Q: I recently bought a used car from a dealership. Within 3 days it had electrical problems and turned off while driving
I was able to start it up just enough to pull into the dealership since I was close by. They said they fixed it after one day. A week later the same issue happened again, three more times it did not turn on. The last time nothing on it came on at all. I called the dealership and they've now had the car for 4 days. I have not heard back until today when they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it besides the battery. The service guy who worked on the vehicle told me there is something really wrong with the vehicle and was not comfortable giving me back the vehicle, but the service manager is rushing me to take it back so I can return the rental car they are paying for me. I've asked them to replace the vehicle with another one, but they keep avoiding the topic. What can I do at this point?
A:
The Washington statute covering the "lemon law" is RCW 19.118 et. seq. The "et. seq." means "and what follows." Basically, you can start reading at RCW 119.118.005 about the "intent" of the legislation put into law, and when the 19.118 series of statutes ends.
A big case for lemon law attorneys involved a used vehicle. Here is a quote from the case. "The basic purpose of lemon law legislation in this country is to permit buyers of faulty automobiles to rid themselves of same after a reasonable number of attempts at repair." Chrysler Motors Corp. v. Flowers, 116 Wn.2d 208, 211, 803 P.2d 314, 316 (1991).
Reading through the statutes, you will find that RCW 19.118.160 gives the buyer the opportunity to use the Attorney General's office in getting a free arbitration. Just having that slight bit of knowledge might help you with your discussions with the general manager of the lot.
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