MYTH: California lemon law only applies to cars and small trucks.

FACT: The California lemon law applies to motor homes, trailers, recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles, and leased vehicles. On occasion, a dealer or manufacturer may tell a consumer that the lemon law only applies to cars and small trucks to discourage a consumer from asserting his/her rights. Do not listen to them.

MYTH: California Lemon Law does not apply to used vehicles.

FACT: The California Lemon Law applies to used vehicles sold with the remainder of the manufacturer’s warranty. Used vehicles are also covered by the California Lemon Law if the manufacturer extended the original factory warranty (as in the case of most sales of certified used vehicles) or if the dealer provided the consumer a warranty.

MYTH: California Lemon Law does not apply to leased vehicles.

FACT: The California Lemon Law applies to leased vehicles. If you have a good lemon law case, you would be entitled to either a replacement vehicle, or all your lease payments back, minus the statutory use deduction.

MYTH: You have no case because you traded in your vehicle.

FACT: There is no requirement that the owner currently own the vehicle. If the vehicle has been sold, traded-in or repossessed, the owner may still have a case. Due to the problems you had with your vehicle, you simply did not get what you paid for. You got something less than what you bargained for. That is the basis of your damages and these can be recovered even if you no longer have possession of your vehicle!

MYTH: In order to have a valid claim you need to take your vehicle in for repair four (4) times or 30 days during the first 18,000 miles or 18 months.

FACT: The law only requires you to give the manufacturer or its authorized repair facility a "reasonable" opportunity to repair the vehicle's defect. Four times is, however, usually considered a reasonable number of attempts at repair. Also, repairs after the first 18,000 miles or 18 months still count if the repairs occurred during the length of the manufacturer's warranty.

MYTH: You need to use the manufacturer-sponsored arbitration program before having an attorney to assert your rights.

FACT: You need not go through the manufacturer's arbitration program before retaining an attorney to assert your legal rights. If you do go through one of the arbitration programs and you do not like the results, you may reject the award and hire an attorney to file a lawsuit.

MYTH: You need to take the vehicle to the manufacturer's own repair facility for warranty repairs.

FACT: The consumer only needs to take the vehicle to an authorized repair shop. To locate an authorized repair shop in California, contact the manufacturer at its 1-800 customer service number.