Auto lemon laws are not intended for all situations
Auto lemon laws were first written in the early 1980's, after a number of people went through well publicized problems with defective vehicles that they have purchased through major auto manufacturers. In the days before such legislation, people who had repeated problems with their cars had to count on charity from the auto makers; they had no legislation requiring the manufacturers to "make them whole." One woman picketed her dealer for months before she finally got relief; her efforts led to the passage of California's lemon law.
Today, every state has a lemon law on the books, and while the effectiveness varies from state to state, they all have the intention of helping people get their problem vehicles replaced. Unfortunately, the laws are usually written in such a way that they can't help everyone. Some people will continue to be stuck. One example is the police force of McSherrystown, Pennsylvania. The police in this town recently purchased a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria that has had repeated problems with defective brakes. The problem showed up with only 4000 miles on the odometer, and in the next 20,000 miles, the vehicle was in the shop seven times to repair the defective brakes. Each repair has, so far, been unsuccessful.
One would think that this vehicle qualifies as a lemon if any car does. After all, who needs to make sure that their car works dependably more than the police? Making matters worse is the fact that the problem is with the brakes! It's a fundamental safety issue; surely the lemon law of the state of Pennsylvania will cover that, won't it?
Unfortunately, it doesn't. Pennsylvania's law is no different from most; the law was written specifically to protect consumers with defective vehicles. While that covers the vast majority of cars and small trucks on the road, it leaves out those vehicles that belong to charity organizations, churches, nonprofit agencies, small and large businesses, municipalities, and, as it happens, police departments.
These laws were written with the understanding that most consumers would lack the financial resources to absorb the financial shock of owning a defective vehicle. It was similarly understood that businesses and other non-consumer interests would be able to afford to deal with such problems. That's not necessarily the case with small town police departments. The Los Angeles Police Department might be able to weather such a storm, but McSherrystown, which has fewer than 3000 residents, is simply stuck with a car that has bad brakes.
At last word, the borough solicitor was going to attempt to contact the dealer and see if they would be willing to provide a replacement. There is no law that prevents a dealership or manufacturer from doing so simply because it is good business, but it remains to be seen if they'll do it or not.
Lemon laws are great. But you shouldn't automatically assume that they will protect you in all cases. After all, they won't protect the police.
Auto lemon laws are not intended for all situations
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