Outside Lemon Law? Try the Mag Moss Act.
On Your Side: Car Issues by Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― Are you having mechanical problems with your car? While state lemon laws can help, some Federal laws are designed to protect you too. In fact the Magnuson-Moss Act may be your best bet.
Jan Jeffries bought a certified pre-owned Jaguar about a year ago. Almost immediately he had problems. The anti-lock brakes were malfunctioning and needed repeated repairs. While Jan’s mechanical problems weren’t covered by state lemon law, he was entitled to compensation under the Federal Magnuson-Moss act.
“If the vehicle is under warranty and you’ve had problems with it, subject to repair, and it has not been resolved, you have federal, Manguson-Moss warranty rights.” says attorney Craig Kimmel. The Magnuson-Moss Act applies to vehicles under their original or extended manufacturers warranty, and the car must be in the shop for 3 or more times for the same problem. Kimmel says, “We’re talking brakes, transmission, suspension, head lights, water leak, paint defect, any of these problems and more, those issues the consumer should step up and force the manufacturer to comply with the warranty and if they can’t, call a lawyer.”
That’s what Jan Jeffries did. He says, “I got $6,000 from Jaguar as compensation for what would ultimately be reduced value of the vehicle.”
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is a Federal Law that protects the buyer of any product which costs more than $25 and comes with an express written warranty. This law applies to any product that you buy that does not perform as it should.
Your car is a major investment, rationalized by the peace of mind that flows from its expected dependability and safety. Accordingly, you are entitled to expect an automobile properly constructed and regulated to provide reasonably safe, trouble-free, and dependable transportation – regardless of the exact make and model you bought. Unfortunately, sometimes these principles do not hold true and defects arise in automobiles. Although one defect is not actionable, repeated defects are as there exists a generally accepted rule that unsuccessful repair efforts render the warrantor liable. Simply put, there comes a time when “enough is enough” – when after having to take your car into the shop for repairs an inordinate number of times and experiencing all of the attendant inconvenience, you are entitled to say, ‘That’s all,’ and revoke, notwithstanding the seller’s repeated good faith efforts to fix the car. The rationale behind these basic principles is clear: once your faith in the vehicle is shaken, the vehicle loses its real value to you and becomes an instrument whose integrity is impaired and whose operation is fraught with apprehension. The question thus becomes when is “enough”?
As you know, enough is never enough from your warrantor’s point of view and you should simply continue to have your defective vehicle repaired – time and time again. However, you are not required to allow a warrantor to tinker with your vehicle indefinitely in the hope that it may eventually be fixed. Rather, you are entitled to expect your vehicle to be repaired within a reasonable opportunity. To this end, both the federal Moss Warranty Act, and the various state “lemon laws,” require repairs to your vehicle be performed within a reasonable opportunity.
Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a warrantor should perform adequate repairs in at least two, and possibly three, attempts to correct a particular defect. Further, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act’s reasonableness requirement applies to your vehicle as a whole rather than to each individual defect that arises. Although most of the Lemon Laws vary from state to state, each individual law usually require a warrantor to cure a specific defect within four to five attempts or the automobile as a whole within thirty days. If the warrantor fails to meet this obligation, most of the lemon laws provide for a full refund or new replacement vehicle. Further, this reasonable number of attempts/reasonable opportunity standard, whether it be that of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act or that of the Lemon Laws, is akin to strict liability – once this threshold has been met, the continued existence of a defect is irrelevant and you are still entitled to relief.
One of the most important parts of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is its fee shifting provision. This provision provides that you may recover the attorney fees incurred in the prosecution of your case if you are successful – independent of how much you actually win. That rational behind this fee shifting provision is to twofold: (1) to ensure you will be able to vindicate your rights without having to expend large sums on attorney’s fees and (2) because automobile manufacturers are able to write off all expenses of defense as a legitimate business expense, whereas you, the average consumer, obviously does not have that kind of economic staying power. Most of the Lemon Laws contain similar fee shifting provisions.
You may also derive additional warranty rights from the Uniform Commercial Code; however, the Code does not allow you in most states to recover your attorney fees and is also not as consumer friendly as the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act or the various state lemon laws.
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Popularity: 18% [?]
June 18th, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] little known Federal law called the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, that’s not discussed by car dealerships when you purchase your car. It’s a statute that is [...]
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
My car is just 3yrs and 4months old and the engine light has come on three times already, each time I take it back to the dealership for repairs. I even tried a dealership that was down the road further and they (the same company, Chevy) told me to take it back to the other dealership, that they could not touch the car because, the other Chevy dealership had done the work on it already. I left there with my check engine light still lit. The other dealership had closed for the evening except their sales department. Please call me by phone to tell me what I can do. 443-206-5396. Thank you, kindly.
Sincerely,
Denise
January 13th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Course…what good does something like the Magnuson Moss Act do…when you can’t find an attorney who will fight on your behalf against a ‘giant’ like Chrysler…..?
I made modifications to a new 2006 Dodge Cummins diesel to make it a ‘dual fuel’ vehicle. A little over a year ago, the motor had a valve BREAK. This incident had NOTHING to do with the modifications made to the fuel system and I’ve got the parts to prove it. Chrysler has refused to honor their own warranty and are in violation of the Magnuson Moss Act.
I’m searching for an attorney who may have an interest in pursuing this case. I had an attorney up until recently, yet he decided to change his legal focus towards the more profitable (and lower hanging fruit) of ‘foreclosures’. Furthermore, even though Florida has quite a few attorneys, it seems as though there’s not that many who focus on Magnuson Moss. Input?
Will Stanton
1410 E. Osceola Parkway
Kissimmee Fl 34744
321.624.3127
wstanton@cfl.rr.com
January 26th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
If you were in one of our states, we would certainly look at the claim. Contact Krohn & Moss at 1-800-US-LEMON.
May 26th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
I purchased a used 2007 year model Harley Davidson from a reputable dealer in march of 2008. the cycle still had 7 months factory warranty @ time of purchase. It was recomended that I purchase a factory EXTENDED warranty. I recently took the bike in for warranty service and was informed that the extended warranty term had expired. The EXTENDED warranty overlapped the factory warranty by 7 months. is this practice legal? the bike requires service now, which should have been covered by the EXTENDED warranty, in the neighborhood of 600.00, and the dealer is unwilling to honor the extended warranty.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I live in Ohio. I just purchased a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica on 7-26-10. 106K miles. I purchased it “as-is” from the dealership, but did receive a 3 mo./4500 limited warranty as part of my purchase from an independent car warranty company.
The first day off the lot, my engine light came on. Took it back to the dealer – evap sensor. They volunteered to replace it. I had to call and schedule – not done yet because 5 days later the battery light came on. Through some troubleshooting, my husband is 95% sure it is the altenator and the vehicle stopped alongside the road. This is covered on the warranty. When we purchased the vehicle, the salesman told us that they will handle the warranty repairs..no problem. When I called to get the vehicle towed and fixed, I was told they Dont do the warranty repairs and would need to find another shop to handle it. I have not been able to find a company/shop that will deal with the after market warranty company.
Additionally, I took the car in for a front end alignment when I purchased 2 tires. Once up on the rack, the technician called me back and asked if I was told the car had been in an accident. I said ‘no’. He told me he could tell there had been body work done and then showed me the underneath of the car where a rod that is part of the wheel attachement has been repaired by a teg (spelling?) weld. His response was this not a situation of “if” it will break, but “when”. He said it is highly probable that when it breaks it will puncture the tire. I dont feel safe in this vehicle. I have kids and dont want to have this break while driving with them.
It was never disclosed that the vehicle was in an accident. The title I signed does not say ‘salvage’.
Am I S.O.L or is there a course of action I can take. btw: the “dealership” has become highly uncooperative at this point.
Thank you for any information.
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:22 am
Jodi: Being that you purchased the car as is with no inspection, you may not have any recourse. However, I would still suggest you contact the OH attorney general to get their thoughts on the topic.
March 8th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
[...] for used cars. There is also a federal law that protects consumers of used cars which is called the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act and covers all items that fall under a written warranty if there is a defect. We’ll choose [...]
March 13th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
I also live in Ohio and purchased a used vehicle in March of 2010 and on the third day of having the vehicle the wheel feel of the car and caused body damaged that required them to replace parts and get the parts repainted. When they said the car was finished the first time they didnt replace the partsthey said they would and the paint job was orrible it had what is considerd fish eyes where the paint had air bubbles in it, so they sent it to be serviced again and this time they replaced the parts and tried to have the paint fixed but made it worse by leaving over spay on the other side of the car and leaving buff marks on the doors.So once again they said they would take care of it so they sent it to another body shop and this time it was ok but in the meantime thats a 6 weeks of not having the car so when i was able to drive the car they never finished fixing it mechanically so another 3 days of service. It stills doesn’t ride the same but they say theres nothing wrong.
March 15th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Josh–Something seems wrong here–I would reach out to the OH Attorney General office to find out if there is any used car protection available.
September 27th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
We Are doing a buy here pay here from a ford dealership in muncy PA.
(we did this at the end of june 2011)
on a 2003 f150 it had under 100,000 miles
It came to us inspected and everything.
It had the 3 month warranty (or so many miles) $100 deductable.
When we went in to sign papers they told us that it had been in the gararge and gone through front to back and the only problem it had was a rusted break line (which they fixed).
So we traded in our fully paid for explorer and thought we would be happy.
Well Right when we drove it off the lot we noticed problems.
The ABS was acting funny and when it got to a certain speed the wheels would make a horrible sound.
So we quickly brought this to their attention.
After 3 weeks or so they finally go it in to fix it.
Wellll It was crazy.
They said they needed to order parts and there were some things that needed fixed not covered on our warranty.
They fixed the wheel. The ABS a few other things and said they had to fix the straps on the gas tank because they were so rusted they were about to fall off.
And to top all this off they added about 800-900 more to what we owe on the price of the truck (BECAUSE Of THEIR MISTAKES).
I know that it was not gone through like they said becasue I think you would have noticed those things.
And to top it off we were without transportation for a week and had to rely on others because they had no loaner to provide us with like stated in our warranty.
Not to long after that the truck started having the issue of missing when my husband was driving it. It would get a little better when he stepped on the gas.
So we brought this to their attention also. and to this day they keep blowing us off…Oh we have nothing open for weeks..And sorry no loaners either..
So then my husband and his friend decided to change the oil and filters the other day.
The fuel filter was so rusted it took forever for them to remove it…The same with the oil filter..Those you would thing would be obviouse too.
(all of these issues happened while under warranty) And they keep blowing us off hoping we will forget about it
This whole thing has been so stressful on us.
And this is the 3rd car/truck we have bought from them. We are always on time with payments even early alot of times.
We just do not know what to do about this.
we do not have the money to do all these repairs ourself. Because we have no idea what is fully wrong with it because they wont get it into the shop.
Does anyone know where we go from here?
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Sadly, due to the age, it would not fall under the laws we work with.
October 27th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
my car may not fall under this category but… i bought a new 2009 subaru outback. at 56k miles, the engine just blew. the dealer cant tell me why it blew but since i don’t have all of my maintenance records (oil changes) they say they won’t pay. i have only three at 15k, 26k and 31k. the dealer actually inspected my car 3/11, looked at all the fluids, and didn’t recommend an oil change. from march till now i added 20k miles on the car. the service guy said they can’t say how much oil was in the car as there was oil all over the hood and engine, and they drained 3/4 of a quart of dirty oil. the diagnostics showed no engine light or change oil light ever came on. truthfully, i can’t remember if i had an oil change and can’t find a record of it, but if it had been a problem, shouldn’t the change oil light come on??
if anyone has any ideas. i did call the 800 subaru number and they are looking in to it. any ideas, let me know–tmredmann@yahoo.com
October 28th, 2011 at 6:42 am
@Tere: This is why it is so important to keep those oil change records. Sadly, if you do not keep up with the maintenance schedule, the manufacturer can void the warranty. Keep going strong in your battle with Subaru. There is a good chance that in the end, they may agree to discount the repair or split the costs with you.