How to get rid of your lemon
Don't get stuck with a clunker

"Up to 100,000 lemons are bought back each year by their manufacturers. Wonderful? Sure, unless you then get suckered into buying one of them

Many manufacturers buy back problem cars before they're officially branded as lemons. That is, they purchase the car before arbitration and avoid having to notify the next buyer of any trouble.

While manufacturers claim that doing so is perfectly legal – after all, they argue, they disclose whatever they are legally required to--Rosemary Shahan, president of the CARS Foundation, believes 'lemon laundering' is shameful. 'Many of these vehicles are grossly unsafe,' she says, 'and should be destroyed.'

Still another defect, perhaps the most glaring: Carmakers themselves frequently pay for the arbitration process, and critics say, therefore tend to get favorable verdicts. Declares Rosemary Shahan, president of the CARS Foundation, 'This is a classic example of the fox guarding the chicken coop.'"

– Good Housekeeping, July, 1995

 

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