In June of 2019, there lived a couple named Jeremiah and Alissa Hulbert, who lived in a gorgeous villa in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Jeremiah worked at a lumber mill in Fresno, while Alissa operated a women and children’s clothing boutique in the city. Due to the fact that they lived 30 miles out of town, they needed a truck in order to haul back groceries and supplies, as well as the clothing Alissa sold at the store.
They went to a dealer in Fresno and within minutes, Alissa had picked out the car of her dreams (and Jeremiah, wanting to keep his wife happy, agreed immediately to the purchase) – a black 2019 Chevy Silverado. Alissa drove the truck home without incident and there was not a single problem with their new pickup truck for the next 10 weeks, until they found that the car battery wouldn’t stay charged and the transmission had started acting up as well.
Jeremiah was never much of an auto mechanic, but he spent all day on Saturday researching the problem and was prepared to try to fix the vehicle himself. After Alissa drove back from work that afternoon, Jeremiah explained to her that he had diagnosed the problem and would purchase the necessary parts in town the next week in order to fix the car himself. Knowing that her husband had many positive traits (but also knowing that automotive repair wasn’t one of them), Alissa paused and said, “Wait, don’t we have a warranty on this car? We could take it back to the dealership and have them fix it.” Jeremiah breathed a silent sigh of relief and said, “That sounds wonderful; I’ll call and set up an appointment on Monday.”
On Monday, they took their vehicle to the dealership and were given a loaner vehicle to drive in the meantime. On Wednesday afternoon, they were finally able to retrieve their Chevy Silverado and put it back out on the road. Alissa drove two blocks before Jeremiah noticed that there was an odd sound coming out of the car’s engine and asked her to turn the vehicle around. The dealership apologized profusely, gave them a better loaner vehicle for the next few days and promised to have the car repaired in the next two days.
Friday morning came around and, on their way into town, The Hulberts stopped by to pick up their beloved black Chevy Silverado from the dealership. This time the ride into Fresno went smoothly and relief washed over them in an awesome wave when they arrived home that night with no further issues.
Three weeks later, however, they went outside to start the car and found that the new battery the dealership had installed lost its charge overnight. They called the dealership, who apologized profusely and sent over a tow truck to take their car back into the shop. The Hulberts both agreed, called their respective workplaces and decided to take the day off. Five weeks later, they still had no vehicle. No matter what the dealership tried, they couldn’t get it to run as it should.
One night, Alissa’s parents came over for dinner and asked why there were no vehicles in the front yard. Jeremiah and Alissa explained the story of the defective vehicle they had purchased and how difficult it had been over the past few months trying to actually get their Chevy Silverado repaired. Alissa’s father paused for a second and said, “Well, it’s a good thing you live in California and you have these consumer protections. You just need to get a Lemon Law Attorney, seems like a pretty simple case.”
Jeremiah and Alissa were shocked that they had never heard of this before. Jeremiah asked his father-in-law to explain and the Hulberts learned that there are Lemon Laws in the State of California to protect vehicle buyers like them. The car qualifies as a “lemon (i.e., defective) in the first 18 months from delivery if 2 attempts or more have been made by the manufacturer to repair a warranty problem that could result in death or serious injury, the manufacturer has attempted to repair the same warranty problem at least 4 times, the car has been out of service for 30 days or more for repair to warranty problems and none of the issues with the vehicle are the driver’s fault.
The Hulberts thanked Alissa’s father for the information and told each other later that night that they would find a Lemon Law Attorney the next day in Fresno, which they did. He told them that their case fit the law pretty clearly and it should rather easy to get them reimbursed for all of their time, expenses and suffering. They thanked the attorney and headed home, knowing that soon, all of their problems with their defective car would be over.
A few short weeks later, the Hulberts received a reimbursement check that covered the total cost of the vehicle and more. They went out and bought a new car with the money that very day, thanks to their Lemon Law attorney.
What to Do If You’re Stuck With a Lemon
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