Lemon Law - Vehicles

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a_skeleton_03

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Does anyone have any experience with this?

I have a motorcycle (Harley) with a known issue that is plaguing riders that bought it. The fuel pump breaks and when your tank gets low it will lag out in 1st or 2nd gear and then all of a sudden surge forward like it wants to do a wheelie. It is ridiculously unsafe. I have had my pump replaced twice now and it only has 1k miles on it.

Lemon Law


My state says four or more time or 20 business days in the shop. The first time I took it in they had it for a week but they didn't figure it out until I picked it up and drove it around the block until it ran out of gas. I had told them they needed to drain the tank a bit but they didn't listen. Do you think that whole week would count?

How much pushback can the dealer give me once I do hit one of those benchmarks? Is it basically just nothing they can do but admit defeat and move on? What about accessories I bought at time of purchase that are for this model only do you think they would buy those back as well?
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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If it was in the shop, it counts. Be prepared to prove it. Don't think they are required to buy back accessories. They may work with you though if they want to keep your business.
 
Palum

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Every time I've seen this succeed has involved a lawyer except one case with a Aston Martin where they actually offered a buyback because they couldn't fix an issue with the engine so technically 'lemon law' per se didn't even get invoked.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Palum_sl said:
Every time I've seen this succeed has involved a lawyer except one case with a Aston Martin where they actually offered a buyback because they couldn't fix an issue with the engine so technically 'lemon law' per se didn't even get invoked.
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I guess when I get to my third incident I will hire one ready for the fourth.
 
Palum

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I dunno how Harley is, most of the auto manufacturers have enough lawyers to make you fight for it and not many will offer buyback without a good reason beyond they will lose the lawsuit unless you have a lawyer.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Palum_sl said:
I dunno how Harley is, most of the auto manufacturers have enough lawyers to make you fight for it and not many will offer buyback without a good reason beyond they will lose the lawsuit unless you have a lawyer.
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I don't understand this when the law is the law. They failed to fix the same issue four times and have no solution so what is there to fight?
 
Hoss

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I have some second hand experience with it. I'll let you in on a dirty trick they can pull in my state. They describe the problem differently in the work order and are able to claim it hasn't been in for that exact same problem. Even giving them extra information can be interpreted as a different problem. So, maybe lawyer up a little sooner than you expected? Hopefully you can find one who will do a consult with you for cheap and tell you where you stand and how you need to proceed.

In my experience, once you get to 3 and start talking lemon law, the dealer will want to make it right with you. If the vehicle gets declared a lemon, they cannot resell it. So they'd rather eat a little bit of loss and get you into a new one than have to wind up eating the cost of the entire vehicle.

I've got an issue on my wife's car right now where the headlights keep going out. I'm very clear everytime I take it to the dealership that it's been in X times already for this problem. So far, it's one headlight at a time going out (including the running lights) and only one has gone out twice. I go over that with the service writer every time because, frankly, I think something is wrong in the headlight assembly or wiring harness. But all they'll do it replace the light.


a_skeleton_03_sl said:
I don't understand this when the law is the law. They failed to fix the same issue four times and have no solution so what is there to fight?
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No law is self enforcing.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Yeah if it was the one bike I would probably just work with them on getting me into a new one.

The whole model is potentially bad though and the NHTSA has opened an investigation and Harley is still denying it.
 
Hoss

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Did you want a different bike, or your money back? With my Brother In law, they just gave him full value as a trade in, and he wound up with a different type of vehicle. He was actually still fucked a little IMO, but I can't remember how. It was probably that they didn't give him any credit for the payments he'd already made on the lemon and had to pony up some more money. But he was happy because he wound up with a newer model.
 
Noodleface

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Totally forgot about this but my sister got a lawyer involved and succeeded getting a lemon law thing going. They actually paid her cash for what was left on the loan minus the miles she put into it.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Yeah I want my money back so I can avoid them and buy a bike from another manufacturer.

I know that my miles will be deducted.
 
Cad

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Yeah I want my money back so I can avoid them and buy a bike from another manufacturer.

I know that my miles will be deducted.
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Depends on the state because lemon laws are per state but usually if you start the paperwork and clearly know what you're doing, the dealer will settle with you pretty quickly. They know they will lose these cases.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Cad_sl said:
Depends on the state because lemon laws are per state but usually if you start the paperwork and clearly know what you're doing, the dealer will settle with you pretty quickly. They know they will lose these cases.
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Yeah the minute I hit the third one I start letter writing and hiring a local lawyer. The law here is 4 times or 20 business days in the shop and I am at 2 and 10 business days.
 
Cad

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Yeah the minute I hit the third one I start letter writing and hiring a local lawyer. The law here is 4 times or 20 business days in the shop and I am at 2 and 10 business days.
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Don't think you even need a lawyer honestly, just hit up the websites that tell you what to do for your state and follow the directions. You might need a lawyer if the dealership fucks with you but probably not.
 
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