Tag Archives: auto lemons

Will Governor Newsom VETO attack on California’s auto lemon law?

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Auto manufacturers attack California’s landmark auto lemon law
Pro-consumer / auto safety organizations urge Gov. Newsom to veto SB 71

Auto manufacturers who produce seriously defective vehicles are backing legislation on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk that would drastically weaken the ability of hapless victims of lemon automobiles to use California’s auto lemon law to get a refund. If Governor Newsom signs the bill (SB 71) into law, millions of California vehicle owners would face a much higher risk of being stuck with lemon autos that are unreliable and often unsafe to drive.

In a letter sent to legislators in Sacramento, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — the trade association for dozens of international auto manufacturers — argues for passage of SB 71, authored by Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), the powerful Chair of the California State Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

SB 71 would take away the ability of consumers who purchase faulty lemon cars for less than $35,000 to access “unlimited civil” courts, where they can easily get legal representation — usually at no cost to them — and may be awarded up to double their damages as a civil penalty, if they win and prove that the manufacturer’s refusal to promptly comply with the lemon law was “willful.”

Instead, consumers whose vehicles cost less than $35,000 would be forced to submit their cases to “limited civil” courts where they would face a number of procedural hurdles that usually make it impossible for them to win. For example, they are unlikely to be able to get enough discovery to prove their case. This means that scofflaw auto manufacturers who produce problem-riddled lemon cars priced below $35,000 would be able to get away with foisting them off on California car buyers and refusing to honor their warranties and fix them. Thus, auto giants would save potentially tens of millions of dollars in auto repair costs they would otherwise have to spend to fix problem cars under warranty.

If Governor Newsom signs SB 71 into law, he would be the first California governor to weaken protections for California’s car buyers under California’s landmark auto lemon law, widely regarded as the best in the nation. In the past, governors of both major political parties, democrats and republicans alike, have signed bills to improve and expand protections against defective lemon cars, starting with Governor Ronald Reagan, who signed California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act — the original “lemon law” — in 1970.

The timing couldn’t be worse, since consumer surveys show increasing dissatisfaction and complaints about major defects in new vehicles, which are prone to myriad  problems caused by faulty electronics and software programming.

According to J.D. Power’s annual survey of initial quality among motor vehicles:
“In the IQS, J.D. Power ranks automakers based on verified-owner responses, calculating for each a problems-per-100-vehicles (PP100) score. Looking at recent study results, the number of problems increased by 18 PP100 between 2021 and 2022 and climbed a massive 30 PP100 from 2022 to 2023. That’s nearly 50 PP100 combined in just two years. Automakers are seeing more persistent problems with their new technologies.“ — New Tech Drives Major Increase in Vehicle Quality Issues, JD Power report June 22, 2023.

According to the official analyses of SB 71, the only supporters are debt collectors and auto manufacturers and suppliers.

CARS and other non-profit organizations who give consumers a voice in the legislative process are fighting back. We’re urging Governor Newsom to veto SB 71. Here’s our letter to Governor Newsom. The more Californians the Governor and his staff hear from, the better.

ACTION ALERT!!
Save YOUR right to fight back against greedy auto manufacturers
Don’t let auto giants stick you with an unsafe, defective lemon car
Save California’s auto lemon law – act NOW!!

What can you to make YOUR voice heard and save California’s auto lemon law, so you can fight back if your “dream car” turns out to be a lemon?

Send a brief personalized e-mail message to California Governor Gavin Newsom, here. Under topic, choose “An active bill” and then “SB 71”. Where it asks for your position, choose “CON.” In your comments, let the Governor know that you live in California and urge him to VETO SB 71. Use your own words to explain why. For example, “I spent over $30,000 to buy a brand new car, and it was in the shop for repairs for over two months. Ford refuses to buy it back. California needs a strong auto lemon law. Don’t weaken it. I urge you to VETO SB 71.”

What’s the absolute worst car dealer scam?

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At a time when the price of used cars is skyrocketing, and many people are flocking to buy used cars to reduce the risks of exposure to Covid posed by public transportation, are consumers getting what they are paying for? 

Unfortunately, many of them are being cheated, to the tune of thousands of dollars. Their lives are also often at risk, and tragically, some used car buyers and their families and friends are being injured or killed.

According to the Consumer Federation of America’s 2021 Annual Nation’s Top 10 Consumer Complaints, auto transactions top the list, leading to more consumer gripes to state and local consumer protection agencies than any other product or type of transaction. It’s been the same for a long time, year after year.

These days, American car buyers are paying more, and being treated worse.

Car dealers routinely rip off consumers in numerous ways. Like:

  • Advertising cars at one price — then after you are on the lot, charging double, or more, particularly if the dealer employs “e-contracting”
  • Forging signatures on documents
  • Selling junky cars that break down soon after you buy them
  • Selling cars that fail to pass emissions tests, and pollute the air we breathe
  • Selling dangerous cars that they know were severely wrecked, while claiming they have a “clean Carfax” so they must be OK
  • “Loan packing” — charging thousands of dollars extra for high-profit items such as worthless service contracts, GAP, theft etch, and other unwanted stuff
  • Overcharging for financing, in exchange for kickbacks from auto lenders
  • Racist financing and discriminating against people of color
  • Repossessing cars, even when the buyers are making all the payments in full and on time — basically, a form of car theft
  • Selling stolen vehicles
  • Selling cars with altered odometers, and lying about how many miles they’ve been driven
  • Charging bogus, inflated “document fees” or “concierge fees”
  • Yo-yo financing — getting you to sign a contract to buy a car on good terms, then after you drive off the lot, telling you that the contract isn’t valid, or the financing “fell through,” and demanding more — sometimes under threat of arrest for “auto theft”

All of those scams are costly and risky for car buyers, especially car buyers who are from communities of color.

But the absolute worst car dealer rip-off of all is charging consumers extra for dangerous, potentially deadly unrepaired recalled cars.

It’s not only corner car lots who are foisting off seriously defective deathtraps onto used car buyers, for top dollar. It’s also huge conglomerates like CarMax and even their competitors at online “disrupters” Vroom and Carvana, who all claim their vehicles have passed a thorough inspection, but fail to get the free repairs done to fix hazardous safety recall defects that maim or kill people.

How can a car that is so defective, it’s prone to catching on fire while parked in your driveway, pass any inspection? Or a car with bad brakes that fail?  Or with a steering wheel that may come off in your hands? What kind of inspection is it, that fails to catch and fix the safety defects that are likely to kill you?

Making this outrageous scam even worse, the perpetrators of this scam claim they “disclosed” that the vehicle had an “open recall,” attempting to shift the blame — and any legal liability — onto their victims.  Of course, they know that hardly anyone reads those “disclosures,” especially when they’re hidden in a huge stack of 30 + documents that you have to sign. 

And of course, the “disclosures” are usually only in English, and don’t really convey what’s at stake. There’s no skull and crossbones. Just a lot of long-winded, legalistic jargon.

Please don’t fall for this scam. Be sure any car you buy is actually safe, before you drive it away.

Best of all, don’t even set foot on a car dealer’s lot. Experts are sharing their 12 step-by-step tips for how to buy a safe, reliable vehicle that’s free from deadly safety recall defects, for a lot less than a car dealer would charge: 12 Easy Tips from auto experts

Stay safe and save not only your $$, but also your life!!!!!

“Arizona Auto Dealer Arrested, Charged with Fraud”

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“TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) – A Tempe used car dealer arrested Wednesday is facing multiple charges of theft and fraud, accused of cheating clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Detectives with the Arizona Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General say Farhad Kankash, owner of Onyx Motorsports, allegedly committed fraud against both customers and lenders.

ADOT officials say Kankash had allegedly committed several types of fraud, including failing to provide titles to customers who purchased vehicles, not paying off liens on trade-in vehicles, and defrauding lenders by obtaining multiple loans for the same vehicle.”

Want to avoid being ripped off and having your life ruined by a greedy, sleazy car dealer? Here’s how to get a good deal on a safe, reliable used car without having to set foot on a car dealer’s lot:

12 Top Tips from auto consumer experts– step-by-step How to Buy a Used Car

Read more: AZFamily.com:  Arizona Auto Dealer Arrested, Charged with Fraud

Santander to pay $550 million over predatory auto loans

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Greedy subprime auto lending giant Santander is settling charges filed by 33 state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia, by paying $550 million.

The law enforcement officials charged Santander with engaging in predatory auto lending practices, including:

  • Approving auto loans Santander knew low-income car buyers could not possibly repay, resulting in an astronomical and devastating default rate of over 70%
  • Turning a blind eye to common scams that auto dealers engage in, such as falsifying loan applications to make it appear the used car buyers had far more income than they really had

“Santander profited by approving high-cost loans to disadvantaged auto buyers who were doomed from the start,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement.

As part of the settlement, Santander will provide over $99 million in relief to thousands of California consumers who Santander approved for its abusive high-cost loans.

Consumers with the lowest quality loans who had defaulted as of December 31, 2019, and have not had their cars repossessed, will be allowed to keep their car and have any deficiency balance on the loan (up to a total value of $45 million in deficiency waivers nationwide) waived.

Santander will also waive the deficiency balances for certain defaulted consumers across the country, with approximately $433 million in immediate forgiveness of loans still owned by Santander, and additional deficiency waivers of loans that Santander no longer owns but is required to attempt to buy back.

When consumers default on auto loans, lenders like Santander swoop in and repossess their vehicles,  often causing them to lose their jobs. When car buyers lose their only way to get to work, some become homeless. In states like California with huge areas that provide little access to public transportation, losing a vehicle can be a death sentence, particularly for people who are elderly or disabled, or live in rural areas or other parts of the state where they are unable to access health care without a car.

Did you have an auto loan with Santander?  Or was your vehicle repossessed by Santander?  We’re very interested in hearing from you. Please contact CARS, so we can listen to your story and help prevent more people from falling prey to scummy subprime auto lenders.

Read more:

Attorney General Becerra Announces Over $550 Million Settlement Against Nation’s Largest Subprime Auto Financing Company for Deceptive Auto Loan Practices

HUGELY popular, hilarious, and biting John Oliver video showing how unscrupulous auto dealers and lenders scam car buyers

Why don’t consumers get safety recalls done? They’re afraid of car dealers.

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Safety recall defects are dangerous, putting precious lives at risk. So why don’t consumers get safety recall repairs done?  Surveys show that a major reason is that many consumers are afraid of taking their car to a car dealer.

According to a report in the Detroit News:

“The big problem is that recalls depend upon the private vehicle owner to take the car to a dealer and get it fixed. In newer cars, that compliance rate is more than 80 percent, but when a car is five years old or older, the rate drops to around 44 percent, according to a new survey by ChecktoProtect.org which was founded by FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and the nonprofit National Safety Council and announced June 22.

Surveys done by Autotrader.com show that a lot of car buyers don’t trust dealers to fix recall issues properly, and they also worry about the dealer charging them extra for non-recall repairs.”

Read more: Detroit News: “As vehicle recalls multiply, technology gets the blame”

 

CarMax sells unsafe, recalled cars

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CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, claims all its vehicles must pass a rigorous “125 point inspection.” It also advertises that all its cars are so-called “CarMax Quality Certified.”

But instead of living up to its hype, CarMax is selling LOTS of recalled cars with lethal safety defects. CarMax has a gambling addiction. It continues to play “recalled car roulette” with its customers’ lives.

Among the defects on cars waiting for sale on CarMax’s lots:

  • sticking accelerator pedals
  • catching on fire
  • hoods that fly up in traffic
  • faulty brakes
  • steering loss
  • stalling in traffic
  •  seat belts that fall apart in a crash
  • air bags that explode with excessive force and cause blindness or death

An ABC 20/20 undercover investigation found unrepaired recalled vehicles for sale on CarMax’s lot in Hartford, Connecticut. CarMax’s excuse? It can’t be bothered waiting for the FREE repairs.

Buy a car – surrender your rights?

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One more reason not to buy a car from a car dealer:  when you do, they force you to give up your right to sue them if they cheat you.  So say good-bye to being able to take advantage of consumer protection laws.

Think a dealer wouldn’t dare roll back the odometer? Think again. They just slip a clause in your contract that says you can’t sue. Then when you find out your low-mileage car actually has over 100,000 extra miles that “disappeared” from the odometer — good luck trying to sue them under the Federal Odometer Act.

Car dealers used to face tough sanctions, including punitive damages, for ripping off consumers. But with rare exceptions, those days are gone.  That’s because car dealers insert “arbitration” clauses into their contracts. Then, after you’ve been shopping, test-driving cars, and negotiating for an average of 4 hours, they shove a stack of documents across a desk and tell you to “sign here, here and here.”

What they don’t tell you is that when you sign, you are giving up your rights under state and federal consumer protection laws. So forget hauling them before a judge or jury, who can throw the book at them. Instead, if you get any hearing at all, it’s before an “arbitrator” whose company just happens to be paid by — you guessed it — the dealer.

Under rulings by the Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, this is perfectly legal.

Ironically, the dealers got a special exemption from Congress that allows them to sue anyone they please. They’re free to use the courts. But you can’t.

Evidence is mounting about how biased and unfair arbitration is. Check out this new report, issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. No wonder car dealers HATE this consumer watchdog agency. It shows how rigged the game is, when you buy a car from a dealer:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report

Don’t end up like Jon Perz, who has been waiting over 7 years for justice, after a car dealer in San Diego sold him an unsafe car.

YouTube Video of used car nightmare — over 1.3 million views

Be a smart shopper. Check out CARS’ car-buying tips for how to get a safe, reliable used car — without having the hassle or risk of buying from a dealer:

CARS Used Car Buying Tips

Happy, safe car shopping!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“check engine” light woes

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You’re a smart consumer. So before you buy that used car, you take it for a test drive.  You notice that there are no warning lights on the dashboard. You think everything is fine, and you buy the car.

But — shortly after you drive it home, the “check engine” light comes on. This spells trouble. BIG trouble. This scenario is playing out all over the country. It’s become a frequent complaint among used car buyers. “I just bought it and now the ‘check engine’ light is on.”  Adding to the woes experienced by consumers who are victims of “check engine-itis” — the repairs to get that pesky light to go off can cost $3,000 — $4,000 or more.

Margie Y of Hawthorne, CA contacted CARS and said she bought a used Toyota for her daughter, as a present for her 21st birthday, from a local dealership. Within a day, the “check engine” light came on. Then the alternator blew up, and the car caught on fire. When she had the partly charred Toyota towed to a mechanic, he said it needed a new alternator, catalytic converter, and solenoid — at an estimated cost of over $2400.  Money she didn’t have, since she had paid $6200 cash for the Flaming Toyota, and also traded in a vehicle that was running fine, plus had paid $300 for the tow.

Unfortunately, this story is all too familiar. So — what’s happening?  According to automotive experts, unscrupulous dealers buy “scan tools” over the internet that allow them to simply wipe out the error codes that trigger the “check engine” light. Then they sell the car.  As soon as it’s driven a short distance, the error codes register and — on goes the dashboard warning light.  Some dealers don’t bother to buy the scan tools. They just disconnect the battery, erasing the error codes and getting the “check engine” light to go off just long enough to foist the car off onto an unsuspecting used car buyer.

Not only are the dealers cheating their customers, they’re also falsifying smog test results and polluting the air. They know that chances are good their customers won’t be able to pay for the expensive repairs, and will end up driving the car despite the fact it doesn’t meet emissions standards.  The day of reckoning may come when the hapless consumer tries to register it, and it won’t pass the smog test. But by then, the dealer figures it will be too late for the consumer to take them to court.

What can you do to avoid becoming a victim of “check engine-itis”?  The most effective single thing you can do is to insist on getting your own trusted mechanic to inspect the car before you buy. They should be able to detect the fact the error codes have been wiped clean, and also do a check of the emissions system that will turn up the problems.  Where can you find a good, reliable mechanic?  Car Talk’s Mechanics Files is a terrific resource, where you can find the best mechanics in your area, based on reviews written by their own customers.

Check Car Talk’s Mechanics Files to find a reliable mechanic — before you buy

Tell the seller that you want them to take the car to YOUR mechanic before you’ll agree to buy.  If they balk at that, or try to talk you out of it, well, that’s why God gave you feet — so you can walk away from there. Pronto.  There are plenty of good used cars for sale.You don’t need to get stuck with one that will cause you hassles and headaches.