Pennsylvania Lemon Law

Every state has laws to protect consumers from products that have serious defects. Lemon laws protect consumers from automobiles that are plagued with serious defects. If an item cannot be satisfactorily repaired within a certain timeframe – usually within the warranty period - or if the item is not as good as new after so many repairs, it is considered a ""lemon."" On similar grounds, the Pennsylvanian lemon law was enacted for the express purpose of protecting consumers from buying or leasing new, but faulty, motor vehicles. Like most laws, lemon laws differ by state.

Pennsylvania lemon law applies to new cars that have a defect or condition that cannot be repaired after three attempts by an authorized manufacturer's dealership. This defect must first occur within the first 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. This law applies to vehicles that are in the shop for repair for thirty days or more during the first year. This law contains a fee-shifting provision, which means that if the consumer prevails, the manufacturer must pay all attorney fees and legal costs on top of what you receive.

This law defines when a manufacturer has breached its written warranty and what the purchaser is entitled to for such a breach of warranty. Additionally, there are various other lemon laws which can be used to recover money for consumers. This law provides consumers with a powerful and effective way to get rid of a defective vehicle or receive a cash settlement. One cannot only get rid of the lemon or the faulty vehicle, but can also get loan paid off and even get the money back. The consumer may also be entitled to additional out-of-pocket costs they have incurred, such as towing, rental cars and more.

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Don't Get Had By The Pennsylvania Lemon Law

If you’re interested in the Pennsylvania lemon law, it’s best to know what it says before you buy your car. The sooner you know what the details of Pennsylvania’s lemon law are, the better you’ll be able to protect yourself and avoid hassle and frustration. But regardless of where you are in the process, we’ve boiled down what the main points of the lemon law are, then included some advice on how to act if your car’s maker is giving you a hard time. We’re not attorneys, so please don’t mistake this for legal advice. But it should be helpful.

First of all, the Pennsylvania lemon law applies to all new or leased cars. It doesn’t cover used cars unless the dealer makes it very clear that the car is a lemon. Motorcycles, off-road vehicles and motor homes aren’t covered by this law.

Most cars that are covered by this law are only covered for the first year you own it or within 12,000 miles of use. As quickly as time moves, this makes it very important that you not delay with any problems or claims. If your warranty has expired, consider contacting an attorney to see what options you have.

If your car is covered, and you’re having problems, the first thing to do is see what your owners manual tells you to do. All manuals should have instructions about this. The first person you’ll usually contact is the dealer who you bought your car from or the manufacturer’s area representative. You can get this person’s name and phone number from the dealership or online.

You must either take your car to a dealership for repairs or—if a dealership is too far away for you to reasonably get your car to—you must given written notice to the manufacturer of the problem. They should arrange to have the car transported to an appropriate repair facility.

Every time a repair is made on your car, the dealer must give you an itemized statement of everything that was done. Make sure you get a copy of this, then keep it somewhere handy. This statement should include the date the repair was done and odometer reading. So much of getting satisfaction from your lemon law claim is being able to document the problems your car has had and what’s been done about them.

The general rule with Pennsylvania’s lemon law is if your car has been repaired four or more times for the same defect, the car’s a lemon.

Still have questions? Give you attorney general a call, at 1 800 441 2555, weekdays from 10 to 3. You can also go online; start at http://www.dot10.state.pa.us/pdotforms/fact_sheets/fs-lemon.pdf.

It’s possible that Pennsylvania’s lemon law won’t give you the satisfaction you feel you deserve. This is fast getting into need-a-lawyer territory, but let us just say that in a lot of the cases we’ve seen involving lemon laws, people have sued the manufacturer based on their state laws and two federal laws, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and the Uniform Commercial Code. Some people have sued under breach of contract or unfair marketing.

The main thing you can do to protect yourself is to document every problem your car has, when it had the problem, what you did and what the dealer and manufacturer did. The more records you have, the stronger a case you’ll generally have. The Pennsylvania lemon law give you some protection, but if it doesn’t satisfy you, you do have other options. Good luck.

What is the Pennsylvania Lemon Law?

The Pennsylvania Lemon Law (73 P. S. sec. 1951 et seq.) is a powerful state statute that protects consumers and purchasers of defective motor vehicles. The Lemon Law was established in 1984, and originally protected only those individuals who actually purchased a motor vehicle. In the late 1990’s, with the popularity of leasing a vehicle increasing dramatically, the PA legislature began to see that those individuals who leased what turned out to be defective vehicles were left without a remedy under the Pennsylvania Lemon Law. To that end, the legislature amended the PA Lemon Law in 2001 to include vehicles that were leased after February 11, 2002 for protection under the law.

The PA Lemon Law, in a nutshell, provides for a refund of the purchase price or a replacement of the defective vehicle if certain criteria are met with regards to the defective conditions of the vehicle. The defective condition must substantially affect the Use, Value or Safety of the vehicle in question. Whether the Use, Value or Safety is affected for the most part requires application of the common sense test. If the vehicle has problems with the engine stalling while making left turns, that would likely be a serious problem that affects Use, Value and Safety. If the vehicle’s radio doesn’t pick up someone’s favorite station, that likely would not qualify as an impairment under the statute.

The PA Lemon Law provides that the first occurrence of the defect must arise within the first 12,000 miles, and that the Manufacturer be notified in that time frame as well. This notification can come simply in the form of having the purchaser/lessor take the vehicle in to the dealer for a repair. The law provides that the Manufacturer must be given a reasonable number of attempts to cure the defect, and in Pennsylvania there is a presumption that the number of repair attempts is three. An exception to that rule exists in that one occurrence of a defect which might cause death or serious bodily injury would be enough to render the vehicle a lemon. The type of defect necessary to fulfill that exception is not defined by the statute, and there has been no actual case law that has established what type of defect that might be. After the third occurrence of the defect, the purchaser/lessor of the vehicle can bring a claim under the Lemon Law, seeking either a refund of the purchase price or a replacement vehicle.

The Lemon Law also provides for recovery of all consequential and incidental damages, which generally include all payments made towards financing, any down payment made, any charges for repair costs, rental car charges, towing charges and the like. Perhaps the most important aspect of the Lemon Law is that it provides that the Manufacturer must pay the consumer’s Attorney Fees and costs if the vehicle is found to be a lemon. This serves to provide the public with free legal representation in Lemon Law cases. It would be hard to imagine a more public friendly statute.

Lemon Law - When You Need the Expert

Lemon law cases follow a certain sequence, as do most other legal matters. Roughly sixty five percent of the time a lemon law case never reaches the litigation stage. These cases are handled in what is called prelitigation.

Phase I: It goes roughly like this. Joe Jones buys a new vehicle: Ford, Nissan, BMW, it doesn’t matter which kind, they all manufacture lemons; some more than others. Joe drives the vehicle for a month or so then he notices that whenever he hits the brake, the steering wheel shudders and the front end has a tendency to pull to the left of right. Various other things are wrong with the vehicle, but none that are serious or life threatening.

Joe takes the vehicle back to the dealer where he purchased it. Let’s back up a step. He calls them to make an appointment. Maybe they play games, like making him wait two weeks, or maybe not. At the dealer, as soon as he explains the problem to the service writer, they know exactly what’s going on. His isn’t the first vehicle brought back for this problem. Besides, soon after this vehicle came out, the manufacturer issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) describing the problem and some things that might be done about it.

By the way, the manufacture did not send the TSB to Mr. Jones. They never do. Unfortunately the problem is a design fault, so no matter what the dealership does, they can’t fix the problem without replacing the entire front end, redesigned to correct the problem.

Remember, anything, any problem that looks like it can’t be fixed is going to be hidden. It’s going to be hidden because the one thing the manufacturer does not want is for the problem to become a recall. It is sadly true that manufacturers have knowingly allowed cars on the road, whose repeated defects endangered the driver and his or her passengers, rather than mess up their financial bottom line. About the only way a manufacturer will ‘voluntarily’ fix a problem of this sort is if the National Highway Safety Transportation Agency (NHSTA) forces them to by issuing a recall.

So, the technician goes for a ride in Joe’s vehicle. He comes back and says something like, ‘no problem found’ or ‘the vehicle is operating as designed.’ Imagine the owner’s disgust and disbelief at being told the vehicle is operating as designed.

Consumers are not near as stupid as the people at the dealerships seem to think. Joe knows very well that his vehicle shouldn’t shake and dive to the left when he hits the brake.

This is just the opening round. The contestants are sparring, throwing a few jabs, bobbing and weaving, feeling the opponent out. The dealer knows that probably 50% of owners don’t really understand much about modern automobiles, and they will be able to get away with whatever they say. If, for example the owner came back ‘in their face’ as we say in America, perhaps the dealership would sing another tune. Then the owner might find out about a Secret Warranty; but that’s another article, and it’s another way to avoid that nasty old recall.

The dealership may make an effort to fix some of the minor stuff just to keep its credibility as an organization devoted to the well being of its customers.

Now we advance into the seemingly endless round of trips back and forth to the dealership as Mr. Jones tries to get the problem with his front end fixed. It’s pretty darned scary to be driving down the freeway at seventy and have the vehicle shake so hard it feels like it is going to fall apart, or for the vehicle to dart to the left lane like a turkey avoiding the axe on Thanks Giving Day.

Next time he brings it in, the dealer agrees that there is minor braking/shaking problem. What a revelation! Joe has been saying this all along. The dealership analyzed the possibilities and come up with the cause: the wheels are out of alignment. They realign the wheels. Or maybe the service writer gives out some garbledy gook about ‘run out.’ We have even seen, for this exact problem, where the dealership contended that the problem was caused by the way the owner drove. This accusation was entirely unsupported by data. It was in fact absolute horse dirt, but dealers and manufacturers understand the value of the big lie, boldly professed.

Phase II: Five more trips to the dealership, trying to get this problem fixed without result and Joe gets a lawyer. Joe sends all of the paper to his attorney, especially the repair orders. The attorney and his or her staff interview the potential client and reviews the repair orders carefully. At some point they determine that Joe Jones has a good case per the requirements of that particular state’s lemon laws. At this point we are still in what is called prelitigation.

The attorney drafts a demand letter (this is a letter that spells out the legal reasons why the manufacturer should buy back the vehicle or provide a replacement and the vehicle defects, which make the vehicle a lemon, plus the financials if it is to be a refund. If it is to be a replacement the settlement data is spelled out. The demand letter is sent and the manufacturer has approximately thirty days to respond.

Phase III: If the manufacturer wants to settle the case, their return letter will state their offer of settlement. Many times this will be very close to or what the attorney proposed in their demand letter. Other times the manufacturer may make a offer so ridiculous that even the most dour of individuals would fall to the floor laughing. These offers will of course be rejected and the attorney will encourage them to make a serious offer.

The Expert Phase: Another option is that the manufacturer rejects the attorney’s demand. When this occurs, if the attorney thinks it is a strong case that can be won at trial, the case is transferred from prelitigation to litigation. One of the first things that usually happens at this point is that an appointment is made to have the vehicle examined by an expert. Anyone who has watched the assorted crime dramas that proliferate on the TV networks will remember that at some point the experts always appear. In these dramas, usually it’s some blathering psychiatrist doing his witch doctor thing or a forensics expert discussing the grooves and lands in a rifle barrel.

An expert may keep the owner’s vehicle for as much as a week, especially where it is necessary to drive the vehicle under varying conditions to be certain the problem exists. The expert writes a report and it becomes a part of the case file. If the expert verifies the problem, this information may be presented to the manufacturer and they may decide to settle straightaway or continue fighting. Either way, if the expert verifies the problem, it is a good thing for the owner.

At some point the Vehicle manufacturer may want to bring in their own expert, after which it can become a case of dueling experts.

The cost of experts is usually born by the client, however when the case settles, if it settles in the favor of the vehicle owner, the expert costs are recoverable in litigation.

The thing to remember is that manufacturers are going to do everything possible to make the vehicle owner give up and go away. It is absolutely important that the vehicle owner keep this in mind as the weeks drain away. The manufacturer is counting on wearing the consumer down like water on dripping on stone, and at about the same pace.

Experts are part of the process. It is our experience that the experts we use are professional and tell it like it is. If the client’s defects are real, the expert will verify it, even if they are intermittent and report on it. If the defects are not verifiable or weak, the expert will verify this also. This is good for our client and it is good for our firm. We don’t want to lose because when we lose our clients lose and this is a very bad thing.

If you find yourself in a position where an expert is needed, whether it is with Norman Taylor & Associates or with another attorney, tell it like it is and the expert can help you win.