When you decide to contact a Texas lemon law attorney, you’ve already taken the best step you possibly can in seeking compensation for your defective lemon vehicle. Lemon law attorneys have decades of knowledge regarding the lemon laws in Texas and elsewhere and know exactly how to navigate your claim through the legal system. However, your lemon law attorney needs your help to your claim reach a successful and speedy conclusion. The best way you can help your attorney is providing them all the documentation they need to pursue your claim, as quickly as possible whenever they request it from you.
Your lemon law attorney needs two specific document sets from you: your purchase documentation for the vehicle, and repair orders from the dealership showing what repairs, if any, were performed to address the consumer’s complaints. Your lemon law attorney needs these documents to create and fully flesh out a timeline of events confirming you purchased the vehicle, you experienced repeated problems, you attempted to fix them the right way, and the manufacturer couldn’t get your vehicle running properly. This is the backbone of your claim; without these documents your claim is dead in the water.
Clients who contact the offices of Allen Stewart, P.C. all go through the same process when filing a lemon law claim. Upon reaching out they speak with a paralegal, who asks them questions about the vehicle and the problems encountered with it. They will ask about the year, make and model of the car, whether they bought it new or used, and when and where they bought the vehicle. They will ask about the problems you’ve faced with the vehicle and how many times you’ve returned the vehicle to the dealership for repairs. Once they establish the timeline and determine your claim meets legal requirements, the paralegal will give your information to an attorney.
The attorney will then request what are often referred to as “purchase docs:” documents showing when and where you purchased the defective vehicle. These documents include the vehicle’s purchase contract and proof of registration. Buried within these purchase docs are warranty information requiring the manufacturer to provide upon purchase a properly working vehicle, under legal penalty. These documents will play an important role as your lemon law claim works its way through the legal system. The legal system runs on facts, and purchase documents provide a solid factual bedrock upon which your claim is built.
The attorney will also request documentation proving you brought the vehicle in for repairs after you first experienced the recurring problem. These documents are important as they prove you attempted to abide by the warranty’s rules and brought it back to the dealership or a manufacturer-authorized repair shop to fix the problem, but they were unsuccessful in doing so.
Each state’s lemon law states a vehicle must undergo repairs a certain amount of times or be out of service for a certain length of time before it is considered a lemon and subject to lemon law compensation. The lemon law in Texas must undergo dealership-authorized repair two times for the same problem or defect within the first year or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, and twice more during the first 12 months or 12,000 miles following the first repair attempt without the problem being fixed. This is called the “four times test.”
However, a vehicle needs only two repair attempts if the problem in question is considered a “serious safety hazard.” If the problem puts the consumer at serious risk of bodily harm, it only requires one repair trip during the first 12 months of ownership or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first, and then once more during the 12 months or 12,000 miles following the first repair attempts without the problem being fixed.
If the vehicle in question has been out of service for warranty-covered repairs for 30 days or more total during the first two years or 24,000 miles of ownership without a comparable loaner vehicle offered, the vehicle passes what the Texas lemon law calls the “30 days test,” and the vehicle is considered a lemon.
The longer Texans wait to file their lemon law claims, the harder it becomes to pursue. Lemon laws in Texas state consumers must file their complaint within six months of the vehicle’s warranty expiring or 24,000 miles driven after the vehicle is delivered; whichever comes first.
Lemon laws in Texas can be somewhat constraining, but the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act offers more freedom. Pursuing a claim under the Texas lemon law requires consumers go through arbitration. Unfortunately the odds are often against consumers in arbitration and rarely resolves in the consumer’s favor.
Lemon law claims filed in Texas through the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act follow the state’s statute of limitations, in this case four years. The Act also requires manufacturers pay the claimant’s attorneys’ fees if the claimant prevails against the manufacturer in court.
Getting the proper documents to your lemon law attorney promptly can go very far to protect your lemon law claim and make sure it resolves favorably. The breach of warranty attorneys of Allen Stewart P.C. know how to navigate your claim through the lemon laws in Texas and get you the compensation you deserve. Thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, you don’t have to spend any money out of pocket; your attorney collects their fees directly from your vehicle’s manufacturer. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get justice. Contact Allen Stewart P.C. today.