Auto manufacturers and car dealerships use some pretty shrewd and underhanded tactics to resale troublesome cars they have been forced to buy back. These cars are known within the industry, and to most consumers, as Lemons.

Even though you may have heard the term and may even be able to conjure up an image of a Lemon auto in your mind, you may not be familiar with the trail of deception that often follows when a dealer resells one to an unsuspecting consumer without divulging the infinite list of complaints or deadly defects its previous owner endured.

Reselling lemon autos to unsuspecting consumers without full disclosure, often through means of deception and trickery, is known as lemon laundering. Despite enforcement of Ohio�s vigorous lemon laws, laundering of lemon autos occurs all too frequently.

There are three primary requirements placed on a dealer or manufacturer by law when a lemon is bought back from a consumer in Ohio.

• They must brand the title as a Lemon;
  
  
• They must warn a prospective Buyer with a Written List of Defects before the sale; and
  
  
• They must give the subsequent Buyer a One-Year Warranty.

In an effort to limit the financial loss resulting from the buyback of a faulty automobile, crafty and cunning car dealers often skirt the law so they can pass problematic lemon autos on to na�ve consumers. A number of dealers do this, even when vehicles have known deadly defects, which, by law, won�t permit them to be resold within the State of Ohio, at all.

Here�s how the process of lemon laundering works

A Certificate of Title must be marked to identify an Ohio car as a Lemon when a dealer regains ownership of the vehicle through a buyback. Sadly, far too few states mandate title branding on these vehicles. Not surprising, states with weak laws often fail to recognize the markings placed on titles by states with stronger laws, and thus, don�t require the �Lemon� stamp or brand on subsequent titles that they issue.

The laundering or washing of a title happens when the dealership that bought the troublesome car back sells or transfers ownership of it to a dealer friend in another state � a state where the title designation �Lemon� isn�t recognized. When a title is made for the new dealer, it is void of any branding, and the car, on paper at least, is no longer considered a lemon. Usually, after the title work is complete, the second dealer sells or transfers the car back to the first dealer along with the fresh, unmarked title, thus allowing the original dealer to market the car as a pristine automobile as opposed to a money-losing lemon.

Another variation of the lemon-laundering scheme occurs when a car dealer sends a lemon auto to an out-of-state auction where another dealer buys the car in an as-is condition. The new dealer purchases the car, usually without hearing of its problematic warranty history, and he purposely chooses not to investigate it further so he can claim to prospective buyers that he has �no knowledge of any defects,� even though he may suspect them.

A third lemon-laundering method, and probably the one most often used, occurs when dealers skirt the law by terming their buybacks �gestures of goodwill� that were necessary to pacify agitated car owners. Dealers claim that buybacks consummated for this particular reason are not covered by the state�s Lemon Law, so they have no requirement to mark the titles or provide a written list of known defects to prospective buyers.

Half-hearted Compliance and Dancing Documents

Once in a while, manufacturers and car dealers will appear as though they are complying with the laws by pointing out to buyers one or two items of a long list of complaints they are aware of about a lemon auto. They often try to downplay the problems, and many will attempt to make the lemon more palatable by lying about corrective measures they claim were taken to rectify complaints.

Some overly aggressive salespersons, in desperate fashion, even use an evasive paper shuffle to obtain the signature of a buyer showing acknowledgement that he/she is purchasing a lemon. When this happens, buyers are seldom aware what has happened or what documents were signed until the troublesome car is theirs. Our legal sources tell us that in such cases, a signature obtained under false pretenses should have no legal effect on the rights of a person to hold the unscrupulous culprits accountable.

Ohio Lemon Laws are among the best in the country

The Center for Auto Safety ranked Ohio as having the third best lemon law in the country. The state prohibits the deceptive practices described above. If you suspect you are driving a laundered lemon, call us today and we�ll put you in touch with an attorney that is skilled in the practice of Ohio Lemon Law and consumer protection. It is our highest goal to see people treated fairly and driving safer automobiles.

content & design 2002-2008 David Williams and SafeCollisionRepairs.com

About Safe Collision Repairs

For more than ten years, David Williams of Wheelersburg, Ohio's Safe Collision Repairs has worked with consumers and attorneys in the tri-states of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia to expose unsafe auto repairs and maximize recovery on auto insurance claims. Some of the company's services include Post-Repair Inspections, Prepurchase Inspections, Auto Damage Assessments, Lemon Law Investigations, Expert Court Testimony and Diminished Value Calculations using an advanced version of Network Information Communication's WreckCheck program.

Inquiries can be directed to: Safe Collision Repairs David A. Williams Post Office Box 70 Wheelersburg, Ohio 45694 (740) 456-1111 (740) 355-4056

Disclaimer

The content expressed on this website and in the article above represents the opinions of David A. Williams. Williams is neither an attorney nor public insurance adjuster, but is an expert, consultant, and writer specializing in the field of automotive collision repair and valuations. The information provided herein is not intended to be a substitute for legal or insurance advice. Because collision repair is a continually evolving science, any text, materials or links found herein are provided without claim or guarantee to their accuracy or completeness.