10 NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN HANDLING NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW CASES

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INTRODUCTION

This page is a discussion about 10 New Jersey Lemon Law mistakes to avoid when handling lemon cases. This article only discusses the New Jersey New Car Lemon Law. The Used Car Lemon Law is an entirely different Law discussed in a separate article located on this website.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 1 – FAILING TO KEEP COPIES OF YOUR PAPERWORK

A common New Jersey Lemon Law mistake is to fail to keep a file about your vehicle so that you can refer to it if you ever have to file a lemon law claim. The easiest way to prove a lemon case is to rely on paperwork you received from dealerships about the purchase or lease of your vehicle (such as contracts or leases), the vehicle’s features (such as window stickers), the vehicle’s warranties, the invoices and repair orders that document the repair attempts that a dealer made to the vehicle and the invoices and repair orders that document routine maintenance performed to a vehicle. Without this paperwork it might prove very difficult to prove that you have a good case for a lemon refund.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 2 – FAILING TO MAKE COMPLETE COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE VEHICLE’S PROBLEMS

To win a lemon case, the consumer must report problems with the vehicle in a specific time frame. The vehicle buyer or lessee must report the vehicle’s nonconformities to the manufacturer or its dealer during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier. Failing to report problems in time to the manufacturer or its dealer could prevent the consumer from recovering a lemon refund. Also, often consumers fail to make sure that the dealer correctly documents problems on invoices or repair orders that the dealer writes up about the vehicle’s problems. Without a record of what was complained of to the dealer, it could be quite difficult for the consumer to win their lemon claim. When you buy or lease a vehicle new, you receive one or more warranty booklets that discuss the warranties that come with your vehicle. Also, each time a consumer's vehicle is returned from being examined or repaired during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier, the manufacturer shall provide to the consumer an itemized, legible statement of repair which indicates any diagnosis made and all work performed on the vehicle and provides information including, but not limited to, the following: a general description of the problem reported by the consumer or an identification of the problem reported by the consumer or an identification of the defect or condition and the source of the defect; the amount charged for parts and the amount charged for labor, if paid for by the consumer; the date and the odometer reading when the vehicle was submitted for repair; and the date and odometer reading when the vehicle was made available to the consumer. If the dealer fails to write up your complaints about the vehicle’s operation, type or write up a detailed list of your complaints about the vehicle, keep a copy of the list in your file and give the original list to the dealer. In this way, regardless of what the dealer writes or fails to write on your invoice or repair order, you will have a record of your complaints to the dealer.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 3 – FAILING TO BRING THE VEHICLE TO THE MANUFACTURER’S AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR REPAIR ATTEMPTS

To win a lemon case, the consumer must report problems with the vehicle in a specific time frame. The vehicle buyer or lessee must report the vehicle’s nonconformities to the manufacturer or its dealer during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier. Failing to schedule service for your vehicle will result in failing to secure repair attempts resulting in a bad lemon case. The manufacturer must have reasonable opportunities to attempt to fix the vehicle. They cannot even try to fix the vehicle unless you schedule service. This requires diligence on your part.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 4 – AFTER GETTING SERVICE, FAILING TO ASK THE DEALER FOR AN INVOICE OR REPAIR ORDER

The easiest lemon cases to prove are those where the consumer has a stack of invoices or repair orders from the manufacturer’s authorized dealer showing the problems that the consumer notified the dealer of, what the dealer did to try to fix the vehicle and any parts replaced on the vehicle or ordered for the vehicle. Without a record of repair attempts by the dealer, it could be quite difficult for the consumer to win their lemon claim. Every time you go to the dealer for service during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier, the manufacturer shall provide to the consumer an itemized, legible statement of repair which indicates any diagnosis made and all work performed on the vehicle and provides information including, but not limited to, the following: a general description of the problem reported by the consumer or an identification of the problem reported by the consumer or an identification of the defect or condition and the source of the defect; the amount charged for parts and the amount charged for labor, if paid for by the consumer; the date and the odometer reading when the vehicle was submitted for repair; and the date and odometer reading when the vehicle was made available to the consumer. Before you leave the dealer be sure to ask for an invoice or repair order documenting the repair attempts that the dealer made to the vehicle.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 5 – TAKING LEGAL ADVICE FROM THE MANUFACTURER OR THEIR DEALERS

If you want to know about your rights and the manufacturer’s responsibilities under the New Car Lemon Law, don’t ask the manufacturer or their dealers. Instead, ask a New Jersey licensed attorney who is familiar with the lemon law. Otherwise, you could be misled into failing to seek a lemon refund or into waiting until it is too late to file a lemon claim. Get a no obligation consultation about the details of the Lemon Law and how it applies to you.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 6 – THINKING THAT THE NEW CAR LEMON LAW APPLY TO NEW CARS ONLY

Your vehicle doesn’t have to be purchased or leased new to qualify under the New Car Lemon Law. The Law doesn’t only apply to vehicles bought brand new! The person seeking to apply the law must be a buyer or lessee, other than for purposes of resale or sublease, of a vehicle or a person to whom the vehicle was transferred during the duration of a warranty applicable to the vehicle or any other person entitled by the warranty’s terms to enforce the warranty’s obligations. Under the law "warranty" means any warranty, whether express or implied of the manufacturer of a new motor vehicle, or, in the case of a new motor vehicle that is an authorized emergency vehicle, of the manufacturer, co-manufacturer or post-manufacturing modifier, of the vehicle's condition and fitness for use, including any terms or conditions precedent to the enforcement of obligations under the warranty. This means that a person buying or leasing a vehicle used which is still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty may qualify for help under the Law. However, the consumer must report a nonconformity in a vehicle to the manufacturer, or, in the case of a motor vehicle that is an authorized emergency vehicle, the manufacturer, co-manufacturer or postmanufacturing modifier, or its dealer or distributor, during the first 24,000 miles of operation or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 7 – WAITING TOO LONG TO BRING A LEMON CLAIM

Often consumers keep waiting and waiting for the manufacturer to fix their vehicle – but the lemon law period is a fairly short duration - during the first 24,000 miles of operation or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier. There is no absolute rule as to how many days a vehicle has undergone repairs or how many times it was at the dealer for repairs before you can bring a lemon claim. However, a good measure for when to start a claim is if your vehicle has been at the dealer for 3 repairs for the same problem which seriously affects the use, value or safety of the vehicle or been at the dealer 30 days or more for problems which seriously affects the use, value or safety of the vehicle. Lemon claims can take some time to be completed. Therefore, it is best to act rapidly to start your case.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 8 – FILING A CLAIM WITHOUT AN ATTORNEY

New vehicles are expensive to buy or lease. Why would you take chances with mishandling your lemon claim if you can get an attorney experienced in handling lemon claims to handle the case for you? Filing a claim yourself is very risky, since businesses often hire experienced defense attorneys to fight your case. If you try to negotiate a settlement yourself, you may get less money than you deserve. Handling your lemon case wrong from the beginning may only cost you more money and time in the end!! Try to do it right the first time by seeking legal representation. The Lemon Law is written to attract competent lawyers to handle lemon cases for consumers without consumers reaching into their pocket to pay high attorney’s fees to handle the lemon claim. In any action by a consumer against a manufacturer brought in Superior Court of New Jersey, a consumer that wins their lemon case shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees, fees for expert witnesses and litigation costs. Therefore, many attorneys are interested in handling Lemon Law cases on a contingent basis, meaning that the attorney won’t get paid unless the case is successful and that the lawyer gets paid from your recovery instead of requiring you to pay attorney’s fees out of your own pocket up front. Other cases can be handled for payment of a relatively small one-time payment of up front fixed attorney’s fee and with a contingent fee at the end of the case. The manufacturer has many defenses against your lemon claim and an experienced attorney may prevent those defenses from preventing you from recovering a lemon refund. For example, the manufacturer’s attorney may claim that the vehicle’s alleged nonconformity does not substantially impair the use, value or safety of the vehicle or that the vehicle’s nonconformity is the result of abuse, neglect or unauthorized modifications or alterations of the vehicle by someone other than the vehicle manufacturer or its dealer or that the vehicle’s nonconformity didn’t occur during the first 24,000 miles of use, or within two years after the date of original delivery to the vehicle buyer or lessee, whichever is earlier or that the vehicle’s buyer or lessee failed to report the nonconformity to the manufacturer or its dealer during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier or that the manufacturer, through its authorized dealers, repaired the nonconformity or non-conformities within a reasonable time. Don’t take chances with your lemon claim.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 9 – BELIEVING THAT A LEMON CLAIM REQUIRES A VEHICLE TO HAVE A PROBLEM WHEN THE CONSUMER FILES THEIR CLAIM

Many vehicle defects are intermittent, meaning they appear and disappear only to reappear. Also, it is not uncommon for dealers to fail to find the reason for a vehicle’s problems. These issues shouldn’t stop a consumer from bringing a lemon claim. There is no requirement that, at the time when a vehicle buyer or lessee brought their lemon claim, the vehicle had some defect. Instead, they only have to prove that: (1) a nonconformity (substantial defect) occurred during the first 24,000 miles of use, or within two years after the date of original delivery to the vehicle buyer or lessee, whichever is earlier; (2) the vehicle buyer or lessee reported the nonconformity to the manufacturer or its dealer during the first 24,000 miles of use, or during the period of two years following the date of original delivery to the consumer, whichever is earlier; and (3) the vehicle manufacturer, through its authorized dealers, did not repair the nonconformity or non-conformities within a reasonable time. Many lemon cases involve vehicles that might be ultimately fixed by the manufacturer. However, the point of the lemon law is not to allow a benefit to a manufacturer that ultimately fixes the vehicle but instead, to require the manufacturer to fix the vehicle in a reasonable time.

NEW JERSEY LEMON LAW MISTAKE 10 – SUBMITTING YOUR CLAIM TO THE MANUFACTURER’S INFORMAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM OR THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WITHOUT BEING REPRESENTED BY A LAWYER

One of the best ways to ruin a lemon case is to submit your claim to the manufacturer’s informal dispute resolution program or the better business bureau without being represented by a lawyer. The law doesn’t always require you to submit your claim to the manufacturer’s informal dispute resolution program or the better business bureau. Also, even if you win your claim through those programs, you may get an award that is significantly less than if you proceeded in the courts with an attorney. Often, consumers participating in these programs waste valuable time only to learn that they still have to sue the manufacturer when they don’t get what they deserve through the program. Other consumers make statements in the program’s proceedings that they later regret and which will be admissible against them in court later. An experienced attorney can tell you if you must take time participating in such a program and even if you are required to participate in such a program, they can handle the process for you to try to secure the best result in your case and the maximum recovery.

TO LEARN MORE, GET A NO OBLIGATION CONSULT

Call Perlman DePetris Consumer Law for a no obligation phone consultation. Handling your case wrong from the beginning may only cost you more money and time in the end!! Try to do it right the first time by seeking legal advice from a competent lawyer! You might be entitled to be represented on a contingent basis, meaning that the attorney won’t get paid unless the case is successful and that the lawyer gets paid from your recovery instead of requiring you to pay attorney’s fees out of your own pocket up front. Other cases can be handled for a relatively small one-time payment of an up-front fixed attorney’s fee and with a contingent fee at the end of the case. Filing a claim yourself is very risky, since businesses often hire experienced defense attorneys to fight your case. Also, if you try to negotiate a settlement yourself, you may get less money than you deserve. You should always speak with an attorney before coming to any conclusions about your claim. Do not try to interpret the law by reading a website! Even if the facts of your case do not fit the requirements of a Lemon Law, you may be entitled to sue the manufacturer or its selling dealer for a breach of your warranties under other state and federal laws.  If the manufacturer or selling dealer breached the warranties that came with your vehicle, you may be able to recover money damages, attorney’s fees and court costs.

DISCLAIMER

While this page gives some general background information, there is the danger that relying on this information alone could lead you to lose your claim. Laws and regulations frequently change and the law may have changed since the posting of this webpage. Factual differences between your case and cases described on this webpage can affect your chance of success. Don’t attempt to rely on the internet as the only source of information for your claim! Instead, get competent legal advice from a New Jersey licensed attorney. Call Perlman DePetris Consumer Law for a no obligation phone consultation.