Consumer rights Reforming statutory implied conditions and warranties

9 Lemon laws

Key points There is little empirical evidence to suggest that ‘lemons’ are a common feature of the market for motor vehicles or any other market in Australia. Most problems which drive consumers to complain about lemons are, in fact, the result of a lack of incentive for retailers and manufacturers to deal adequately with consumer complaints. The introduction of clear statutory consumer guarantees will increase that incentive and ensure that consumers have appropriate access to redress, particularly if dispute resolution mechanisms have a special facility for dealing with motor vehicle issues. There is no need for a lemon law in Australia at this time. However, this is an area which policy makers should consider in the future.

Identifying lemons

What is a ‘lemon’?

The idea of the ‘lemon’ as an undesirable or unsatisfactory thing has been in common use for at least one hundred years, particularly in the United States. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes The Saturday Evening Post of 20 February 1909 complaining that ‘[t]he wheel goes around; wherever the little indicator at the point of the pin stops, there is your prize — or your lemon’.

In its colloquial use, a lemon is considered to be something that is completely useless or without value. It is something that will not function as intended and, when bought, returns to its owner more grief than utility.

However, when applied particularly to new motor vehicles, the use of the word ‘lemon’ often signifies the buyer’s frustration with the product and the support services of the dealer or manufacturer. The anecdotal evidence presented to CCAAC and previous inquiries into lemon laws suggests that the pejorative ‘lemon’ is often invoked where a vehicle is defective but not irreparable, yet the dealer has repeatedly failed to repair it.

For example, Mr Guden tells of a faulty vehicle that was not repaired satisfactorily by the dealer in 33 attempts over the course of 28 months, yet was repaired on the first attempt by another repairer. Depending on the nature of the fault, it would have been tempting to call the vehicle a lemon after 33 failed attempts at repair. However, that the fault was repaired ‘for good’ after the thirty fourth attempt indicates that the vehicle was not inherently useless or without value. If a fault is capable of remedy but is not in fact remedied by a particular repairer, this may indicate not that the vehicle is a lemon but that the repairer does not have appropriate incentives or skills to repair the fault.

In CCAAC’s view, the term ‘lemon’ should be understood to mean only those products that simply will not function as intended, for reasons that are beyond the expertise of a reasonable repairer to remedy. A lemon is product which is not only unmerchantable but, further, defies attempts to be made merchantable by repair. Nothing a repairer may reasonably be expected to do can turn a lemon into a well functioning motor vehicle.

While a repeated failure to repair a particular product may be evidence that the product is a lemon, it may alternatively indicate that the repairer has insufficient incentives to repair the product. A more expansive understanding of the term would blur any distinction that might be made between a genuine lemon and a product that is simply faulty.

Prevalence of lemons

Popular concern about lemons in the motor vehicle industry first came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, prompting both George Akerlof’s famous article about the ‘market for lemons¹⁸¹‘ with an accompanying wave of academic discussion about information asymmetry, and, more practically, a wave of ‘lemon laws’ in the United States by way of response.

Submissions from the motor vehicle industry suggest that the number of new vehicles sold in Australia which might be called lemons has declined significantly since that time. As the Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) notes,

Approximately 1,000,000 new motor vehicles are sold in Australia every year. Of those, approximately one third are sold in New South Wales: a jurisdiction that, through the operation of its Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT), is able to make a determination on a vehicle in terms of its being of ‘merchantable quality’ or as being ‘fit for purpose’ …

In the period from 2004/2005 to 2007/2008, some 410 applications were made to the CTTT with respect to seeking a determination as to the ‘merchantable quality / fit for purpose’ nature of new motor vehicles sold in NSW … Of that 410, only three vehicles — or 0.0003 per cent of all vehicles sold in that period — were deemed by the CTTT to not be of merchantable quality.¹⁸²

Of course, these figures may not definitively represent the incidence of the supply of lemon vehicles in NSW. Not every consumer sold a lemon will go to the CTTT, and any number of lemon claims may be settled to the consumer’s satisfaction before they reach any tribunal.

However, the fact that such a small number of vehicles are ultimately the subject of a finding of unmerchantable quality by a tribunal may indicate both that the number of lemons supplied to consumers is small, and that the law is operating effectively by providing appropriate incentives for retailers and manufacturers to address consumer concerns in relation to faulty motor vehicles.

There is little empirical evidence to suggest that lemons are a common feature of the market for motor vehicles in Australia. The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) supports a motor vehicle lemon law, however, notes that it is ‘not aware of any quantitative data to state the number of defects in new vehicles that are not satisfactorily repaired’.¹⁸³

The RACV referred to previous market research, which found 20 per cent of respondents had ‘issues’ with new vehicle purchases, and of those who experienced issues only 13 per cent were dissatisfied with the process of addressing the issues. Issues identified as contributing to consumer dissatisfaction included:

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  difficulties contacting and returning to the motor vehicle dealer;
  
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  the dealer being reluctant to fix the problem, or indicating that the consumer has no right to have a problem rectified;
  
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  an excessive length of time before problems are fixed;
  
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  problems persisting after a dealer has claimed to have fixed them; and
  
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  unexpected and unreasonable charges associated with fixing problems.¹⁸⁴
  

Many of these issues may indicate not that a vehicle is a lemon, but rather that motor vehicle dealers may not have proper incentives to repair vehicles in an effective and timely matter. However, even if it were accepted that a lemon law might address all these issues, the incidence of the problem appears to be relatively small. RACV estimates that around 1 per cent of motor vehicle purchases might require some dispute resolution.¹⁸⁵

Significance of the problem

While the incidence of lemons in the market for motor vehicles may be small it is generally acknowledged that, where it does occur, the supply of lemons can cause significant detriment to consumers.

Motor vehicles do not represent an insignificant cost for Australian consumers. In most cases, a vehicle will be the second most significant purchase a consumer is likely to make, after a house. Once bought, the motor vehicle is likely to play a very important part in the consumer’s life, and may be used every day.

Because of the significance of the purchase — both in terms of its price and of the utility gained from it — the purchase of a faulty vehicle may be particularly difficult to bear. Once a consumer takes possession of a motor vehicle, they are entitled to rely on it being available for their use. If the vehicle is unavailable because it is being repaired frequently and at length, this will cause significant inconvenience and hardship.

Consequently, even if a very small proportion of motor vehicles sold in Australia are lemons, by any measure, the detriment occasioned by their sale may be significant.

Used goods

Chapter 6 of the Issues Paper asked whether a lemon law might most usefully apply to new goods, used goods, or both. It is well recognised that different standards of ‘merchantability’ are likely to apply to new and used goods, particularly in the market for motor vehicles.

Some jurisdictions adopt ‘bright line’ tests in relation to used motor vehicles. For example, section 318 of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld) implies a statutory warranty that used vehicles will be free from defects at the time of taking possession and for the warranty period; and that defects reported during the warranty period will be repaired free of charge. The warranty period starts at the time of taking possession and ends when the vehicle travels 5,000km or three months after taking possession in the case of ‘class A’ warranted vehicles, or when the vehicle travels 1,000 km or one month after taking possession in the case of ‘class B’ warranted vehicles.¹⁸⁶

Academic analysis of lemons has focused on used vehicles. However, faults in a product as sold might be more easily identified (and responsibility more readily allocated) for new goods.

Used goods cannot be expected to be in factory condition when they are sold, and the quality which consumers should reasonably expect of the goods will vary according to price and other attributes of the product. New goods can be expected to meet the manufacturer’s specifications in every respect, but used goods cannot, and two used products which were identical when produced may vary widely in terms of current performance.

In order to make an informed decision about the purchase of a used product — and thereby to avoid disappointment — it is essential that the consumer have access to as much information about the product as possible. Veda Advantage proposes that non personal vehicle data should be made more widely available, in order that consumer information products on second hand vehicles might be developed.¹⁸⁷ While such proposals could be costly to implement, there is merit in considering ways to improve the information available to consumers about used goods of all kinds.