If you have bought a new car or leased a new car in Florida and it exhibits problems which lead you to believe it is a serious defect, you do have legal recourse. The Florida Lemon Law allows for arbitration which can eventually lead to a replacement vehicle or a full refund of the purchase price. The Florida Lemon Law only applies to the purchase or lease of a brand new car; it does not provide any recourse for those people who purchase a used car.
If the defect cannot be repaired after a certain number of tries or if the car cannot be fixed within a certain time frame then you can reasonably expect the manufacturer to refund your money or provide you with a replacement car.
The first step in the process is arbitration; to be eligible the car must meet at least one of the following:
* The defect in the car must be such that it is detrimental to the safety, use or value of the car
* The car has to have been returned to a manufacturers authorized service agent three times minimum for the same defect or condition
* The car must have been out of service and not available for use by the owner for 15 days cumulative as a result of the defect
It is important to note that the Florida Lemon Law is only effective for 24 months after the car is purchased.
Many, but not all manufacturers have established a state certified arbitration process for any of their cars which are defective. If the manufacturer of the car you purchased is one which has an arbitration process you must seek resolution there before you can consider a legal solution.
In the event the manufacturer of your car does not have a state certified arbitration process or if you are unhappy with the resolution you have two options; you can take your case to the Florida State motor vehicle arbitration board or you can file a law suit after contacting the State Attorney General’s office.
If the resolution leads to a law suit you have 60 days after your lemon law period ends or up to 30 days after the decision is made by manufacturer’s informal settlement procedure.
It is of the utmost importance that all the records of the service attempts and the days the car was not available be kept, this information will be needed to support your claims.
The Florida Lemon law is in place to provide a route to arbitration and eventual replacement or a refund of a car which suffers continual and non-repairable issues. Click here for more details.
