How does the "lemon law" work for a consumer?

The "lemon law" permits a consumer to seek replacement or reimbursement of purchase price of a vehicle (or major consumer product) if the manufacturer or dealer cannot repair a defect or defects within a reasonable number of repair attempts. The manufacturer is entitled to an offset for use of a vehicle, but only up until the first time the consumer brings the vehicle back to the manufacturer for the unrepairable defect. Manufacturers often try to negotiate much larger offsets with consumers, but this actually violates the law. The law on offsets under Song-Beverly is as follows: the manufacturer is only entitled to an offset calculated by multiplying the purchase price times a fraction, having its numerator as the number of miles at the time of the consumer’s first repair attempt upon the unrepairable defect, and the denominator being 120,000, a figure chosen by the California legislature as representing the average life of a passenger car. As an example, let’s say that John buys a ...  more

The "lemon law" permits a consumer to seek replacement or reimbursement of purchase price of a vehicle (or major consumer product) if the manufacturer or dealer cannot repair a defect or defects within a reasonable number of repair attempts. The manufacturer is entitled to an offset for use of a vehicle, but only up until the first time the consumer brings the vehicle back to the manufacturer for the un-repairable defect. Manufacturers often try to negotiate much larger offsets with consumers, but this actually violates the law. The law on offsets under Song-Beverly is as follows: the manufacturer is only entitled to an offset calculated by multiplying the purchase price times a fraction, having its numerator as the number of miles at the time of the consumer’s first repair attempt upon the un-repairable defect, and the denominator being 120,000, a figure chosen by the California legislature as representing the average life of a passenger car. As an example, let’s say that John buys ...  more