Lemon Law in Nebraska
If you ever happen to find yourself thumbing through the Nebraska State Statues put together by their legislature you might want to take a gander at Chapter 60, Sections 2701 through 2709. This will be fascinating reading especially if you’re not happy with the new car you just bought.
Chapter 60 is where you’ll find the lawyerly explanation for Nebraska Lemon Laws. Fortunately, we can translate that legalese into understandable copy.
These are the basics: if you have a car that qualifies as an official lemon under Nebraska definitions, you have two options for getting your money back. Those options are submitting to what they call an informal arbitration or file a lawsuit against the car maker in court. First, you have to determine if your car really is a lemon.
Nebraska Lemon Law Qualifications
To qualify, the car needs to have been purchased in Nebraska and still needs to be under warranty. Additionally, the car can only be at least a year old from date of purchase to the first notice you sent to the car maker describing the problem. Nebraska Lemon Law covers any cars used for your family, your business or any other personal reasons. It can be any size of a car, a motorcycle, a semi-truck or even a leased auto. What it can’t be is a motor home.
For the sake of the Nebraska law, you can call your car a lemon if your car has a defect that can be traced back to a manufacturing issue. This defect must be serious enough to send you back to your original dealer at least four times in an attempt to fix the problem. You also have a lemon if this one defect has caused you to be without the use of your car for up to 40 days or more.
Of course, there are some exceptions to these rules. If this defect is considered to be “life threatening” there might not be the need to try and get it fixed four times. On the other hand, if your car is just making a funny noise that is driving you crazy, you just might be stuck with that noise.
Nebraska Lemon Law Arbitration Remedy
The most common approach Nebraska residents take to resolve their lemon issue is to go through an arbitration process that is sponsored by the courts, but you certainly don’t need a lawyer or legal background to work through this process.
Essentially you’ll be laying out your case in front of an impartial arbitrator. The car maker has the option to defend themselves as well. It will then become the arbitrator who makes the final decision. Whatever that decision is the auto maker must abide by. On the other hand, if you reject that decision then you can take the auto maker to court and sue for damages.
You’ll need to present evidence in the arbitration hearing about your lemon car. This can come in the form of mechanic estimates. Before this process can begin, you should have notified the auto maker by certified mail and given them the chance to fix the problem. The more written details you can provide, the stronger your case will become.
If the arbitrator rules in your favor, you’ll be entitled to a full refund including any taxes, license or registration fees. Most arbitration cases can be wrapped up in less than 40 days once the process has officially begun.