Auto Lemon Laws

Generally, there are three pieces of legislation that you are to be acquainted with if you ever have to deal with a lemon car case (God forbid!). They include state lemon laws (sometimes referred to as warranty laws) that show differences as you move from one state to another, the Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). If your state lemon law does not cover your case, you can safeguard your rights by going to the latter two.

Now let's have a closer look at these laws. A state lemon law is legislation that applies to the vehicles with persistent defect(s) and defines in what cases the manufacturer breached the warranty and what the consumer is entitled to if the warranty is breached. Normally, the customer has the right to claim a refund or a new replacement.

The lemon law is effective only if the vehicle comes with an express written warranty and during the warranty period. In most states it covers new cars that have been purchased to be used for family, personal or household purposes. A car bought for business purposes is not covered by the state lemon law, but can be refunded or replaced under the Magnuson-Moss Act or Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

Usually, when you are reduced to seeking justice, the action that you have to take depends on the state where you bought or registered your vehicle. In some of them, launching a written complaint is enough, while in others you will have to hire an attorney. Anyway, if your car dealer or manufacturer are unable to satisfy your claim, you first go to the arbitration and, if necessary, to court of law to resolve the dispute. And it is a manufacturer, not a car dealer, that you take to court.

The Magnuson-Moss Act is a federal lemon law. It is a forebear of all state laws and serves as recourse, when state laws don't help. Its mission is to protect the buyer from manufacturer's breaching warranty. If your attorney chooses to sue under the Magnuson-Moss Act, the manufacturer is to recover your attorney's fees (if you win the case). It refers to the vehicles and other personal property priced $25 and higher purchased “for purposes other than resale”. The law was enforced in 1975 and covers the products that were acquired after July 4 that year.

The Magnuson-Moss Act deals with both “full” and “limited” warranties. The case can be taken to court with a valid cause of action even after the warranty has expired as long as the defect appeared in the vehicle during the period of warranty.

And last but not least is Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). This law grants the customer the right to claim a refund or a new vehicle replacement, if the defect(s) present in the car have proved to continue after several attempts ("a reasonable amount of attempts") have been made to repair the inoperable part. The threshold of proof is defined by a particular state law.
When and if you decide to take action against lemon makers, you can study the laws and do it yourself, but it can be wise to hire an attorney, who can do it quicker and more efficient with his fees recovered by the manufacturer.

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Auto Import: Options To Count On

Auto import is one of the largest markets of car purchases each and every year in the United States. For some, this is a good thing. For others though, this is a very troubling aspect that many people need to be concerned about. Nevertheless, there are many reasons why people look overseas for their car purchases. Auto import sales are expected to continue to grow especially with more fuel efficient autos and the ever rising costs of fuel. But what is your side of the auto import story?

First, there are those who are just looking for the car they want. It doesn?t mater to them where it was made. They want a good car that offers all the bells and whistles it can, but that also provides great mileage as well as a great price. These things are more difficult than you think to come by. In the world of auto import options, many of the cars that come in form economies like Japan and China are much less expensive simply because of the cost of labor and the cost of manufacture is so much lower there. So, the price you pay is simply lower in this case.

But, on the other side of the coin are all of the manufacturers of autos in the United States who struggle to stay ahead. This is a fierce competition. People want the best products but they want them cheaply. In many cases, this is just not possible in the American economy. But it ends up hurting us all in the end when these factors lay individuals off and then they cannot work.

With all of this said, there are still many reasons to consider about the auto import. They are great cars, made to perform as they should. They offer many of the latest and great technologies that make them so very important on the market. Some are high class cars and SUV?s that are there to impress while others are economies that are just awesome in the way of saving you money. The choice is yours whether you go for the auto import or not.

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Auto Financing Scams

Car dealers are often portrayed as predators just waiting for an unsuspecting customer to come along. This is because many people believe that they are always on the prowl for unsuspecting buyers that are not very knowledgeable about cars. This can be unfair because we can argue that there are car dealers out there who would not cheat just to get an extra profit.

How do you tell the difference?

To avoid becoming a victim of sneaky car dealers, look at the following auto financing scams.

Yoyo scam

You will be allowed by the dealer to bring the car home as soon as possible. The dealer will take care of the financing, a few days later he will contact you again and tell you that there was a problem with your financing plan. He will tell you to set up a new financing scheme through him which, of course, will be at a higher cost and this will also entail a very high profit on the dealer's part.

Be wary of this trick and avoid it at all costs if you detect it. If you have a bad credit standing, don't have your financing done by the dealer and make arrangements for your own financing. If you ever do avail of the dealer's financing, you should never drive the car back to your home immediately. Wait for at least 24 hours just to make sure that the processing of your financing scheme has been completed already. By allowing 1 whole day to pass by, you are assured that the dealer cannot use this scam on you.

Window etching trick

Window etching is a very common scam. What the dealer will do is to offer to etch the VIN number of your car onto the window of the car for a price. Basically, the price ranges from as low as $300 to as high as $1,000. Some buyers think that they did a good job by being able to talk down the price to a few hundred dollars, but unfortunately for them, a few hundred dollars is still a good amount of money. The best way to avoid this kind of scam is for you to buy an etching kit that you can do on your own. This is available in most auto shops and costs around $20. See how much they profit from you!

Preparation fees

For preparing your car, the dealer will often add an additional preparation fee to your bill. Just to conduct a test drive, replace fuses, or take the car's plastic cover off will have your bill increasing by at least $500! If you visit other shops, you can get the information that these add on costs are already included in the MSRP as set by the manufacturer. Some dealers automatically add it to the buyer's order to make it look mandatory. To take care of this scam, you can ask the dealer to classify it as credit (it should be identical to the amount of the preparation fee) on the following line. If the dealer does not agree to this, you can just simply walk away from the dealership.

Market adjustment

The dealer will convince you that the vehicle you want is selling like hot cakes and very popular. In order to sell you the vehicle, they will do some "market adjustments" amounting to a few thousand dollars. This is usually indicated by a tag near the MSRP tag set by the manufacturer. Even if the car you want is very popular and is very much in demand, if it is in stock you should not be tempted because getting a "popular" car is not worth it if you have to pay a few thousand dollars more. You should never pay more than the MSRP set by the manufacturers. If you do, then you are allowing others to take advantage of you.

Warranty extension

Although this type of scam is old already, it is still being used and there are many who fall for this trick. What happens in this kind of scam is that when you make a loan for the car, the dealer will tell you that you are required to purchase an extended warranty because it is one of the conditions of the bank. There is a simple way of avoiding this scam. Ask the dealer to specify clearly in writing that the extended warranty is required for the loan to be approved. The dealer will most probably find a way to have it excluded. If he persists in including the extended warranty, do not do business with this guy and go to other dealerships.

These are some of the most common auto financing scams that are utilized by some car dealers. Always keep these in mind if you are going to buy a car. If you or a friend were treated fairly by a dealer in the past, consider using the same dealership again. It’s a good indication that they do care about their customers and aren’t just looking for a “fast buck.”

Think very carefully and do not buy on impulse. Good luck to you and go get that car!

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Auto Detailing: Making Your Old Car New Again

The wear and tear of seemingly ordinary, day to day driving can take its toll on even the most cautious of drivers. Nicks, scratches, dents, chips, and the like, can etch the surface of your car like an acid, marring the pristine finish it had when you drove it off the lot. These unwanted (and yet inevitable) scars are the proud automobile owner’s nightmare, but can be easily remedied by way of the talents of a professional auto detailer.

Those long bouts of highway driving we are all subjected to from time to time, can be as frustrating for the drone of the open road as much as they are for the caked layer of insects which inevitably grace the hood, bumpers, windshields, and grills of a once clean car. It’s an annoyance most easily absolved through a thorough automobile detailing. A good auto detailer can polish, buff, and wax your car back into the condition you remember it, and the condition you deserve it to be in. Of course, you might say, professional automotive detailing is not a necessity, I can scrub and polish my own car, thank you very much.” But this can be a dangerous misconception. Using the wrong equipment, or using improper techniques, or unqualified persons to work on your car can actually do more harm than good.

Cheap shampoos, soaps, scrub brushes and such, can wear down the quality of your automobile’s paint job, leaving it more spotted, tarnished, and lusterless. Even hasty, careless work with something as seemingly inconsequential as a bristly old rag can leave nearly unnoticeable scuffs, slowly wearing down the shine of a once beautiful marriage of paint and wax. This is where the talents and experience of a professional auto detailer can save the day. In the hands of a good detailer, your car can gain back the brilliance it once had, and had subsequently lost through the trials and tribulations of everyday use.

And that’s nothing to say of the interior. We all of us know how easy it is to stain, scuff, and generally wear down the carpet and upholstery of your car of truck’s interior, leaving it a paltry version of its former self. And then there’s the non-visible horrors of an unclean car: the smell. The tiniest of coffee spills or other such filth and dirt that can so easily be trudged into your car, can burrow their foul odor deep in the fibers of carpets and seat covers. And anyone who has ever taken their dog for a ride to the park knows that unmistakable canine musk lingers on well after the dog blanket and tennis ball have been removed. Such unpleasant odors area fact of your car’s life, but are in no way a death sentence. A thorough auto detailing can exorcise even the most offensive aromas from that enclosed space where, behind the wheel, we spend so much of our time.

There’s no need to go on driving a car that is slowly deteriorating away from its former glory. We can all recall that new car smell, that fresh-off-the-lot fragrance that has burned its way into all car drivers’ memories; it’s one of the saddest truths about regular car use that this smell represents cleanliness, and whose only hope of recovery can be through cleanliness. automotive detailing is your best bet to improving the look and feel of your car is by utilizing the efforts of a good detailer. A full auto detailing will appease that nagging guilt you feel whenever the sun comes out and all the blemishes of a once fine automobile are exposed for every prying eye to see. His expertise can do what the rest of us folk have neither the time nor the equipment to accomplish – and he might just have you, if not enjoying, at the very least, dreading that unavoidable rush-hour just a little bit less.

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Auto Auctions: Quality Ride For Cheap

You've probably either seen people advertising them or you may have even looked into buying cars through auto auctions. But my bet is that is about as far as you have gotten. I only say that because if you are like me and 95% of America you were pretty quickly turned off by either hearing or reading the words "MUST HAVE A DEALER LICENSE TO PARTICIPATE." Let me tell you I was turned off in a major way.

I mean who wants to pay the government for the right to do yet another thing under their complete control? And who has the money to pay for things like dealer licenses when all you want is a good deal on an automobile? After all you aren't going to actually profit from it. There's another thing too! Who wants to go through all of the rigmarole of the licensing process required for the auto auctions with credit checks and background checks and the new numbers you have to memorize and the new tax documents you have to fill out? I surely don't have the time or the energy for adding another huge pain in the ass to my already long list. Do you?

Well thankfully, for the both of us, there are people who aren't as willing to be discouraged in the face of a little bit of adversity--especially when the potential for huge money savings is on the line! Probably one of the best and probably the luckiest things that I ever did was to marry my wife. She is one of these people!

We were both sitting in front of the TV late one night flipping through a lot of crap when an ad came on for buying "police seized cars at pennies on the dollar!" This ad for government auto auctions caught our attention because I had just been laid off and we had just smashed our only car into a deer a couple of days before. We were in bad shape financially and my wife needed a car pronto in order to keep her job. Well like I said, I went and got on line to check this auction company out and as soon as I saw that a dealer license was required I gave up. My wife on the other hand decided that it wouldn't hurt to make a few calls and see what was all involved.

I'll say it again, boy am I glad I married her because by making that call she got us out of a tough spot. You see what she learned was that the dealer license was no big deal it was simply a trip down to the secretary of state, write a check, and take home your license that day. You could even get a temporary license if it was just going to be a one time purchase.

Well to make a long story short, we ended up getting a temporary license, went to an auction and came away with a beautiful vehicle for pennies on the dollar and sold it 6 months later for a nice profit. When I saw how easy it was, I decided to do it for my new job and have been doing it ever
since.

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Audi Exhausts and Other Fine Parts

Long lurking in the shadow of two German luxury auto giants, Audi has quietly been gaining ground as sales of Mercedes vehicles continue to lag. Within the next few years, Audi is likely to surpass Mercedes and sneak up right behind BMW. These are heady days for Audi, but they aren’t too many years removed from the time when critics called the cars “warmed over” Volkwagens. Times are a changing and auto fans know it. Let’s take a look at some of the best selling accessories for the Audi lover’s car!

1. Custom Tail Lights. Altezza [or Euro] tail lights continue to remain popular with the aftermarket crowd. On older model Audis, including the 90 and 200, these parts look the best as newer models reflect the latest design standards.

2. Car Covers. Ask any owner of a classic Audi how they maintain their car’s appearance and they will tell you: wash, wax, and cover. That’s right, washing and waxing alone are not enough. Keeping your car’s paint protected can only be fully accomplished by covering it with a custom fitted car cover. The more layers the better too for maximum protection.

3. Hood Protector. Some call them car bras, while others call them hood protectors. Regardless, you can protect your grille and give your vehicle a special look with a custom fitted car cover. Select only those that are durable and designed for the exact Audi model you own.

4. Wheel Protectors. There isn’t a whole lot that is worse than a set of dirty wheels on an otherwise immaculate looking car. It kind of reminds you of the handsome guy who wears an expensive Ralph Lauren button down shirt that has been yellowed by underarm stains! Wheel protectors can keep your tires looking great and keep your wheels looking shiny.

5. Performance Chips. Who says you have to be satisfied with your horsepower? A performance chip can help your engine run smoother and more efficiently without taking away from fuel economy. An increasingly popular aftermarket part sought by motorists everywhere.

6. Performance Exhaust. Borla and other brands have developed replacement exhaust systems that can help your car produce more power, achieve greater torque, and increase your fuel economy. These stainless steel parts are made of the same material that builds airliners, so you know that they have to be tough. A nice bonus is the one million mile warranty you get with the system!

Audi aficionados also customize their cars with custom sized floor mats, reusable air filters, performance rotors, heavy duty shocks, and mostly any other part imaginable.

Truly, this German make has made a name for itself as evidenced by the award winning Quattro, long a world leader in handling. If you own an Audi, you have a car that is certain to give you many years of driving enjoyment. Outfit your Audi the way you want with high quality performance and replacement parts sold through your favorite online wholesaler.

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ATV Safety Tips

1. Before You Squeeze The Throttle

* Choose the Right Vehicle - Adult model ATVs are for riders age 16 and older only. Younger riders should never ride an adult-sized vehicle until they are at least age 16. This is especially important, since younger children are usually injured on ATVs due to their size or inexperience with operating vehicles.

* Complete a Safety Course - First-time riders should always take an ATV safety course before heading out on the trails. Safety courses educate riders of the correct way to operate and ride an ATV to ensure he or she knows how to handle the vehicle. Also, safety courses will teach riders of all ages the appropriate behavior when riding an ATV, making it critical for teens and adults to attend.

* Gear Up - Riders should always wear an ATV helmet and other protective gear, including gloves, long pants, footwear that covers the ankles, a long-sleeve shirt or jacket and eye protection.

* Respect Vehicle Capacity Guidelines - Riders should never carry a passenger on an ATV unless the ATV has been specifically designed to carry an operator and a passenger. Since you have to manipulate your weight in order to control the vehicle, two riders on a vehicle is incredibly dangerous. Also, the ATV may be unable to successfully hold the combined weight of two riders, making it less stable and more apt to roll over.

2. When You're Rolling

* Respect the Environment Where You Ride - Always obey all applicable laws and ride only in approved or designated areas and trails. Make sure to get permission before riding on private property and never ride on paved surfaces.

* Choose Your Settings - When it comes to where to ride your ATV, ensure you choose a proper setting. Avoid roads and streets, since ATVs are not designed nor intended to be driven on concrete or asphalt with larger cars and trucks. Also, avoid improper terrain that may encourage the ATV to roll over due to instability in the ground.

* Know Your Limits - Do not ride at excessive speeds or past the limit of your visibility. Do not attempt maneuvers beyond your capability. Increasing the speed — especially through certain terrains—decreases your control and the vehicle’s stability, making you more prone to have an accident.

* Don’t Drive Impaired - Never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Even over the counter or prescription medications can impair your reaction time, thinking process, and judgment, so be sure to avoid operating an ATV during this time.

* No Tricks or Stunts - The most injuries on ATVs occur when the vehicles are operated improperly. Take great care in riding your ATV and be sure to avoid any tricks or stunts that will encourage an accident. Furthermore, avoid improper interaction with other individuals, whether they are on an ATV or not.

* Tell a Friend - Always make a plan before you ride and tell someone where you’re going. Ride in a group of two or three and create a buddy system.

* Carry a Communication Device with You - ATV operations should be sure to carry a cell phone or walkie talkie with them at all times so that they can call for help in the event of an emergency. This is especially true if you are riding alone, which is not encouraged, so that someone will be able to find you if you become injured.

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