California RV Owners Who Take Delivery Outside of California Do Not Get California Lemon Law Protection
In January 2006, the California Court of Appeal ruled that RVs delivered outside of California were not covered by the California Lemon Law (Davis v Newmar, 136 Cal. App. 4th 275). KABO and other lemon law attorneys asked the California Supreme Court to depublish the opinion to no avail.What this means for owners of lemon motor homes or trailers who take delivery outside of California is that they have no protection from the California Lemon Law. California owners who took delivery in Nevada, for example, cannot look to that state’s lemon law because Nevada’s lemon law does not cover motor homes or trailers.
All is not lost for owners stuck with a lemon RV because the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which starts at 15 United States Code. § 2300 definitely applies to motor homes, trailers and boats. Under Magnuson-Moss, owners may obtain return of their purchase price and incidental damages such as interest on their loan. The Act also provides for attorney’s fees to the buyer’s attorney in any successful action.
The background on this is that until October 2, 2004, California buyers of RVs and boats who took delivery outside of California could legally avoid paying the California sales and use tax. On a $250,000 RV, that was a $20,000 savings! The restriction was that the owner had to keep the RV outside of California for at least 90 days. Starting with purchases made on October 2, 2004, buyers have to keep their RVs or boats outside of California for 12 months to avoid the sales and use tax. (For more information on the law, go to the California Board of Equalization website, www.boe.ca.gov/sutax).
