Are you acquainted with the CA lemon law exceptions?
While many vehicle owners are familiar with the what the basic stipulations of the CA lemon law infer, meaning the extra protection granted by manufacturer even when the causes of the vehicle’s malfunctions are not integrated in the warranty, few people are aware of the exceptions. Before contacting the manufacturer and filing a claim for reimbursement, it is always advisable to ask for a second opinion from a lawyer that specializes in the CA lemon law. Moreover, rather than filing the reimbursement claim on your own, a much better initiative would be to hire a lawyer to perform the necessary actions on your behalf.
In most cases, the lawyers are able to settle the matters without even going to court and accounting for unnecessary expenses. At the same time, they will be able to analyze the matter through professional eyes and estimate your chances of being refunded the vehicle’s price under the terms of the CA lemon law. And, as you are about to find out, you may even be entitled civil penalties, but more on that later on. So, what are the vehicles that do not benefit from the protection of the CA lemon law?
Section 1793.22 of the CA Civil Code stipulates that in the vast majority of cases, the business automotives are not protected by the lemon law. However, the same section defines the term business vehicles a bit more clearly. In essence, the while the automotives owned by larger corporations or the larger ones do not fall under the category protected by the law, there are still situations in which reimbursement is possible. More exactly, in the case of companies that own 5 or less vehicles and the weight of each vehicle does not exceed 10000 pounds, the owners may be entitled to file a claim under the lemon law.
Now, in regards to the weight of the vehicle, some explanations are in order. Even for vehicles that considered personal property, the weight limit does apply. The weight limit of 10000 pounds refers to the real weight of the automobile and the term used is “GVW” or “Gross Vehicle Weight”. It is worth noting that the GWV is completely different from the GVWR (the R stands for Rating), as the latter refers to the weight of the vehicle plus the passengers and cargo and mainly refers to the loading capacity. In fact, it was the popular trial lost by Ford Motor that deemed this modification to the lemon law necessary.
Talking about lost trials, do you remember this article mentioning civil penalties earlier? A vehicle owner may be entitled to them when the manufacturer refused to reimburse the claims under the lemon law, even when the vehicle was owned by a smaller company with less than four other vehicles or when they willfully used the GVWR instead of the GVW in order to determine the eligibility based on weight. A CA lemon law attorney will be able to get his client over two times the value of the damages, should he be able to prove the manufacturer willfully intended to deceive the claimant.
CA lemon law is actually not known by many individuals simply because drivers may know the stipulations but do not know the actual official term of CA lemon law. Take this chance to educate your social circle!
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