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• A service coupon, good for a free oil change.
• A few hundred dollars toward your next monthly payment, to make up for all the time your vehicle has been in the shop.
• A discount on a brand-new automobile from the same manufacturer. (Ford used to call these "Owner Appreciation Certificates." But don’t forget that there are no good deals in the gauntlet!)
• Maybe even a few thousand dollars in cash, if you will only go away.
Guess who has an army of attorneys to deal with irate consumers?
The manufacturer isn’t admitting that there is a problem, but is making you this offer purely as a goodwill gesture, to reward you for your patience. But you don’t want a reward. You want your car to work. It’s appeasement, but it doesn’t solve anything. You still have a defective automobile that no one will fix. |
Just Sign This Release, Mr. and Mrs. Jones
After offering you one of the "rewards" mentioned above, the manufacturer may ask you to sign a little innocent-looking piece of paper, called a release, in exchange for the goodwill gesture.
DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!
If you sign a release, you are agreeing to give up your rights under the lemon law. This is one of the worst things a manufacturer can try to trick a consumer into doing. Every other part of the gauntlet is designed to delay, to frustrate, to distract, to appease-anything to stop you from bringing a lemon lawsuit. If you persevere, however, you can successfully run the gauntlet.
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