She goes on to say that extended warranties are really service contracts, for which Americans spend $16 billion each year, and that provide sellers with a 40-80% profit margin.

Next time you think about buying an extended warranty, it’s worth your while to look into your state’s consumer protection laws and see if it’s really necessary.

If it’s a “green” lemon, does that make it a lime?

Whether you use a spreadsheet, a word processing document, or a good, old-fashioned notebook, you should make a log entry every time you take your vehicle in for service. Note the problem or circumstances that led you to take the vehicle in, when you took it in, what the diagnosis was, what work was performed, the cost of the work, and how long the vehicle was in the shop. You should also note any other expenses you incurred, like alternate transportation.

You should also keep a folder of the paperwork that accompanied each trip into the repair shop, such as the service order and the receipts.

If your vehicle has a recurring problem, it pays to check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Technical Service Bulletins database to see if the manufacturer has acknowledged the problem. You can also check complaints to see if other owners have had the same problem. It’s a good idea to file your own complaint to help establish a pattern if one exists.

Having your paperwork and documentation in order is an important weapon in lemon law claims. You’ll be one step ahead if you have your proverbial ducks in a row.

This has had dire consequences for RV manufacturers, which are scrambling to come up with diesel-hybrid models that may have greater appeal. According to the article, Fleetwood “posted a $57 million quarterly loss and said it would close eight plants and lay off 760 workers.” But that may be just the beginning. The company has been trying to exchange stock to meet their debt obligations, and they are in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of undercapitalization. From a 52-week high of $6.85 per share, the company’s stock is currently trading at just 10 cents per share. If the company can’t repay its debt, Fleetwood’s next stop is bankruptcy court.

What I’ve written in posts relating to potential bankruptcy for Detroit automakers also holds true for RV manufacturers. If RV manufacturers go under, it will definitely impact RV owners’ warranties, and potentially their lemon law rights. How it will all play out is still murky, but anyone with a relatively new RV should pay attention to news coming of the RV industry.

Recently, Attorneys General from 40 states, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands submitted a joint comment to the FTC. Because lemon laws and consumer complaints often run through their offices, they know quite a bit about consumers’ problems with used cars. They say without hesitation that the Used Car Rule is valuable, but say (as I did) that it doesn’t go far enough.

The statement by the Attorneys General says, in part:

However, the Rule’s value is limited by the fact that it does not provide notice about the most material information consumers need to consider and, indeed, do consider in deciding whether to purchase – that is the vehicle’s history and prior use, including its prior title status, damage history, and whether it was repurchased by the vehicle manufacturer pursuant to a state Lemon Law.

They go on to say that the Wisconsin Buyer’s Guide should be a model for the FTC’s Buyer’s Guide.

Interestingly enough, ten Attorneys General didn’t sign the comment – those from Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

That puts many consumers – who have to scrape together the money to buy a vehicle to go to and from work – in the untenable position of having a defective used car and no money for repairs.

According to the news story, when Connecticut State Senator Bob Duff was asked, he was opening to revising and expanding state law. The article quoted him as saying, “Any time we see holes in consumer protection laws, we should definitely address it and tighten any loopholes that are out there.”

Hopefully, Senator Duff will seriously consider taking this matter up when the Legislature reconvenes. After all, Connecticut was first in the nation to pass a lemon law; the state can take the lead again in expanding protections for consumers who buy used car lemons.

In the Sun article, writer Dan Thanh Dang recounted the trials and tribulations of Aaron Shepard, who bought a notebook computer for school. From the beginning, he had nothing but problems with it. He sent the computer back to the factory eight times for repair (at his own expense), and the problems still weren’t fixed. Ultimately, the company replaced it with a refurbished machine, which in turn had myriad problems. Yet the company claimed it was under no obligation to replace the computer – only to fix the problems as long as they were under warranty.

The Montgomery County Office for Consumer Protection begged to differ, since that state doesn’t allow manufacturers to waive implied warranties. The implied warranty in this case is a warrant of merchantability – the promise that a product will do what it was intended to do. What the article didn’t mention was the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a federal statute that covers all products that cost more than $25.

The take-away? Legislators should get busy writing lemon laws for electronics. In the meantime, if you give or receive electronics this holiday season, keep in mind that the law is on your side if you find that you have a lemon.

When Harrison filed a lemon law complaint, the arbitrator found in her favor, and ordered Planet Automall to refund her money. After that ruling, in September 2006, the dealer filed a legal challenge to arbitrator’s decision, saying - among other things - that she hadn’t return vehicle. When Harrison tried to return the car, the dealer refused to formally accept it. Eventually, someone from the dealership took the car, and parked it across the street. Over the course of two months, the car racked up $1,700 in parking tickets, while the dealer claimed that it didn’t have the car in its possession.

This past May, a judge confirmed the arbitrator’s award and ordered the dealership to pay up. Instead, Planet Automall filed another appeal. In the meantime Harrison not only has to keep making payments on the Beamer, but had to buy another car for transportation.

From Fox’s report, it’s clear that Harrison has the law on her side, and it’s a good thing that she has an attorney representing her interests. Even though the legal battles have racked up $15,000 in attorney’s fees, the court will most likely order the dealership to pay those fees.