I need legal help here: CA lemon law

I've got a 2004 VW GTI, leased (AFAIK the law aplies equally to owned/leased), and have had it for 14 months. I took it in to the dealership 28 days ago for a 10,000 checkup. There were absolutely no problems with the vehicle when I dropped it off, Nov. 4th.

When I picked it up Sat., Nov. 5th and drove it off the lot, it had to be forced into gear...literally. I took it back immediately, within minutes, and said "hey, you guys did something to this car." After two more hours, they finally said that some air had gotten into the transmission system, probably due to failing master/slave cylinders. "In under 14,000 miles, you're telling me the cylinders failed?" was my reply. "Yup." was his response, as if this were a normal thing. So they keep it, order parts ("We'll have them Tuesday, it'll be done by Friday."), and give me a loner, since technically the car was under full warranty, and I was absolutely pissed.

I call 7 days later (the following Friday, Nov. 11): "The parts place forgot to send us this little ring part. It's ordered, it'll be here Tuesday, we'll be done by the end of the week."

I call 6 days later (the following Thursday, Nov. 17): "There's something wrong with the transmission's flywheel. It's part of a larger assembly, so we have to gut the transmission, take pictures of everything, send the pics to VWHQ and get authorization for the parts expenditure."

I call 8 days later (Friday, Nov. 25, day after Thanksgiving): "It's scheduled in the computer to be done by Monday (Nov. 28). Sorry about the wait!"

I call 6 days later (Wednesday, Nov 30): "Well, it looks like it'll be all done Thursday!"

It's now 2 days later, I've received no call from VW...you know what, just to make sure this post isn't moot, I'll call them right now. Hold on just a sec...

Okay, sorry about the wait (I had to pee after I got off the phone). So, it's not done: apparently the parts are there, but a rep from VWHQ is coming out to inspect the flywheel on my car. It's classified as a "wear & tear" item after the first 12,000, and if for some reason this guy says it's my fault, I have to pay. What the hell is up with that?

Do I have any legal recourse?

 

Perhaps I should change the title to "Why I will never buy a Volkswagen again."

 

Mid to late Oct. 2004, under 14,000 (about 13,800 or so). It's still under the manufacturer's warranty.

 

I think there are actually 3 seperate qualifications, one of which is a 30 day time limit to fix a given problem, from time of rendering the vehicle to be fixed. But I'm sure there's fine print and many points are arguable. My impression is that the powers that be tend to encourage mediation versus full blown legal battles, at least in CA. Hopefully it won't go that route at all.

My plan is basically as follows: one way or another, get the transmission fixed and then trade it in on a new or used Volvo. Yeah, it's a more expensive car, but it's safer and ultimately more reliable. My bro-in-law and his wife have two Volvos, on over 100,000, one over 200,000, both late 90's models, and both still in great shape. Shoot, a million Santa Cruz hippies can't be wrong, right

 

Update





They say Thursday (12/8), which would be the 34 day mark...

 

As far as the state of CA is concerned (with regards to the lemon law), a lease and a purchase are equal. There might be something in there somewhere (or in the lease contract) that would allow me to extend the lease period the length of time the car was in the shop, but that's the last thing I want to do.

Without actually knowing, I would assume that VW corp. looks at a lease the same way as a purchase as far as warranties go. There's the basic 4 year, 40,000 (approx.) mile coverage, the initial 12,000 mile wear/tear coverage, and then available extended coverage, which wouldn't make sense as it doesn't kick in until after 40,000 anyway, at which point I should have turned the car in already.

They're replacing the entire clutch system, and are all but guaranteeing that I won't pay a dime. To be honest, aside from the time it's taken I'm pretty happy with the dealer: technically, they could have referred to the 12,000 mile limit on the friction/moving parts of the transmission, at which time I would have had to make a big deal about how it was working absolutely fine when I brought it in for the service, and that it was only afterwards that it failed. Basically, a legal nightmare. This doesn't change the fact that I'd still like to sell it and go elsewhere.

 

Good idea: I'll have to dig it out and see what's up...