You may have heard people talking about Lemon Laws before but you just smiled and nodded because you had absolutely no idea what they were talking about; you just assumed it was some advanced legal secret which nobody had taken the time to explain to you.
When it comes down to it Lemon Laws basically provide you, the consumer, with additional protection when it comes to buying anything from an automobile or a motorcycle to a computer, or even a puppy. Lemon Laws became part of the modern vocabulary after the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 was introduced – the aim of which being to provide any consumer with additional rights over and above any protection offered, or implied, in warranties. The original goal of this act was to combat the rising number of automotive lemons being sold to customers across the United States – the results of which were hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of needless deaths.
So the \”Lemon\” in Lemon Laws doesn\’t actually refer to a specific person or event, but instead is a reference to the act of buying a new car, for example, only to find out it has multiple defects, or is in effect what people would call a lemon. Why use a lemon as the descriptive noun for this? Well that\’s because of the bitter aftertaste being conned tends to leave in your mouth.
In our above example of a defective car you might find that the manufacturers warranty isn\’t worth the paper it\’s printed on but, depending on which State you live in, you might find that a Lemon Law exists in your State which entitles you to free repairs of the defects, or the replacement of the entire vehicle.
Basically when you buy a product of any kind there are two different types of warranty which might apply to you:
Express Warranty – These are the warranty booklets or cards you find supplied with most reputable products – an express warranty is literally one which is printed on paper.
Implied Warranty- This is more of a general assurance on the part of the manufacturer that their product is actually fit for the purpose it was sold for in the first place.
Unfortunately far too many manufacturers fail to support warranty claims by their customers, leaving people with defective goods and no way of recouping their costs or damages. Lemon Laws exist at both a State and Federal level, with the Federal Lemon Laws covering anything of a mechanical nature, whereas State-specific Lemon laws tend to be far more targeted in the types of products and services they cover.
From a consumer\’s point of view Lemon Laws are invaluable in assuring them that their money is well spent, even when a manufacturer doesn\’t live up to their end of the bargain. Even better is the fact that if you do feel you have been sold something which can only be described as a total lemon that there are attorneys who specialize in Lemon Laws relating just to your State, so you can get expert advice on how these laws apply to your current predicament.