How Federal Lemon Law works for a Commercial Vehicle?

Posted by Andrew Richardson on April 12th, 2021

Purchasing a new automobile that starts showing defects within a few weeks can be a nightmare for any person. But, thankfully, lemon law is designed to protect the consumers. Although the lemon law differs slightly from states to states, at the end of the day, almost every lemon law allows the customers to receive a refund or a replacement for their defective purchase. 

However, when it comes to commercial vehicles, there is no "lemon law" to begin with. But, that doesn't mean that you won't receive any compensation for your defective investment. In fact, there is a remedy as per the Magnusson Moss Warranty Improvement Act of 1974 that tackles everything with a warranty from vehicles to even the toasters. 

It is estimated that a vehicle can meet any one of the criteria. It can either meet the "state lemon law" or "breach of the warranty" in case if the vehicle possesses substantial impairment of safety, value or use. 

How does a commercial vehicle qualify for the lemon law?

Even though lemon law is usually applicable for vehicles that are used for family, household or personal purpose, one cannot simply put the lives of their passengers in danger. You need to ensure that your taxi, limousine, etc., is in perfect driving condition. 

Luckily, under the manufacturer's warranty of Federal Lemon Laws in Tx, your commercial vehicle can get coverage as long as:

The business that owns a defective commercial vehicle has only five automobiles registered under its name. 

The commercial vehicle's gross vehicle weight is not more than 10,000 pounds. 

How to handle the warranty and lemon law scenarios?

As a vehicle owner, you will have a couple of responsibilities that you must abide by as per the manufacturer's warranty. First, you will require reporting any or all the problems with your vehicle to the dealership at the earliest. It would be wrong to wait for a long time and then get upset for not repairing the issue sooner. Second, your vehicle must be available for repair in the expected, reasonable manner. By withholding the automobile, you are only discrediting the manufacturer's ability to repair your vehicle, thus risking the warranty from getting void. 

Besides, many other things can void your warranty too. Such as, if your automobile is modified, abused, or neglected, the manufacturer will have the right to void the warranty. And when we say modify, we mean changes that impact the reliability performance of the vehicle. Abuse means improper driving methods, and neglect means not taking proper care of the vehicle like maintenance, etc. 

Over to you

Federal Lemon Law can be complicated, but it isn't impossible. Proper knowledge is all you need to get started. We hope our article was able to do so. 

Andrew Richardson is the author of this Article. To know more about Lemon Law in Wisconsin please visit our website: allenstewart.com