What you need to know about new car consumer protections starting tomorrow

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A revised law in Colorado protecting car buyers will go into effect Wednesday, Aug. 7.

The laws will extend the previous state's "Lemon law," which protects consumers against buying defective or "Lemon" cars. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser says that historically, this type of consumer protection in the State of Colorado has been weak.

"There is a report that looked at the lemon laws of the 50 states, and they graded Colorado quite poorly compared to other states. That got our attention. We got to work and we've improved our law," Weiser said.

The new protections will guarantee many rights to new consumers:

• Extend the time someone has to make a "Lemon Law" claim to get a vehicle replacement or refund from six to 30 months after delivery.
• Expands Lemon Law protections to small businesses or combined commercial/personal usage
• Lowers the legal standard for a vehicle to be considered a "Lemon" from four to three failed attempts at repair, or if the vehicle has been in the shop for more than 24 business days. However, if the defect impacts the safety of the vehicle, the requirement is only two failed attempts at repair.
• Provides an exact formula for what can be deducted from a customer refund following usage of the vehicle.
• Gives consumers more information when buying a "Lemon buyback vehicle" or a vehicle that was previously considered a "Lemon."

According to Shalev Amar, an attorney specializing in Lemon Law cases across the United States, buying a lemon vehicle is rare.

"It's typically a pretty small percentage. If I had to guess because there aren't very specific studies or anything that we can reference. But if I had to guess after 20 years of handling these kind of cases, I would say probably about 2 to 5% of vehicles that are produced end up being lemons," Amar said.

Weiser said there are ways to protect yourself from ever having to use the Lemon law.

"The way you avoid being taken advantage of is doing your homework," Weiser said. "Take a car for a test drive. Bring it to a mechanic. If you don't know that you're dealing with a reputable dealer, please take every measure to make sure you're protecting yourself."

Amar also added that consumers should keep thorough documentation of every repair made to a new car right off the bat, that way, if there are defects, it becomes easier to get a refund.

"Documentation is extremely important. It's the number one piece of evidence in these types of cases," Amar said.