Washington Lemon Laws are some of the most comprehensive in the nation. This makes it easy to purchase a used car in Washington since you have the knowledge that a mechanical disaster will be handled properly if you have purchased one. Washington doesn’t tolerate limitations that other states put on their lemon laws including mileage or time in relation to the expiration of the warranty provided by the factory. Instead their lemon laws focus on the entire duration concerning the factory warranty and then it is determined if any violations have occurred. As the used car owner, all you have to prove is that you have tried to have the vehicle repaired at least once during the time it was still under factory warranty. This gives the manufacturer an attempt to repair the car making the entire process fairer for both parties.
Is Your Vehicle Covered?
Under lemon laws in Washington your vehicle is covered whether it is new or used as long as it was originally leased or purchased in the state, and that it was used as intended on public roads. This also includes motorcycles. The car itself must not weigh over 19,000 pounds, and it has to be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty when it is sold.
Understand What You Need to Be Able to Prove
As the car owner you must be able to provide to the manufacturer, through the dealer, with an adequate number of repair attempts for the condition that manifested while your vehicle was still under the factory warranty. Even if your first repair was on the last mile for the factory warranty and the car was not repaired correctly and the warranty expired soon after, you may still qualify for lemon law relief. What defines a reasonable number of attempts? Two repairs for safety defects, four repairs for non-safety defects, or the car has to have been out of service for a minimum of thirty days of which fifteen of those days occurred when the factory warranty was still in effect. For more information contact Krohn & Moss, Ltd. Consumer Law Center® or visit www.yourlemonlawrights.com.
