Defective Trucks: What to Do When You’re Stuck with a Lemon

Sergei Lemberg, an attorney specializing in lemon law [http://www.lemonjustice.com/blog] is sitting in the guest blogger’s chair today.

The Seymour Law Group works hard to help you protect your license, because they know that a valid license is what keeps you on the job. But what happens when you’re an owner-operator, or if you own a company that buys new trucks, and the truck turns out to be defective. That could threaten your job – and your life – in unimaginable ways.

Every state in the U.S. has what’s called a new car lemon law, designed to give people recourse if they find that they’ve purchased defective vehicles that the dealer or manufacturer can’t or won’t fix. Some states cover vehicles that are used for business, but there are often restrictions on the types of business vehicles that are covered. In California, for example, vehicles are covered only if the owner or company has no more than five vehicles registered in California. More important to truckers, however, is that California only covers vehicles with a GVW of under 10,000 pounds. In contrast, Connecticut has one of the most comprehensive lemon laws in the country. Under that state’s law, even trucks are covered.

It pays to check out the lemon law in your state and the state where you purchased your truck. But even if the state lemon law doesn’t cover manufacturer’s defects, you still have recourse under Section 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which has provisions covering breaches of warranty. Specifically, when you buy a truck, there are possible causes of action for breaches of express warranties, implied warranty of merchantability and a warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

If it becomes apparent that your truck has defects that affect its safety, use, or value, it’s important to keep track of when the problems occur and what steps you (or the repair facility) take to fix the problems, as well as copies of repair orders and any correspondence. This will help establish your case. Given that the window of opportunity for filing a lawsuit is limited, you should contact a lemon law attorney earlier rather than later. She or he can guide you through the process to ensure that your truck – and your livelihood – remains on the road.