Lemon Law, Arbitration, Song-Beverly, Magnuson-Moss Warranty

[springs]

Yeah... cash the check or what ever and get back to us!

 

[Ampster]

Can you tell us the reason they are buying it back?

They didn't offer a reason so anything is speculation on my part.
EDIT: The release I signed stipulates that Toyota "disputes owners contentions" and goes on to say we have reached a compromise. That is pretty common language for a release so I will leave it at that. I am under no agreement of non disclosure.
As I mentioned earlier I had filed a request for arbitration because my car had met two of the Lemon Law presumptions; Within 18 months I had 4 service visits totaling 37 days. Even though the arbitrator does not not have to use that presumption I thought I had a good case even if I lost in arbitration. Several days before my arbitration hearing on October 22nd I received from the third party dispute resolution service, an offer by Toyota to buy back my car. The offer included many of the terms often found in Lemon Law cases; refund of all costs including license, registration, taxes less a reasonable deduction for the mileage I had driven up to the first repair date. The mileage deduction was interesting. The calculation assumed the car had a useful mileage of 120,000 and that number was used as the denominator and my 4,300 miles was the numerator. The product of that is multiplied by the total cost of the car to get a mileage deduction. In my case it was about $1,900. I got a check and another was sent to Toyota Financial to pay off the balance of my loan.

The only hangup in the meeting this morning was some scratches on the passenger side bumper and the agent quickly got a wholesale quote from the General Manager of the dealer to charge $450 which was very reasonable and I prepaid it in order to get the settlement check which had been prepared on 11/12. Otherwise I would probably have to surrender the car and then wait for a new check.

The process was interesting because there were a lot of independent third parties involved, all of whom Toyota pays. I won't bore you with the steps, and others have been through the process with other cars. Earlier in this thread, I had presumed that repurchases like this would be considered voluntary on Toyota's part and therefore the resale of that car would not have to be reported as a Lemon Law vehicle. Apparently I was wrong in that assumption because one of the first things the processor did was write the mileage on a yellow sticker which she placed on the drivers side door jam. She told me that is what would help identify the car as a "lemon". I am sure there are other statutory disclosures that Toyota will have to make.

I have cashed the check and am going for a long bike ride, on my electric assist bike, to reflect on my good fortune. I have had PM discussions with several of you during this process and I would like to thank you for your support and assistance. This is truly a great forum and I am tempted to call Dianne and lease another but my bride has a new job and we are assessing our transportation needs. We already have a Smart ED and my VW conversion is in storage until we find a house to purchase.

 

[springs]

~45 Cents a mile. And some paint work.

Yet he still thinks of getting another... MUST BE A GREAT CAR, WHEN IT WORKS!

 

[saintyohann]

The 120,000 mile number comes from CA law and applies to all buybacks regardless of manufacturer.

 

[Ampster]

~45 Cents a mile. And some paint work.
.............

They used the mileage at the first repair instance which was 4300. When I turned the car in I had 13,950 miles on it so that works out to have cost me $0.16 per mile.

 

[springs]

Decide to get a 2014 EV?

 

[Ampster]

We are renting a car for a month until we purchase a home. I am already tired of the gas engine in the rental. I still have the Smart ED when I need to refresh my EV grin.