going through the lemon law arbitration/administrative program.

One disadvantage that the Texas Lemon Law has as compared to other state lemon laws such as Wisconsin is that Texas Lemon Law does not provide for double or treble damages for the car dealership or manufacturer’s willful or intentional conduct for thwarting its lemon refund or repurchase obligations.

Ironically, the tables are turned now for a consumer in Wisconsin. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a consumer who purchased a lemon car now has to prove that he did not in bad faith abuse the Wisconsin Lemon Law in order to obtain double damages against the car manufacturer.

For more information, click here.

At my Texas lemon law office, I often get calls from potential clients about problems on a variety of vehicles, including SUVS, trucks, sports cars, and compact cars. However, I have yet to receive a call for electric lemon cars, possibly due to the fact that electric cars are fairly new to the auto industry and car consumer markets.

Especially with how gas prices have exponentially increased within the past year, it is expected that electric cars will have a strong impact on many consumers’ transportation choices.

In Washington, a mail carrier is finding that out that a lemon may occur in non-traditional gas vehicles also, specifically electric cars. Frost Freeman bought a Dynasty IT with the intention of using it to deliver mail while working for the Marrowstone Island Post Office. Unfortunately, 2 years after purchasing the vehicle, the vehicle doesn’t hold a charge as advertised and failed to operate in a way she she expected. Ms. Frost recently filed a lemon law claim with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, hoping to seek a repurchase/buyback under Washington’s Lemon Law.

Jim Donovan from CBS 3 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recently wrote an online story regarding alternative recourses that consumers have, especially in situations where state lemon laws are inapplicable.

Specifically, Mr. Donovan properly pointed out that the federal Magnuson Moss Act may help consumers who suffer damages from being sold defective vehicles, even pre-owned or used cars with warranty.

Here, the Texas lemon law is very restrictive in terms of rebuttable presumptions and the deadline to file a claim. When a potential client comes to my office and the deadline to file a claim under the Texas Lemon Law has passed, I usually explore with the consumer on whether the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices (DTPA) or the federal Magnuson Moss Act would help them.