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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
When life gives you lemons,
refunds are better
than lemonadeThe annual roundup of lemon law complaints released by the Regulated Industries Complaints Office of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs shows that 66 buyers were officially not happy.
The results appeared in a notice published in the Star-Bulletin yesterday.
Of the 66, 28 buyers received refunds of $604,797; 26 cases were settled before they got to arbitration and, in 12 cases, automobile manufacturers prevailed.
The law was designed to help consumers who buy or lease new vehicles, who are having trouble getting the vehicles repaired under the manufacturer's warranty. Disputes are handled through arbitration provided by a pool of trained arbitrators who hear these cases, said Jo Ann Uchida, complaints and enforcement officer. Arbitrators come from both government offices and the private sector and her office works to ensure that those hearing cases have no conflicts of interest.
Among the year's results, Ford was named in the largest number of complaints, 20 for Ford makes and one involving a Lincoln. Ford prevailed in six complaints, three were settled before getting to arbitration. In 12 complaints, consumers were awarded refunds of $204,778, more than a third of the total refunds awarded.
Roughly 58,000 new vehicle registrations were reported to the state by the Hawaii Automobile Dealers' Association in 2002.
Ford cars represented 13.7 percent of the total and were named in 32 percent of the complaints filed.
No refunds were paid by Honda, Kia, Nissan or Volkswagen. In the latter case, the manufacturer won, but Honda, Kia and Nissan all settled with customers and did not wind up in arbitration.
Some complaints may never make it to the DCCA's attention and are therefore not tracked or reported by the state.
"There may be quite a larger number where the dealer, whether for goodwill or based on the customer's complaint, takes a car back or makes an adjustment in the contract," Uchida said.
Different manufacturers handle complaints differently and some may "be more amenable to settling than going forward with arbitration," she said.
Enforcement of awards has not been a problem for Uchida's office, she said. Manufacturers "are generally very cooperative with the whole arbitration process and comply with the findings of the arbitrator."
Despite its 21.9 percent of market sales last year, Toyota received a single complaint. It refunded the consumer $29,559.
"The manufacturers are producing, international and domestic, are producing really high-quality cars," said Dave Rolf, executive director of the dealers' association.
"The manufacturers are doing an awful lot of goodwill honoring of the lemon law. They know the customer has a problem and the dealers indicate to me that the manufacturers, if there is a problem, are set up to help."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
