@mllcb42 is 100% correct. In all 50 states, lemon law attorney fees should be paid by the manufacturer separate from your damages.
If the attorney retained fees from you, you got fleeced
Edit: noticed you said 20 years ago, so it’s possible things changed
Wouldn’t be the first time… but you live and learn.
That being said, likely has changed then. Can’t imagine an attorney risking his license over a few thousand dollars.
I’ll bite my tongue there
Perhaps this may be a silly question, but if you do go down the route of lemoning a car with an attorney, is there anything known around whether that manufacturer (or at least, their financial arm) may blacklist you from leasing from them again in the future? At least, has that happened to anyone this group knows of?
I would assume that in the case of a lemon buyback, the loan would likely get reported as an early payoff/closure without a negative remark to the bureaus, right?
Very crappy of the original lessee. Good luck.
I am also curious about this.
I can’t see this being an issue. I believe others on the forum have lemoned out a car and leased something from the same brand again
I assisted my parents in lemoning their purchased Pacifica and then immediately after they leased another Pacifica (medical issues require a vehicle with the fold away flat seats that are pretty much limited to the Pacifica… we tried and tried and tried to find other options that worked).
A “buyback assist” typically helps the consumer into another product from the same OEM in the form of a $x,000 incentive. Far from blacklisting you, they want to keep you in the family.
Their main motivation is to take the car back before it officially becomes a lemon.
Whether it’s officially a lemon or unofficially through a buyback assist, they are basically acknowledging their product was defective. No point inviting litigation and bad press by black listing a customer over what is, without much argument, a defective product.
The BMW NA rep said they have nothing to do with the dealership/retail side and cannot help to get a replacement vehicle at the same monthly payment.
Pretty bummed because it was a semi-unicorn deal and now it looks like that type of pricing cannot be replicated.
You don’t get to have it both ways.
An official lemon compensates you via the above.
An unofficial lemon or buyback assist (with an incentive towards your next vehicle) doesn’t
I’d caveat this with an unofficial lemon doesn’t necessarily provide you this amount. With an unofficial lemon/buyback, you’re essentially settling with the manufacturer and the terms are what you both agree to. Of the half dozen lemons that I’ve assisted with recently, none became official lemons and 5 of the 6 paid out the full price less the attributable use amount. With the 6th, we actually settled on a payout amount and still kept the car as we were only a few weeks before lease turn in by the time things finally settled.
Since you had mentioned it was a transfer, why would you expect BMW NA or even the dealership to get you into a similarly equipped car with the same monthly?
True. I recall a thread where the OP settled for something that he was later unhappy with.
Well since a transfer fee was paid, and in the case of the transfer the lease was completely assumed by a new party it seems like that would be the right thing to do (not that corporations tend to care about that at all)
Otherwise how it stands now looks as though they are saying “we will pay you back what you paid in to this car and take it back, now if you want another one you can feel free to spend 2x the price” which doesn’t seem right at all.
I might have to consult with a different attorney and see what their take is on this situation.
The whole point of this car was to get a low monthly payment for a car that should serve its purpose, obviously if it was still operating properly we would have no issue at all and be very happy with the deal.
I can’t really see anyone having any legal standing into forcing a dealership to give you the same deal on a vehicle.
I would have to disagree with your statement. It seems like BMW NA is going to do the right thing and cut you check for your troubles.
BMW NA has no control regarding the type of discount the original lessee received from the dealer. You are free to reach out to the same dealership and try to work out a deal on a similarly equipped car, but if it was such a good deal with a low payment, I doubt they will replicate the deal.
Did the original lessee offer any cash incentives to take over their lease? What were the terms (payment)?
What year and model are we talking about?
/thread…