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PrintHelp Me Howard: Lemon Law
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A local man was all excited when he bought his new truck. But the happiness quickly turned to frustration when the truck kept breaking down. So what can you do when you're stuck with a lemon? We have the answer.
(WSVN) -- Mike Balan spent five months debating whether or not to buy a new truck.
Mike says, "
And I just finally said you know what its the first time I'm driving a nice truck on my own ... cause I was always driving a work truck ... and I went ahead and got it."Not only was it nice ... it was necessary ... Mike owns an air conditioning company and needs the truck ....
Mike adds, "
I love the truck don't get me wrong .... it's a beautiful truck its just its giving me the problems..."The same problems ... over and over ...
He says, "
You get to a stop light ... or stop sign ... and the truck will just start shaking and stalls out on you."As his repair receipts show, Mike took it back to the dealer to be fixed ...... not once, not twice, not three times .... six times ... each time they'd try something new and say ... it works now...
Mike says, "
And then it smoothes out and it wont do it for a couple of days or a week and then it does it again."Now with over 15 million new vehicles sold in the last year .... it's understandable that some break down ... understandable unless you're the person making the monthly payments on a vehicle ... that you cant drive.
Mike says, "
I dont think I should have to go through this ... it's a brand new truck ... if I wanted to go through something I have to take in all the time I'd buy a used truck."And to help car and truck owners like Mike ... Florida has created what's called the Lemon Law ---
7 News Legal Expert
Howard Finkelstein says, "The Lemon Law only covers new vehicles that are bought or leased in Florida ...The law says that if a vehicle has the same problem three times that can't be fixed within the first two years ... your vehicle is covered."Mike says that sounds like he is definitely covered ...
He says, "
They should either give me a new truck or fix the problem for once."And the Lemon Law does provide that ... last year nearly 900 new vehicles were ruled to be lemons and the owners were compensated ...
But Howard says Mike needs to take another step ......
Howard says, "
Mike must send written notice to manufacture --- who then has 20 days to finally fix the problem ... If they don't then an arbitrator can force the manufacture to either give him all his money back ... or a brand new truck ..."When we talked to the dealer they told us they had called in a factory representative ....who discovered a piece of plastic fell into the cylinder head --- causing the truck to stall .... they are certain they finally have the truck fixed ...
Mike hopes so ... cause if it stalls again ... he's reaching for the Lemon Law.
Mike says, "
It's just a royal pain in my ........... butt ...."Mike's pain has subsided---he got some good news--
The factory has decided to buy his truck back and give him a new one.
It'll be delivered in two weeks...
Now if you think you have a lemon and want to file...go to floridaattorneygeneral.com...
They have all the information and forms you need.
A problem got you squeezed...truck on over to us...we'll juice it up...and try to turn that lemon into lemonade...
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: pfraser@wsvn.com