Leading the ‘lemon’ car crusade

If you’ve ever bought or sold a car, you may have heard the term ‘lemon’, which refers to a vehicle which fails with a serious fault soon after it’s been sold. The good news is that if you buy a lemon, you are fully entitled to a refund or replacement by Australian Consumer Law. The bad news is that many buyers are unaware of their rights and get strung along by disingenuous dealers who don’t tell the truth, often being left massively out of pocket and without their wheels for months on end.

That’s where Zak Tayyar comes in, the Antunes special counsel who’s built a specialist practice which helps our clients understand and navigate the legislation around lemon cars, holding dealers and manufacturers to account with a stunning 100% success rate in claims.

“I’ve always loved cars and had a very keen interest in the industry,” explains Zak, “keeping a close eye on the business landscape, what car brands are doing and what new products are out there. This personal passion has blended into my professional life, I receive many referrals from within my legal network to represent clients who need help in disputes having purchased a defective car.”

“What happens is that the consumer purchases a car which quickly becomes undrivable due to a major fault. But instead of being transparent about their legal obligations to refund or replace the car, dealers and manufacturers will mislead the consumer about the law by saying it’s not their responsibility or try and repair the defective vehicle with a quick fix, often keeping the car and leaving the buyer without their mode of transport for way too long.

“And the thing is, buyers often don’t know their rights, and they put up with this treatment thinking that they have no choice. One of my clients, a 17-year-old who’d just purchased his first car, had the dealer point blank refusing to replace or refund the defective vehicle on the grounds there was no major mechanical fault with the vehicle. Which, although was technically true, there were plenty of minor faults which when combined, render the car effectively useless because it was impossible to get registered and was not road-worthy.

“I sent a strongly worded letter to the dealer, explaining the law and making it clear that we would be suing them, given it was clear that they had dressed-up this lemon to attract a sale, knowing full well it was defective. They replied promptly and actioned a full refund.

“Another matter concerns a client who bought their dream car from a well-known luxury manufacturer. My client had driven the car just 3,000kilomtres when the engine malfunctioned and stopped working, due to manufacturing defects. The dealer and manufacturer refused to replace the vehicle or to provide a refund, as the law demands. .. The vehicle is defective, and the manufacturer must give a full refund or a replacement together with any other losses nothing else will do.”

Zak has many similar stories of innocent car buyers being mislead and fobbed off by manufacturers and dealers. And as the word spreads how good Zak is at getting our clients’ money back, he continues to fine tune a specialist service that few other law firms offer.

So, what advice would a specialist lemon car litigator have for Australia’s car buying public when they next get some new wheels?

“If you’re unlucky enough to buy a defective vehicle, dealers and manufacturers can be quite convincing when they tell you they are not liable to refund you or replace the car, but that is simply not true. Don’t accept any excuses or delays, if the car you’ve bought is unusable or unsafe for any reason or combination of reasons, Australian Consumer Law is on your side.

“And if they still try putting the brakes on doing what’s right, give us call,” says Zak with a smile. “The Antunes business model is all about going above and beyond on behalf of our clients, which means driving for the very best outcome every single time a lemon comes our way.”