I am now involved in a lemon law claim on my truck...
As you might of read in my previous threads, I am having serious problems with my truck.
I am now at the point that I sent a certified letter to DC, giving them one last chance to fix the vehicle....
Has anyone been involved in the lemon process? Anything I might should know? Please go into detail on how this goes. Im in the dark here.
I am going to require a replacement (not a refund) because I love the Dodge CTD's and I believe I just got a bad one.

 

Each state has their own laws on how the claims are handled.
I believe in Texas, its 3 fixes, on the same exact issue in a certain amount of time(6months?).
Do you have lawyer friend?

Im sure there are more knowledable legal eagles on here that might have more insight...

 

Be sure and check all the paperwork and books that came with your truck. My new one had a lsit of states and their respective lemon laws and what has to happen and for what reasons. It was a seperate small book. Just saw it yesterday as I scanned documents.

Don

 

Same in TENN as it is in Texas as STACKED97 replied, has to be three exact issues in a short period of time and truck has to be "down". As in same repair for exampe it can't be AC inop but each time its a different repair(ie: condensor one time, compressor another, evaporator another) it would have to be the same claim as in compressor each time. Although they were all the same complaint (AC not cooling) it was not the same problem, if that makes sense.

 

I had a 97 powerstroke lemon lawed. It was 3 repairs for the same problum withen the first year of ownership. I think I gave them 6 . The dealer wasn't much help but threw my complaining they brought in a factory rep and she took care of everything. I said I want a new engine but at that time they wouldn't replace engines just the truck. She asked if I would agree to one more repair and if that didn't take care of the problum they would get me a new truck I agreed and they flew in a mechanic to work on it. He couldn't figure it out so I got a new one.
I had to pay a few cents per mile driven on the truck up until the first documented repair attempt. Ford payed for all accesories instaled on the truck. They even payed me labor for the stuff I installed myself. The sticker price of the truck went on the price of a new one. I upgraded to a lariat so I just had to pay the diff in list price.

 

Google lemon law for your state. All the info. you'll need. Yes, you will pretty much need a LL attorney for them to take you serious.

 

I have already sent the letter to the manufacturer. We will see how it goes.

 

I had a 2000 Ford Excursion in Texas processed through Lemon Law. It came out in my favor.

First of all, each state has different requirements. In Texas you had to have the same repair done 3 times and there was also a requirement for the number of days out of service. I easily met both requirements.

I contacted my states agency for processing lemon law claims and got the required paperwork. Filled everything out and sent it in. There was a small filing fee if I remember correctly. I then had to give Ford one more chance to fix the problems. They did not fix it....surprise.

My states lemon law agency scheduled a hearing with an arbitrator.

I was recommended to bring three copies of all materials. I had 8x10 glossy photos, internet research, all my receipts from repairs, etc.

At the hearing the Ford representatives looked at all my evidence and asked if they could have one more chance to fix it. I said that their time was up. Then I asked for the motor to be replaced and for a 75k mile bumper to bumper warrenty in addition to the 100k engine/drive train warrenty. They agreed and it was done without the arbitrator having to make a decision.

In hindsite, I should have forced Ford to buy back my Excursion as I still had a lot of problems even after the engine was replaced. They never got all of the oil leaks repaired. I final gave up on the Ford and traded it in on my current Dodge.

The problem that I had was that one of the piston oil coolers fell of inside the engine. It got ground up and I found it when I changed the oil. At first, the Ford Tech said that there was no way that could happen and that I crazy. I finally got them to agree to look at the engine. Before I took it in, I took a lot of pictures of the part which was a good thing as Ford would not return it. After numerous (over 10) repairs and many weeks out of service, they still could not fix all the oil leaks, oil usage and smoking. They would never do anything to fix the internal damage (oil usage and smoke). They claimed that the piston oil cooler was not important.

When the Ford representative at the arbitration meeting saw my 8x10 photos of the ground up piston cooling jet, they buckled.

It was a very frustrating experience. I hope that I don't have to do that again.

I learned that unless there is something major with your vehicle, don't take it back to the dealer. My Ford dealers (went to 4 different dealers here in the Dallas metroplex) were all incompetent and many times my vehicle came back worse.

I remember one time I had planned a two week vacation to commence right after a scheduled repair. I called the dealer and told them I could wait until after the vacation to bring it in and they would have all the time they needed. The service writer assured me that it would be done in time for me to leave on vacation. Guess what.......they did not finish, my truck was in pieces and I had to cancel my vacation. I was p......ed.

I am very happy with my new Dodge. After 6,000 miles, there is nothing that I need to take it back to the dealer for.

 

Here is haw the Arkansas Lemon Law is:


The Lemon Law allows the manufacturer a
“reasonable number of attempts” to repair or
correct the defect. A “reasonable number”
means three (3) repair attempts for the same
defect or a total of 30 cumulative days out of
service because of a series of defects or
repairs. Also, a “reasonable number of attempts
to repair” may consist of five (5) or more
attempts, on separate occasions, to repair
varying nonconformities that together
substantially impair the use and value of your
vehicle.
Dangerously defective vehicles may be
returned in an even shorter period of time. If
the problem involves a defect that is likely to
cause death or serious bodily injury (such as
brake failure or a steering wheel that locks) the
Lemon Law may apply if the problem is not
promptly corrected after the first attempt.

According to the Arkansas attourney genrals office (I called), my problem is definately dangerous enough to pursue with the lemon law, and write a letter to DC.