About 50 years ago, Cadillac became synonymous with fine quality. Throughout the last half of the 20th century, there was no greater compliment than to have your product called, “The Cadillac of….” Amana was “the Cadillac of microwaves,” and Craftsman was “the Cadillac of tools.” These days, of course, Cadillac has been knocked down a few pegs. The proof is in the number of complaints we get from consumers about their Cadillacs.

I wanted to share three of our recent successes in getting settlements for our clients who owned lemon Cadillacs. The first involved a New York Lemon Law claim for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade with a repeated check engine light. Although the vehicle was approaching 50,000 miles when our client contacted us, and the first problem was at 30,000 miles, Cadillac compensated our client $6,250 for her time and inconvenience. 

The second was a Massachusetts Lemon Law case involving a 2007 Cadillac ESV with front-end noises that began after the car had been driven about 21,000 miles. The manufacturer finally determined that the vehicle was operating as designed and did not need any further repairs. Despite this conclusion, we convinced the manufacturer to compensate our client $4,000 for his time and inconvenience.

The third success story has to do with a Pennsylvania Lemon Law problem. Our client had a 2008 Cadillac STS-V with repeated check engine light problems. Five weeks after our client contacted us, we received a response from GM offering to settle the claim for $3,500. By this time, our client had taken the Cadillac in seven times for repair, so we said, “No way.” The check engine light problem was fixed, and we were ultimately able to negotiate a $6,500 settlement for our client.

Cadillac may no longer be associated with the epitome of quality, but our Cadillac Lemon Law successes demonstrate that they can be held accountable for their vehicles’ defects.

Massachusetts has one of the most comprehensive Lemon Laws in the country, which comes in handy when you’re trying to lean on a car manufacturer to do the right thing.

One of our recent Mass Lemon Law success stories involved a client who had a 2007 Jeep Commander with a water leak problem. Our client presented his vehicle to an authorized dealer five times for repairs, but the leak was never fixed. Three weeks after this client contacted our office, we were able to convince Chrysler to submit an offer to repurchase the vehicle.

It seems that our client’s 2007 Jeep Commander isn’t the only one with problems. A quick search of the NHTSA database shows 31 complaints for that vehicle. Many owners complained of stalling, while others complained of unexplained acceleration, brake failure, and rain leaking in and flooding the vehicle. One of the most startling complaints involved a six-year-old boy who crashed his family’s Commander into their house – even though the keys weren’t in the ignition and the engine wasn’t running!

It’s pretty nifty to see the law actually working for Massachusetts consumers, though, and we were glad we were able to help!!!

The Lemon Law in Massachusetts is more favorable to consumers than similar statutes in other states, but there is a catch that’s often overlooked. The Mass law provides that a vehicle is a lemon if the same problem is repaired 3 or more times or if it sits in the shop for 15 business days or more in the first 15,000 miles or 1 year since purchase.  Here’s the formula:

MA Lemon =  3 repairs/15 business days in repair in the shorter of 1 yr/15,000 miles + notice + final repair

But here’s the catch. The law requires the consumer to give the manufacturer one last shot at fixing the car once it hits the 3 repairs/15 days out requirement. The notice must be sent by certified mail, return receipt requested.   It must describe the problem and demand relief. Frequently, the notice will also state that the consumer demands relief under MGL 93A, which provides for treble damages and attorney’s fee.  The manufacturer than has 7 business days from its receipt of the notice to make the car right - this is called the MA Lemon Law Final Repair Attempt.  If the car still malfunctions after the last repair opportunity, it’s a lemon.

Here’s the rub, though, and this often comes up in cases. If you fail to send the notice, or if you send it incorrectly, or if you take your car in for repair before the manufacturer receives the notice, your MA lemon law case doesn’t accrue. In other words, to count as a MA Lemon Law Final Repair, the manufacturer must receive the notice before your visit to the dealer. Otherwise, the clock will start ticking once again, and the repair will not count a final repair.

Remember the Smelly Car episode from Seinfeld?  It went like this… The strong body odor of a valet is left in Jerry’s BMW 5 Series.  Jerry is forced to try to sell the car, because the odor has taken a life of its own and permeated everything.  When the car can’t be sold, Jerry winds up leaving it and the keys out on the street.

Well, art sometimes imitates life, or vise-a-versa, as illustrated by a recent Massachusetts lemon law decision coming out of the Appeals Court . The plaintiff bought a Jeep in August 2003.  Thereafter, at least five times, she reported a foul odor like rotten eggs in the car each time she started it up. Four times, she reported a rattle noise in the car of undetected origin.  Each time, the car dealership repair center examined the car but could not detect either problem.  

The Plaintiff sued for breach of warranties, breach of contract, and violations of G.L. c. 93A, the Massachusetts automobile lemon law, G.L. c. 90, § 7N 1/2 , and the Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2300.  The plaintiff also made a claim seeking to revoke acceptance of vehicle under the Uniform Commercial Code.  The Plaintiff lost, both at the trial court level and on appeal.  Both courts ruled that none of her claims could be sustained because the defects of which she complained were not ‘substantial’ - thus no breach of Mass Lemon Law or Chrysler’s warranty occurred.  The court bought the manufacturer’s argument that the despite the ‘alleged’ foul odor and rattle noise in a vehicle, the vehicle provided safe and reliable transportation.

I can see both sides of the argument. If a dealer cannot duplicate a problem, it is very difficult to blame him for failing to fix it. Plus smell and noise issues don’t really affect the drivability or safety of a vehicle. On the other hand, I’m concerned that decisions like this reward dealers for shirking responsibility for fixing intractable or intermittent problems of the type the plaintiff complained of.   As a result my advice is this: if something is wrong with your car and the dealer doesn’t seem to find the problem, make sure you have friends or family (Elaine, Kramer??) witness the problem.

Of course, if it gets unbearable, you can always just leave the car on the street….

Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles are being aggressively marketed by most major automakers. And no wonder. As the economy weakens, most peoples’ desire to pay a premium for brand new cars has dropped noticeably. But are these cars covered by lemon laws? And if not, what protections do CPO buyers have? To begin with, in many states, a CPO vehicle purchased before the expiration of that state’s New Car Lemon Law may be covered if it meets the times/days in repair requirement.  For example, if a New York consumer purchases a vehicle with 9,000 miles on the odometer, and, before the vehicle hits 18,000 miels, ends up taking it to the shop 4 times for the same problem, or it spends 30 days in the shop, then the vehicle would be covered by the New York Lemon Law.  The same would be true under Massachusetts lemon law, Connecticut lemon law, New York lemon, New Jersey lemon law, Pennsylvania lemon law and Maryland lemon law. The remedy here is a refund of the money paid for the car or a replacement vehicle.

What happens once the vehicle has exceeded the New Car lemon law threshold?  Used car lemon laws may cover CPO vehicles that have passed the new car lemon law limit.  Used car lemon laws are generally limited in duration (90 days maximum, for instance, under New York Used Car Lemon Law), so this protection may not have much use for relatively new cars that develop problems shortly, but not immediately after purchase. Moreover, some state, including Connecticut, do not have effective Used Car Lemon Laws.

When all else fails, warranty laws come into play.  It turns out that the when a manufacturer sells a used vehicle that it has certified to be in good condition and repair and warrants it for a period of time, a ‘warranty’ is created.  If the vehicle turns out to be a lemon, the Federal Magnuson Moss Act and state breach of warranty laws may provide a cause of action against the manufacturer or dealer for the loss in value of the vehicle.  These laws generally don’t provide the remedy of a full refund, but damages may be collected.

The long and short of it is that, when it comes to CPO vehicles, buyers have fewer protections than with new cars.  Therefore, it’s even more important to do research on the CPO make and model and carefully examine the vehicle and its history before the purchase.  Better be safe, then sorry.