BEST LEMON LAW LAWYER IN LOS ANGELES, CA

Determining if your car is a lemon requires applying the legal test for a lemon to your unique situation. Legal counsel like Alpha Law can be very helpful as you figure out if your car is a lemon. Because a lot of factors need to be considered, it can be difficult to say if your car is a lemon without consulting with an attorney. If your car is a lemon, you then need to convince the manufacturer and the courts of this as well. The legal test for a lemon is included below.

In California a car is considered a lemon when it is:

1. still under warranty; and
2. the manufacturer has failed to fix your car after a reasonable number of attempts; and 
3. issues began and you tried to get them fixed within 18 months or 18,000 miles of getting the car.

If it is a lemon, the manufacturer is required to replace your car with a different one or buy your car back.

“Reasonable number of repairs” is usually the key issue in Lemon Law.  Deciding what is a reasonable number of repair attempts varies on a case by case basis.  Courts look to a number of different factors to decide what is reasonable under the circumstances.  Alpha Law can help you navigate this complicated process.

In law, a presumption means the burden shifts from the plaintiff to the defendant.  Here, that means the court will require the defendant to disprove a car is a lemon if the plaintiff establishes the presumption. In California the courts will presume a car is a lemon if the following additional facts occur and a car is still not fixed:

• four repair attempts and still not fixed;
• Two repair attempts for a serious problem that can cause serious injury or death and it is not fixed;
• 30 day in the shop for a problem covered by warranty.

As you can see this presumption relates to the “reasonable number” of repair attempts in the legal test for a lemon.  The presumption means the courts have decided what they believe is a reasonable number of repair attempts in specific situations.

If 18 months or 18,000 miles has already passed, you might be worried that it is too late to file a Lemon Law claim. Don’t worry, a key criteria is whether or not your car was under warranty when the first repair attempt took place. Even if the time or mileage limits have passed, there is a possibility that your car could still be lemon and qualify for protection.