In an interesting legislative move, last Monday, the Philadelphia City Counsel approved a ‘lemon law’ bill to cover used cars.  If the bill becomes law, anyone buying a used car in the City of Philadelphia could take the vehicle to a licensed mechanic to be checked within 72 hours. If the car is judged to be not roadworthy, the new owner would have the right to have the defect fixed at the dealer’s expense or get a refund.If the dealer refused, the city could suspend or revoke his business license - even if the car was sold ‘as is.  The measure now goes to the full council for a vote, although its likely to be amended before that.

Currently, Pennsylvania’s Lemon Law applies only to new cars. And this bill would only cover the City of Philadelphia, not the whole state. But this is welcome news to thousands of Philly residents stuck with useless lemon vehicles that just don’t work!