Another aspect of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act protects used car buyers from buying a vehicle if the vehicle`s history has been distorted. If a vehicle has been damaged in a wreck, this must be disclosed by the seller. It does not matter if the vehicle is sold « as is ». If a dealer forces you to buy a vehicle based on a false statement of facts, they could be guilty of auto fraud. The buyer has the right to claim the full value of the sale after reviewing the history of a car. If the merchant does not pay, he can be sued for the sale price plus damages. Since then, if you paid off your car loan before your claim was resolved, or if you bought your vehicle, you can use the money you earned through a successful lemon lawsuit as a down payment on a new vehicle. You can also use the money to buy a cheaper vehicle directly. While a handful of states have used automatic lemons laws, Virginia is not one of them. If the used car you purchased in Virginia is still under the original manufacturer`s warranty and is less than 18 months old, you may be able to make a claim under the lemon law for mechanical or safety defects that cannot be repaired in a reasonable number of attempts. However, it is more common for used cars to be more than 18 months old and exceed the limits of their warranty. If this is the case with the used car you bought and you find that it does not work as promised, you may still be able to do something about it. Very few vehicles are eligible for the lemon designation.
In fact, only about 1% of all new cars purchased or leased by consumers have a problem that cannot be solved. That`s about 150,000 vehicles a year in the United States. Yet many of us had – or know someone – a vehicle that we truly think is a real lemon. Recovering your money or trading in a defective used car for another car are not easy things to do in Virginia. You can protect yourself from buying a broken used car by having it inspected by a mechanic before you buy it and researching repair records and possible damage by creating a vehicle identification number report. If you believe you have been treated unfairly by a used car dealer, let us know on the form on this page. We will contact you shortly to let you know if you have a viable claim. `consumer` means a purchaser who is not used for the resale or lessee of a motor vehicle that is used substantially for personal, family or household purposes and any person to whom that motor vehicle is transferred for the same purpose during the term of a warranty applicable to that motor vehicle, as well as any other person entitled under that warranty: enforce warranty obligations. The Virginia Lemon Act, also known as the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act, covers cars and trucks sold in Virginia to transport people or goods. The law also applies to recreational vehicles as well as leased vehicles if the renter is responsible for repairs. If you buy a used car in good faith and discover in a short period of time that something is wrong, you may be able to seek recourse under one of the following federal statutes: The Virginia Lemon Act states that its protections do not apply to a consumer who has not first used the informal dispute resolution mechanism established by the manufacturer.
that is, arbitration. The arbitration mechanism must be certified by the Virginia Division of Consumer Services. The manufacturer must also have provided adequate written information on the existence of the mechanism, including its inclusion in the warranty conditions. Under Virginia law, yes, but only if the manufacturer discloses in writing before selling or leasing the lemon that the vehicle was returned and the nature of the defect that led to the return. The notification must be made on a separate sheet of paper in ten-point capital letters and must also note the condition of the vehicle at the time of delivery to a dealer in Virginia. This law establishes a « lemon law » period that ends 18 months after the date of initial delivery of the vehicle to the consumer. The provisions of Virginia`s « Lemon Act » are enforceable by private consumer action, not by a government agency. « Warranty » means any implied or written warranty of the manufacturer or any fact or undertaking of fact made by the manufacturer in connection with the sale or lease of a motor vehicle that becomes part of the basis of the agreement. « Warranty » means the manufacturer`s obligations with respect to the materials, workmanship and fitness of a motor vehicle for ordinary or reasonable use during the term of the lemon duties defined in this Article.