Lemon Law Lawyer for Volkswagen Owners

Everybody loves those cute VW bugs and VW vans—until something goes wrong with them. Whether it’s an engine that grinds, automatic seats that don’t work, or problems with the brakes, thank goodness there’s a lemon lawyer who can protect you and provide a legal remedy. After all, you shouldn’t get stuck with a lemon VW after you bought it in good faith. That’s not fair.

Volkswagen Lemon Law

The California Lemon Law gives Volkswagen vehicle owners the right to return their VW to the manufacturer if it can’t be fixed after a reasonable amount of repairs have been made. California has one of the most consumer-friendly lemon laws in the country, and it applies to both new and used cars. Under the lemon law, if you purchase a defective VW, you are legally entitled to a refund or the vehicle can be replaced at Volkswagen’s cost. At Neale & Fhima, we work tirelessly to enforce the lemon law rights of our clients.

We know you are frustrated and tired of having a vehicle that spends more time in the repair shop than on the road. We’re sure you wish you hadn’t chosen the vehicle you did. But don’t stay stuck with your problem when our lemon lawyer can provide a solution. Take charge and move forward with a lemon law lawyer at your side.

Why Choose Us as Your Lemon Law Lawyer?

Not all lemon lawyers are created equal. Some are, frankly, better than others. We think our legal team is outstanding. Attorney Aaron Fhima is a tough negotiator who is aggressive t and committed to his clients. He has been handling lemon law cases for many years, and he knows the complexities and nuances of the state statute. California’s Lemon Law is a great example of how the state legislature can empower consumers, but, when it comes to clarity, the text of the law leaves much to be desired. Our lemon lawyer understands the quirks of the statute, as well as the many court opinions interpreting it. We put that knowledge to work for you. We have many satisfied clients who refer their friends, family, and work colleagues to us. We know you’ll be impressed with our exceptional client service.

How We Can Help

At Neale & Fhima, our lemon attorney has successfully handled hundreds of claims filed by clients who bought defective VWs and had to endure drawn-out interactions with car dealerships. Here are the ways we can help with your lemon law buyback or replacement. We will:

1. Explain your legal rights
2. Familiarize you with your options for a remedy
3. Build a claim based on California statutes and case law
4. Gather evidence that supports your claim, including evidence of your repeated attempts to have the defect fixed
5. Negotiate with the dealership/manufacturer to achieve a favorable outcome.

Our lemon lawyer wants you to know that you don’t have to get stuck with a defective car, SUV, or truck. Call Neale & Fhima now at 888-407-2955 to find out about your legal rights.

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Is Your VW a Lemon?

A Volkswagen “lemon” is a Jetta, Gulf, Passat, Tiguan, Beetle, or other VW vehicle that has never really worked correctly during its warranty period. Whether it’s sluggish acceleration, engine problems, electrical malfunction, steering issues, broken navigation system, or a myriad of other problems, these VWs never function correctly no matter how many times you take them in for repairs. To determine whether you have a lemon law claim, check to see whether your new VW is still under the original manufacturer’s warranty. If it is, you likely have a claim. If you own a used VW, then you will need one of three specific warranties to have a lemon law claim. These warranties are discussed in greater detail in a separate section below. Either way, you need to have made a reasonable number of attempts to get your new vehicle repaired before filing a legal claim If your situation increase rapidly beyond warranty issues, such as an accident, consider consulting a vehicle accident lawyer to guide you.

The lemon law states that your car or truck must have “nonconformities,” which are defined as any defect or malfunction that is covered by the manufacturer’s original warranty. As described by law, nonconformities compromise the use, value, or safety of the vehicle. There are many defects that could affect your Volkswagen’s safety, but there is no requirement under the law that the defect actually endangers you. So, if the VW has a defect with the check engine light, fuel gauge or speedometer or its automatic mirrors, the mere fact that they work unpredictably could be enough to be the basis of a lemon law claim.

To determine if you have a lemon law claim, check to see whether your new vehicle repairs were made under VW’s manufacturer’s warranty. If so, you probably have a claim. Keep in mind that all repair attempts must be made by a VW authorized agent. Don’t take your vehicle to an independent neighborhood mechanic because that will void your lemon law protection.

If you own a used vehicle, then you will need one of three specific warranties to have a lemon law claim. These warranties are listed in a separate section below. The lemon law says that you need to have made a “reasonable number of attempts” to get your new vehicle repaired before filing a legal claim. Find out more in: Do You Have a Lemon?

Common defects that affect safety include:

• Electrical issues
• Poor acceleration
• Engine issues
• Air conditioning defects
• Door locks that don’t work
• Steering issues
• Fuel gauges and speedometer that don’t work
• Braking problems (not just squeaking)
• Battery dies regularly or drains irregularly
• Transmission issues.

Many other defects also qualify for VW lemon law protection, too. If you’re not certain whether your vehicle’s flaw is covered by the Volkswagen lemon law, give us a call, and our lemon lawyers representing consumers against VW can assess your claim.

How Do I Know If I Bought a Confirmed VW Lemon?

Dealerships usually don’t send a lemon back to the manufacturer. Instead, they either sell the car at auction as-is, or they repair the defects and put the car back on their lot for resale. State law requires the dealership to put a lemon sticker on the door of the car, and note that the car is a lemon law buyback in the paperwork and title. The dealership is required to disclose this information, but this doesn’t always get done. You can buy a lemon law VW and not know it until it’s too late.

Lemon Law Reporting Requirements

Volkswagen is required by law to change the status of the vehicle on its title and place decals on the car to inform the buyer that the car for sale has been taken back as a lemon. Under the Lemon Law, the manufacturer has to take the following steps:

• Request a change in the California Certificate of Title for the vehicle to be marked as a “Lemon Law Buyback.”
• Attach a sticker to the vehicle that says, “Lemon Law Buyback.”
• Place the decal on the left door frame where the driver can clearly see it.

In the event a Lemon Law Buyback Vehicle is sold, the seller has to notify the buyer on a letter-sized sheet of paper that holds the following information:

• Year, make, model, and vehicle identification number (VIN)
• A statement that the vehicle title is marked “Lemon Law Buyback”
• The nature of all defects that were reported by the original owner or lessee
• All repairs that were made in an attempt to correct the known defects.

If you were not provided with any of the above information when you bought your used VW, you can pursue a Lemon Law claim or take related legal action to make the seller rectify the sale. Our lemon lawyer can help you get your money back and get you out of ownership of a potentially defective vehicle.

VW Lemon Law Buyback

Under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, otherwise known as the California Lemon Law, if you purchase a defective VW, you are legally entitled to a refund (buyback), or the vehicle can be replaced at the manufacturer’s cost. The VW lemon law buyback is one of the most popular options for a remedy among clients. In a buyback, the manufacturer must take back the defective vehicle and refund your money, including the down payment, taxes, fees, and monthly car payments made to date. Your refund will be the total purchase price less a pro-rated amount to account for your usage (the mileage you drove before you first presented the vehicle for repair for the defect).

Another legal remedy you can pursue is the “replacement” option in which the auto manufacturer is required to replace your defective car, SUV, or truck with the same or similar VW model. In limited circumstances, our lemon lawyer might also be able to negotiate a third option—“cash and keep”—in which you keep the vehicle you currently have, and VW will pay you a lump sum to compensate for the defect.

California has one of the most extensive and buyer-friendly VW lemon laws in the nation to ensure consumer protection. When you hire Neale & Fhima, a lemon lawyer that prosecutes claims against Volkwagen will help you take a look at your options so you can make an informed decision. Find out more in “What to Do if You Have a Lemon.”

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations for filing a lemon law claim in California is four (4) years from the date a consumer knew or should have known that the vehicle was a lemon. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re barred from filing a claim if your VW is four years old or older as you didn’t know your VW was a lemon when you bought it. It can take time for manufacturer defects to appear, and that can be at any point during your car’s ownership.

Your driving style and habits greatly influence the length of time it takes for a defect to appear. The law states that the clock on the lemon law starts running when the first attempt at a repair was made and unsuccessfully resolved. Our lemon lawyers for Volkswagen owners at Neale & Fhima have successfully “lemoned” vehicles that are over 10 years old.

The four-year statute of limitations seems generous on its surface, but the time can run out quickly if you’re not careful. The problems may take time to appear, they can take time to repair, and they can take time to reappear. A repair can hold for a long time, then reappear just as the four years are about to run out. You can protect yourself by talking to a lemon lawyer at our firm as soon as you discover your VW might be a lemon.

If you have purchased or leased a lemon, you’ll want to start the buyback process quickly. Contact our law firm for help if you’re fixing the same issue in your VW more than once in a short period of time. At the very least, we can help you put VW on notice that you intend to file a VW Lemon Law claim if the issue isn’t resolved permanently. This helps you preserve your claim in the event the repairs take a long time to accomplish, only to return again at a later date. After the statute of limitations has passed, a judge can dismiss your case and you will be barred from a legal remedy.

Choose Neale & Fhima as Your Lemon Attorney

We have taken many of these lemon law cases to court and successfully secured legal remedies for our clients. Here are two reasons you should choose us for your VW lemon law claim:

• Experience. Our attorneys have more than 40 years of combined experience.
• Free consultations. We will always discuss your situation with you in a free initial consultation before you make any decisions about a claim.

A Lemon Lawyer that Prosecutes Claims Agaisnt Volkswagen Answers FAQs

These Volkswagen lemon law FAQs will help provide answers to some common questions our lemon lawyer representing consumers against VW often hears from clients. We hope they’re helpful.

How does a VW lemon law buyback work?

The process starts by filing a claim against your vehicle’s manufacturer.

A lemon law attorney at Neale & Fhima can do this on your behalf. Remember also to check and see if there are any VW recalls because this can be a way to get a dealership to fix your car for free.

It’s worth noting that a VW recall is not necessarily grounds for a Lemon Law claim. Vehicles regularly leave the production line with a defect that carries across all models made during a certain time period. As long as a proper recall is issued for the model, and the VW dealership repairs it according to factory specifications and doesn’t charge you for the work, you can’t make a Lemon Law claim.

If you must file a VW lemon law claim, we promise that our lemon lawyer will be tough. We expect push-back from auto manufacturers on these claims, and we are not intimidated by this. An auto injury lawyer can be instrumental in navigating such complexities. At Neale & Fhima, we pride ourselves on creating legal strategies that give our clients the best possible opportunities to succeed. Our experience in lemon law claims ensures our success.

To prevail in a lemon law claim, you will have to show that you made “reasonable attempts” to repair the defect. So, you will want to keep all receipts, repair documentation, and work orders from each one of your repair attempts. State law does not define “reasonable attempts” with precision, reasonableness is case specific to the defect the vehicle suffers from. However, if the vehicle’s use/value/safety and poses risk of injury or death, then 2 repair attempts is enough to file a lemon law claim.

Even though the law doesn’t give an exact definition of “reasonable attempts” at repair, you don’t have to keep making repair attempts if you’ve had the same issue “fixed” more than two or three times. There comes a point where attempts at repair should be stopped and the car considered a lemon.

Not sure if you should stop making repairs? Give us a call at Neale & Fhima to speak to a defect lawyer to find out what you should do next. We can help you determine if you’ve gone far enough and if you should stop making repair attempts. We’ll also help you file a California Lemon Law claim for your defective Volkswagen.

What are the steps to filing a VW Lemon Law claim?

The first step is to determine that your new car’s VW warranty is still in effect. Remember, service contracts and extended warranties do not count, unless the extended warranty is a Certified Preowned Warranty..

Our attorneys expect resistance because auto manufacturers are multinational corporations with dozens of lawyers who work hard to defeat lawsuits and block financial payouts. At Neale & Fhima, we pride ourselves on creating legal strategies that give our clients the best possible opportunities to succeed with their legal claims. Find out more in: The Lemon Law Claims Process.

What about the Lemon Law and used cars?

Some VW used cars are covered under California’s Lemon Law depending on whether your car has a warranty. You must have one of three specific warranties for the law to apply.

• TRANSFERRED VW NEW CAR WARRANTY
  As a buyer of a recent model VW used car, you may have a copy of the Volkswagen’s new car warranty. When a titled VW is sold to a new owner and the vehicle is still under its original warranty period, the VW warranty protections transfer to you for the duration of that period.
• CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED (CPO) WARRANTY
  “Certified Pre-Owned” VWs have more protections than typical used cars. Only authorized dealerships can sell Volkswagen CPOs, so if you bought your vehicle elsewhere, this warranty will not apply to you. Certified Pre-Owned means that these VW used vehicles have been inspected, repaired, and resold, and therefore they come with a CPO warranty.
• LEMON LAW BUYBACK WARRANTY
  If you buy a VW used car that was once a lemon (but Volkswagen repaired it and resold it), then you should have received a “lemon law buyback warranty.” Volkswagen is required to provide new owners of these VW buyback lemons a 12-month/12,000-mile warranty covering the lemon’s defect.

At Neale & Fhima, a lemon lawyer for Volkswagen owners is happy to answer all your questions. That’s why we offer a free consultation.