Will My Vehicle Automatically Be Labeled a “Lemon” If I Do Make a Claim?

That depends on what type of resolution you reach. If your vehicle is brought back or replaced with a new vehicle under the Arizona Lemon Law by the manufacturer, it does get labeled a “Lemon,” but then it’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to deal with that issue. They’re the ones required to provide notice if they try to resell the vehicle.

Let’s say you compromise and settle an Arizona Lemon Law claim for cash compensation, which does happen in some cases. That can be attractive, obviously, depending on the amount of money that’s offered, and especially when your vehicle appears to finally be properly fixed. If a cash compensation settlement happens, that type of resolution is confidential. Therefore, the vehicle does not get tagged a Lemon, nor is it labelled a Lemon in any type of internet database.

How Long Does it Typically Take to Reach an Arizona Lemon Law Claim Cases a Resolution?

The time to resolve a Lemon Law claim often depends on the company. Some companies are just better staffed and quicker to resolve matters. A case could be resolved in as quickly as one month with some companies, or it could take as long as four or five months with other companies.

As far as your personal time investment for the out-of-court process, 95% of Amar Law Group’s cases are resolved out of court so that minimizes the time involved for you to reach a resolution. It may be 10 to 30 minutes of your time out-of-court. That’s mostly going over settlement offers, keeping us posted with what’s going on with your vehicle, and providing us any vehicle records the other side might request to review if we don’t already have them from you. Your time investment as the consumer is very minimal. There are no court hearings or anything like that to attend because it is an out-of-court representation to start.

The average pre-COVID out-of-court claim took one to three months from start to finish to reach an agreed upon settlement; post-COVID, the average is two to four months.

Then, once a resolution is reached, some companies are faster in paying on the settlement than others. Some companies may make payment as quickly as within two weeks, but other companies take up to 90 days. Again, it depends on the individual company. Some are just faster than others.

Will I Have to Go to Court for My Lemon Law Case?

For 95% of the cases that Amar Law Group handles, the consumer does not have to go to court. And the reason for that is because we pre-screen cases and only take those that we believe are legitimate and qualify under the law.

We’re not going to waste anybody’s time, and we also have a positive reputation with both consumers and manufacturers we’ve spent years developing to be concerned about. We deal with the same vehicle manufacturers over and over again, so we don’t want to get a reputation with them of bringing frivolous cases—that would make us lose credibility and ultimately harm our ability to get out of court resolutions reached for our clients.

We always pre-screen cases and only take a case on if we believe it qualifies. That also means that the vast majority of our cases do, in fact, settle out of court because the companies know if they fight the cases, they’re likely to lose in court.

Manufacturers wouldn’t choose to settle out of the goodness in their hearts, though sometimes they do want to make things right with the customer and keep you happy. Most of the time, they settle because they’ve done a cost-benefit analysis and know it would be cheaper to resolve your claim out of court than to fight you.

Another reason why 95% of our cases settle out of court is because we are one of the few Lemon Law firms that is willing to litigate. A large number of firms avoid litigation because it’s more work and more stress to go to court. We’re willing to fight and know how to fight, which means motor vehicle manufacturers rarely challenge us.

We have a winning record in court and have defeated several manufacturers at trial and on appeal. They know we’ll sue them if they don’t make a fair offer to our clients and our clients choose to litigate. We’re typically able to get better offers for our clients because these companies know full well the firms that are willing to fight them and the ones that aren’t.

For more information on the Arizona Lemon Law, a Free Lemon Law Evaluation is your next best step. Please call (480) 237-2744 for Free Lemon Law help today.