Lemon Law... Car dealership contract fraud

Often in the course of our law firm reviewing the purchase or lease documents provided by our potential clients for their possible “lemon law” case, we uncover various forms of dealer contract fraud. The alleged fraud (not yet proven) can be found in both purchase AND lease contracts provided for customer signature to “finalize” the sale or lease of the new or used motor vehicle.

What kinds of “lemon law” claims contain fraud? It often depends on the elements contained in the purchase or lease contract. Some examples of contract fraud can be:

1. Improper or non-disclosure of “negative equity” on a trade-in.
   
   

2. Dealer not providing a Spanish language contract for customers that only read and write in Spanish.
   
   

3. Contracts that cannot be financed by the lender, and improper “new” contracts are drawn up for signature that supercede the first contract.
   
   

4. Sales in which customers are “required” to buy certain accessories in order to “qualify” for “special” financing, or “qualify” for a particular interest rate.
   
   

5. The dealer does not list the trade-in on the contract at all, resulting in the customer losing the monetary value of the trade-in.
   
   

6. Dealership selling a car “guaranteeing” it has not been in a major accident by virtue of a “clean” title history report given to the customer as “assurance” at time of sale. 

There are often other types of dealership contract fraud. We invite you to call our offices if you feel you are the victim of dealership contract/sale/lease fraud.