Vehicle Abuse and Neglect: What to do when the Manufacturer says it’s Your Fault?
When the dealership or the manufacturer accuses you of damaging your vehicle, either through abuse or neglect, don’t panic. It’s a part of their process. Did you ever see a magic show? The whole business of magic is to get you to put your attention on something else besides the hand making the magic. That kind of magic is fun. The kind practiced by the manufacturers and dealerships is not.
If you ask me why they don’t just take a good look at your lemon vehicle and see it for what it is, I don’t have the exact answer. Here’s a possible reason for all the bad magic:
California Lemon Law requires that manufacturers brand the titles of defective vehicles to indicate that they are lemon law buybacks. Before reselling a lemon law buyback, manufacturers are required to do the following:
- Submit the vehicle’s title to the DMV for branding
- Place a permanent decal on the vehicle itself indicating it was a lemon law buyback
- Disclose to the next potential buyer that the vehicle was repurchased due to defects
- Disclose what repairs were performed to correct the defects
- Provide a one-year warranty to the next consumer.
Imagine you’re the next person who sees the vehicle on the dealer’s lot. If he says he wants $30,000 you’re going to have a good laugh and offer $15,000, that’s if you’d buy it at all. It’s the money and a lot of it.
The important thing is, don’t give them an excuse to throw vehicle Abuse or Neglect at you. Don’t use your sedan to surf the dunes out by Mojave and always take your car in for its regularly scheduled maintenance.
Unfortunately manufacturers and dealerships are pretty darn magical when it comes to creating ways to point blame in the wrong direction. We probably haven’t heard them all, but we have heard enough to help.
Norman Taylor & Associates
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