Nc Lemon Law: Documenting All Vehicle Repairs

By Author: Kacy Suther
Total Articles: 223
Comment this article

For as long as humans have been consumers, there have been victims of bad deals. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the realm of vehicle purchasing. Are you worried that you may have bought a lemon? Have you been in and out of the mechanic ever since you bought your "brand new" car? Do the repeated repairs seem to be doing more harm than good? Do you want to avoid being ripped off in the future? Of course you do.

One of the most important things you can do as a new vehicle owner is keep good documentation of your warranty repairs. Save all of your repair orders or invoices, and make sure they all contain the correct information. A Repair Order or R.O. is what you receive when you drop off the vehicle at the mechanic. Make sure you always get one of these, and that it contains detailed accounts of your complaints. If you're not careful, dealership personnel may make "adjustments" to your repair orders in an attempt to hide, minimize or get themselves out of addressing your complaints.

There is a statute under North Carolina lemon law called the Motor Vehicle Repair Act. This act states that a motor ...
... vehicle repair person must present the repair order paperwork to the customer, obtaining their signature before attempting any repairs. In essence, this is an authorization to repair the vehicle. This NC lemon law act also requires that the repair shop give an invoice to the customer, upon releasing the vehicle, that states what was done to correct any problems. Many dealerships conveniently "forget" to give these documents to the customer, so they can fill them out later and leave off any problems they're unable to address. This is a violation of the Motor Vehicle Repair Act. How often has this happened to you?

If a claim qualifies to be brought under lemon law, NC or otherwise, it helps to have a "repeat concern." This is how it works under The New Motor Vehicles Warranty Act. The dealership service writers are trained in Lemon Law. North Carolina is no exception to this phenomenon. One of the tricks they use is to make your complaints sound different each time you bring in the vehicle for repairs. Maybe it was a "ticking noise" one time, a "clicking noise" another time, and then, just "noise." Here's the kicker--later they will argue that the noise came from three different problems, when, to you, it was always the same noise. Consumers need to make sure the repair documentation reflects their actual complaints before they leave the vehicle for repair.