When we think of a lemon car, we often think of an economy car whose low price would seem to indicate a lower grade of workmanship. Never would we consider that a luxury car-a vehicle whose status seems to imply its top-notch mechanics-could be subjected to lemon laws. But the fact is: luxury cars can fall within the lemon law definition the same as less expensive cars. In fact, a quick online search of a luxury car brand paired with search term, "lemon laws" should receal plenty of instances where elite auto brands delivered anything but elite performance. As an example, consider the online story of Angela, a resident of North Hollywood who purchased a 2006 Mercedes Benz E350 in 2005.
Roughly two years after its purchase, Angela's Mercedes began experiencing power steering problems. But after she took to the dealership for repair, the problem returned, and would return again after subsequent repairs. In total, the vehicle was delivered for repair to a Mercedes Benz dealership 30 times in one year, and the problem kept occurring. Finally, Angela decided to contact the Mercedes Benz corporate office to achieve a resolution, and she plans on filing a lawsuit through a lemon law attorney if the corporate office doesn't come through with an offer that ends up putting her behind the wheel of a luxury vehicle that operates like clock work.
Like vehicles that are far less luxurious, autos like Mercedes fall within the lemon law definition whenever they present one of two scenarios: a non-life threatening yet chronic malfunction that affects vehicle performance or a life threatening safety defect that makes the car dangerous to drive. In the case of the former, state lemon laws usually require that a vehicle must undergo a certain number of repairs for the same problem within a certain time frame or within a certain number of miles after its delivery date to qualify as a lemon car. But some states also consider a vehicle lemon worthy if it spends a certain number of hours being repaired since its delivery date. In either case, lemon car owners are entitled to either a full refund of the car's purchase price or a replacement vehicle.
Although luxury cars are just as susceptible to lemon laws as other vehicles, sometimes our perception of them can keep us from considering that we might be better off contacting a lemon law attorney instead of trying to rectify a mechanical problem. As witnessed by their selling points, luxury cars woo us with "luxury", whereas lower priced autos mainly provide us with utility. In other words, we can become so obsessed with the fineries of a vehicle that we fail to consider its ultimate worth to us. If there is one thing that we can learn from Angela's experience, it's this: don't repair a luxury car for the same problem multiple times. Because in many states, a problem that isn't resolved within three repairs is enough to qualify a car as a lemon.
