Is it time to draft a lemon letter?

You are 100% correct. I am way to emotionally invested at this stage. I remained professional, kind, and tactful throughout this process until now.

i spend 99% of my time in the deep backcountry, and I have absolutely no confidence taking this truck anywhere near a forest road. It’s just too dangerous.

 

Sucks to be in a one dealer city/location if they treat you like that.
Do some searches for dealers with a good reputation and call them if Kendall doesn’t resolve all your problems.

 

I totally understand your frame of thinking. But my confidence is already lost in the truck. I can’t have peace of mind, I am constantly having to listen to the truck and always nervous going on any trips that are remote. I lost faith with replacing a transmission in the first 30 days, and now this is just a tad bit of icing on the cake.

 

Bell or bathtub curve, stuff either works or it fails . Usually right away or after many years. I prefer the former under warranty than the latter.
40+ years working on electro/mechanical systems. Stuff fails.

 

I know in my logical brain you are right. And I thank you sincerely for talking some sense into my brain.

 

That’s a good point, I was gonna go back to used, but you just made a solid argument to not.

 

3 hour drive versus a fucked up un useable truck......I know which I would pick

 

I feel you man, and I know it seems that simple. It’s just not feasible. I work at a startup as a software engineer and I can just not miss that amount of time right now, I’m in my grind phase so I can retire early. Along side that, I am a disabled veteran with a severe head wound from a Bradley rollover while I was up in the turret, that I need to get drained weekly which means I have to use my most of my awarded PTO which leaves little to no wiggle room to navigate dealing with the dealership. Trust me I would if I could.

 

First off....thank you for your service. Second....just sell it

 

I am looking into that as an option. I hate the fact that I’m going to loose money on that option, but that’s why the cliche “cut your losses” exists.

 

How much do Lemon Law Lawyers cost? So there's a fee that you wont get back.

Go to a Ford, Dodge or GM dealer and see what they have. Find out what they'd offer on your truck.
This at least will take a few on the unknowns out of play and you can make a decision that bests your needs.

 

Everybody wants to run to an attorney at the drop of a hat. The same people usually complain about attorneys and how litigious we’ve become.

I just completed a buyback with Ford last Thursday. I talked to an attorney but didn’t use one on their advice. Engaging an attorney can slow down the process. Everything you send is then reviewed by an attorney as opposed to a staffer than can make decisions quicker.

First though, I’d read the lemon law provisions and give them a chance to respond. Until you get through those gates you’re not going anywhere.

 

A dealer has no incentive to slow roll a reacquistion or lemon law buyback. They get paid a book rate and when they run into a problem they can’t remediate they are getting their ass kicked. They’d rather have the truck fixed and back to you or have it returned so they can get to the next one.

Once you light up the reacquisition the dealer has zero sway other than to try and repair. There is a Chinese firewall between the dealer and manufacturer for lemon laws.

 

I would have traded or sold it the day I got it back from the dealership for the transmission issue.

 

Speaking from first hand experience going down this road with BMW. In Texas, and if you buy a vehicle out of state, the State's Lemon Law does not apply. Again, in Texas, and the vehicle being bought out of state, the Manguson Moss Act takes over. It is a Federal Law that covers consumers for instance like I had.

I am not familiar with Oregon's Lemon Law, but if you find you have to go the route of the Magnuson Moss Act, hire an attorney. These attorney's are like the ambulance chasers. Most will work pro-bono.

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/b...nty-federal-trade-commission-improvements-act

In Texas, if the vehicle is determined a lemon, the vehicle has to be destroyed and you have to be refunded or the vehicle has to be replaced. Under the Magnuson Moss Act, the manufacturer will have to pay you damages, so you will be left with still having the vehicle.

Hope this helps.

 

Keep your documentation on attempted fixes, and allow them to perform their 3rd attempt at this point.

If they fix it this time maybe things aren’t so bad, if they don’t and it has to go for attempt number 4 you will have met your state’s requirements for a lemon law case.

Also tell them you don’t feel safe driving the truck in the meantime if another transmission has to be sourced, because as you pointed out it took over 30 days the last time. You might just get them on that one.

Either way for your mental well being this truck needs to go away. You said you don’t trust it, and that mistrust isn’t going to magically wear off. If you can dump it for what you have in it, send it down the road. If their 3rd attempt fails lemon law it and be made whole that way.

 

So fuk the next guy?

 

Lemon Law specialists are $1200-1500 per case. They add it on the settlement so the manufacturer pays the fee. However, before they will accept the case they need 3 closed work orders for the same problem. Or, they need 20-30 days of shop time depending on your state laws. They're not stupid, if you slow roll or refuse to pick up the vehicle they figure that out in about 30 seconds. You'll also need a bill of sale, and registration. You don't get to first base without the above criteria because they don't waste time if you haven't met lemon law requirements. One of the first three questions is if the truck was modded and if you bought it new. If you want to pursue it with general counsel it's $200-500/hr. They take anything because they are paid by the hour.

The payouts vary by state but usually it's the % of 120,000 miles. It includes expenses like finance charges, taxes, registration. In my case from last week, my unfinanced out the door on the truck was $70,300. I put 11,000 miles on it and got a buyback check of $67,300. The truck will most likely be destroyed or used in a Ford exec pool but they will not resell it so nobody is screwed downstream.

 

Good info. Thanks.

 

Florida buyback equation is # of miles times sale price of vehicle divided by 120,000 and then they add in trade in, down payment, incurred costs, payments made including interest, and any accessories you have receipts for putting on the vehicle.

for the trade in value, they allow the consumer to challenge what they were given for the trade in. If you think you were given less than NADA value at the time, you can challenge. The caveat is if they gave you more than book at the time, you owe them credit… but if they gave you less than any amount listed, they owe you full retail value for the vehicle at that time. I was given $6,000 for my trade in at purchase and $19,000 for my credit into the buyback equation.

The way they handle replacement vehicles is up to 105% of original vehicle price. It was more advantageous for me to take a refund considering my trade in credit, so that is what I did…

honestly, if not for having the trade in credit in my favor, I would have been out close to $15,000 for the miles I put on the truck.

you really need to consider your options when doing a lemon law.

 

I simplified the above but I agree with your comments. I was also given the option of a single payment check for the hassle or a buyback with a $2500 additional credit if I bought another Ford product. I had three clear choices but wanted off the Ford Merry Go Round so I took Door #1.
If you're financed or leased, if you have mods, or if you had a trade all make the deal get more complicated and take more time to settle.

 

Caveat Emptor. Vehicle was repaired. Do you think every “used” vehicle is without issue? There is a reason it doesn’t cost as much as new. You take the risk as a consumer. Buy an extended warranty.

 

It's douche maneuver to sell something that is so flawed you think it should be lemon lawed without disclosure. You wouldn't like someone doing it to you. If it's retitled as a buy back or lemon, fine.
it was worth it to me to go through the extra 6 weeks of hassle to get the manufacturer to buy it back as opposed to dumping it on somebody.

 

My case took about 7 months… completely agree with not dumping a potential lemon on the next guy. When I surrendered mine, they threw a sticker in the window identifying it for auction. FL requires retitle before reselling. At least the next owner will have disclosure and can expect the issue.

 

OK. Let me get this straight. A vehicle is repaired by the dealer. Dealer says everything is OK. The OP isn’t comfortable with the overall performance/quality and decides to get rid of it. That is somehow “douche”? GMAFB. You as the consumer need to perform due diligence. You should check the repair/service history prior to purchase. Last I checked nobody is forced to purchase a vehicle. Not the OPs responsibility to proclaim “ I think this truck is a POS” don’t buy it. C’mon man!

 

ex ford guys are great resources for lemons and buybacks, lol. Woohoo

 

Ouch and true!

 

That why I no longer have my ‘17 Sport EB. I did however tell the dealer it was a lemon and no one should buy it.

 

Wow this is horrible with some people experiences with their truck.

I was fortunate that I had a dealership willingly take back a vehicle and replace it with a brand new one.
BS you say? Happened to me with my 2019 4runner.
When i picked up my 2019 white nightshade I noticed some platter marks of something on the fender flares and splashed up on the lower part of the doors.
Looked like they drove it through something. I was a little dissappointed and mentioned it to the salesman. (brand new truck should be perfect)
The salesman apologized and said if there is a problem, he can have his guy detail it out. Ok no problem.

Day later I tried to wash whatever it was off. Didnt come off. Used a clay bar to clean it off.... didnt come off.
Called the dealer and let them have a go at it. Didn't hear from them till the next day.
Whatever it was, it wasn't coming out. So the dealer opened a case up with Toyota. Toyota wanted to approve repainting the truck. What the ?!?!?!?!?!
I said no way. Brand new repainted truck was going to worth much less than what I just bought!
The salesman then stepped out of the picture and I was dealing with the Sales Manager.
He was going no where and just wasting my time.

Well this went on long enough so I decided to e-mail the General Manager of the dealership and everyone else I could find.
Nicely written email with an exact timeline of how this all went.

About 1 1/2 hours later I get a call from the General Manager of the dealership (they own a bunch of stores and brands)
He apologized and said they have the exact same truck at a sister dealership. They wanted to swap vehicles to make things right.
I accepted the offer and the next day I was sitting in another new 4runner.

The dealership came through and I was surprised.

I get that maybe I wasn't the norm when it comes to post purchase issues being resolved.

That being said I wasn't being unreasonable. I was just an upset customer that needed some upper management help.

 

Dealerships re-sell lemon and buy back cars all the time.