Lemon Law Claim - Should I contact the corporate before finding an attorney?

[samuellms]

I bought a Honda Civic Sedan touring brand new at 2016, and since 2017 my AC keep having problems.
It happened for four times already. The first time they only refilled the freon, then they changed the condenser for two times, and at my last visit in May 2019 they changed the compressor.
The AC only works for a month as I just found out the AC is not working again today.
My warranty is gonna expire in Aug 2019, and this will be my last chance to fix the AC with warranty.
I have contacted a lemon lawyer, and they think I can make a claim. But I am thinking whether I will get a better result by contacting Honda directly, and I also saw a post about class action lawsuit on the AC issues.
Do you guys have any experience on a lemon law claim on non-life threatening issues like this?

Sponsored

 

[Rickmeister 48]

Yes, I have plenty of experience. Just look up any of my posts. Honda is useless and not gonna help you. They resorted to lying and being shady, but I won anyway due to the amount of video evidence I provided.
First, depending on your state, you may have to use the arbitration process which involves NO ATTORNEY.
Second, you need to have all your service records, again, depending on your state, you may need three visits for the same issue or four.
Get as much video as you can to prove your problem, your gonna have to get a thermometer of some sort showing the temp outside and the temp coming out of your vents and anything else you can use. My issue had to do with the a.c. Also among other things.
For ex. I showed that it was 92° outside and my a.c. At its coldest was coming out at 70 or more. If you've got video, Honda will still try and ignore it or tell you some bs, but an arbitrator is gonna see it for what it is.
Lastly, don't let Honda talk you into anything like dropping your claim cause you don't have enough evidence. As long as your sure you have a legitimate issue, don't give in to them.
They told me I didn't have enough evidence and I couldn't win and offered me three thousand dollars to drop the claim. I won and it ended up costing them almost 30 thousand by the time they had to buy it back and pay me all my interest and everything.
One thing they'll try and say is that a.c. Is a luxury item and doesn't affect the function or value of your car, idiots.

 

[samuellms]

Thanks for the reply.
I live in California and I have already contacted a lemon law attorney.
I have the service record from the dealership, which involves two refills of freon, two changes of condenser, and one changes of compressor. As my AC is not working again, this will be my sixth visits to the dealership for the AC issues.
I am thinking about contacting Honda directly as I hear I can have a better claim with a strong case and all the evidence. But the first question that the lemon law attorney asked me is whether I have contacted Honda, as they said they can't represent me if I have contacted Honda by myself, is that bs?
The second reason I am still thinking about using lemon law attorney is I have to accept whatever claim they got me, otherwise I will have to pay for the attorney fee. That makes me worry as I can sell my car for at least $16000 after the AC fix, and I doubt that the attorney can get a better deal than that.

 

[Rickmeister 48]

How does the lemon law lawyer think Honda could do anything about it if you don't contact them?? Sounds like B.S. to me.
But I'm telling you Honda is gonna drag everything out and they are gonna side a with the dealership. They may ask you to go to another one, which I would already have done myself.
Your better off using the arbitration service listed in your manual before trying to use an attorney. I did, cost me nothing and I won. Again some states say you have to use it first if the manufacturer offers it and Honda does.
If they don't find in your favor, you can then get an attorney, if they do find in your favor, honda has to abide by their decision.
I've also seen way to many lemon law places offering that you don't have to pay anything , to use a lawyer asking for any kind of payment.

 

[Rickmeister 48]

Just to add, your state does not require you to use arbitration, but you can still file if arbitration does not find in your favor.
Your state also says you don't have to pay for anything that all attorneys fees should be paid for.
https://www.lemonlawprotector.com/c..._AztUP25FIg08Ant6DqXGmIVl0_x3dCBoCNsIQAvD_BwE

 

[samuellms]

Yes almost all lemon law attorney claim that they won”t charge you anything. But I read the contract from the attorney I have contacted, it states that if I don’t accept the offer they got me from Honda, I will have to pay for the attorney fee. That makes me worry as I don’t wanna keep this car anymore, and I am wondering whether the attorney can get me a buyback offer from Honda that is higher than the current resale value.

 

[Rickmeister 48]

Yes almost all lemon law attorney claim that they won”t charge you anything. But I read the contract from the attorney I have contacted, it states that if I don’t accept the offer they got me from Honda, I will have to pay for the attorney fee. That makes me worry as I don’t wanna keep this car anymore, and I am wondering whether the attorney can get me a buyback offer from Honda that is higher than the current resale value.

See "buyback " in arbitration using ncds, means they pay you back everything you paid into it so far, thats including all the intrest you've paid. They then have to pay the remainder of your loan off to the bank. You can't lose, you get rid of the car, get out of your loan and have a decent down payment for another car, which doesn't have to be a Honda if you don't want.
They offer you a choice of a replacement or buyback. I chose replacement at first and that ended up being a mistake.
Honda told me, they would just switch vin numbers and all my loan terms would stay the same. The bank said absolutely not. So that delayed stuff about a week. Honda was trying to be shady and lose as little as possible.
So what ended up happening, they had to do the buyback. They ended up giving me a little over 12,000 in cash, which was all my monthly payments over almost two years, I still owed 16 some thousand to the bank, so Honda had to pay that to them also. I had all that to put down on the new car and got financed for a lot lower rate.

 

[snoflewis]

i had my infiniti bought back a couple years ago through a lemon law attorney in california. and i know this is contradictory, but don't listen to anyone on the internet about law. it varies by state and every case is different. assuming you've asked these questions to your lawyer, if you dont like the lawyer, find a new one before signing the retainer. based on my experience, what will happen is that the lawyer will put together a case with all the evidence and present it to Honda for a buyback. this happens out of court. if Honda agrees to the buyback, they will propose a settlement amount to you. if you reject the settlement, then you'll be responsible for all legal fees because you'll be taking Honda to court.

no lawyer will work for free unless it's pro bono. they don't charge you anything up front because they're relying on Honda to include the attorney fees in their settlement (in CA, manufacturer is responsible for legal fees if the case goes to court). this means they'll also likely include attorney fees in the settlement, but if what Honda offers in legal fees is less than the minimum that your attorney charges, then your lawyer will be taking additional money out of your settlement. as for the buyback offer, assuming that Honda does agree to buy it back, it'll be higher than current resale value. the value is based on price paid plus interest (if applicable) minus a "use fee" which is based on the total miles driven from when you bought it to when the issue first happened back in 2017.

my suggest would be to stick with the lawyer (not necessarily the one you have right now). the time and effort aren't worth pursuing the buyback on your own since Honda won't be paying legal fees in the case of a settlement. you also don't want to screw up your chances of a settlement by pursuing this on your own. i had my case resolved in 2 months and when it was all said and done, i ended up basically driving the infiniti for free for 2 years.

lastly, keep in mind that attorneys pick and choose cases that they know they can win. if your case is borderline, some will pursue while others won't. the first attorney i found took my case, sat on it for a week, then called saying he wouldn't represent me. the next attorney was much better and more organized and got the job done. submit case reviews to multiple attorneys. PM me if you want my attorney information. best of luck

 

[samuellms]

Thank you so much for the detailed replies guys. I guess I will contact a couple attorneys after the weekend to see what are their thoughts on the case.

 

[Rickmeister 48]

Yes by all means, lets go find an attorney, someone who is gonna get money out of this one way or another, when you can do this totally free by calling the number in the front of your owners manual and STILL have the option of an attorney if needed. SMH

 

[samuellms]

Yes by all means, lets go find an attorney, someone who is gonna get money out of this one way or another, when you can do this totally free by calling the number in the front of your owners manual and STILL have the option of an attorney if needed. SMH

Ok I will definitely try out the ncds first. Thank you so much for letting me know again!

 

[samuellms]

Ok I will definitely try out the ncds first. Thank you so much for letting me know again!

What makes me worry now is from the NCDS booklet, it states that the repair has to happen within 18 months from delivery/18000 miles. I will contact them anyway first..

 

[samuellms]

And just one more thing, as my warranty is gonna expire in this August, and the dispute is unlikely to be resolved in a month, should I still go to the dealership to fix the AC?

 

[NAV8M3]

What makes me worry now is from the NCDS booklet, it states that the repair has to happen within 18 months from delivery/18000 miles. I will contact them anyway first..

I know this is an old thread but just wondering if you ever got your claim resolved.

You can utilize lemon law even after 18 months or 18k miles, as long as the problems happened while you were still covered under warranty
the 18 mos/18k miles just makes your claim easier if the problems and repair issues happened earlier in the vehicle's life

I'm a CA lawyer and handle lemon law cases. Our firm doesn't charge you even if you reject the offer (unless if we have been in litigation, but that's a different story)
If you ever need any help, please ask away

Sponsored