Its frustrating to bring a brand-new vehicle to the dealership because something is clearly wrong, only to hear:
“We couldn’t find anything wrong with it.”
You know what happened.
You felt the transmission hesitate.
You saw the warning light.
The vehicle suddenly lost power.
The brakes behaved differently.
The electronics shut down.
But when the technician looks at it, everything appears normal.
What should you do?
“Unable to duplicate” at the dealership does not necessarily mean the problem does not exist
Modern vehicles have thousands of components and increasingly complex computer systems.
Some problems are intermittent.
A vehicle might:
- lose power once every few days;
- refuse to start occasionally;
- display a warning message and then clear it;
- make a noise only when the engine is cold;
- have a transmission problem only after driving for an hour;
- experience an electrical failure under particular conditions; or
- suddenly enter limp mode and then operate normally after being restarted.
A dealership technician may genuinely be unable to reproduce the problem during a short test drive.
That does not necessarily mean you imagined it.
Document the problem before taking the vehicle back
If the problem is intermittent, your documentation becomes especially important.
Write down:
- the date;
- mileage;
- location;
- speed;
- what the vehicle did;
- warning messages;
- sounds or smells;
- whether the vehicle lost power;
- whether you had to stop; and
- whether the problem disappeared after restarting the vehicle.
If a warning appears on the dashboard, photograph it when it is safe to do so.
If the vehicle makes an unusual noise, a passenger may be able to record it.
But be safe and don’t operate a phone while driving just to obtain evidence.
Be precise when describing the problem
Compare these two complaints:
“My car is acting weird.”
with:
“When accelerating from approximately 30 mph, the vehicle suddenly stopped responding normally to the accelerator for approximately five seconds.
A warning message appeared on the dashboard.”
The second description gives the service department substantially more information to
investigate.
It also creates a much better record.
Ask the dealer to put your complaint on the repair order
This is important.
Before leaving the dealership, review the repair order.
Does it accurately describe what you told the service adviser?
If not, ask that the complaint be corrected.
You want the record to reflect what you reported, not merely what the technician was able to reproduce.
If the dealership cannot duplicate the problem, that can be documented too.
For example:
“Customer reports intermittent loss of acceleration. Technician unable to duplicate concern.”
That is much more useful than having no record that you ever reported the problem.
What if the dealership says the problem is “normal”?
Ask what specifically is considered normal.
If possible, ask whether another vehicle of the same year, make, model and configuration
behaves the same way.
If the dealer believes the condition is normal, ask that conclusion to be documented.
You do not necessarily need to argue with the service adviser.
Your goal is to create an accurate written record.
What if the dealer keeps saying “no problem found”?
If you continue experiencing the problem, continue reporting it.
Repeated visits can establish a pattern.
Suppose your repair history looks like this:
Visit 1: Customer reports sudden loss of power. Unable to duplicate.
Visit 2: Customer reports same loss of power. Diagnostic codes found.
Visit 3: Software updated.
Visit 4: Customer reports loss of power again.
Visit 5: Component replaced.
That is substantially different from a single visit where the technician could not reproduce the problem.
Your repair history can become important
Nevada’s Lemon Law focuses on whether a new vehicle conforms to applicable express
warranties and whether the manufacturer or its authorized repair facility has had a reasonable number of opportunities to correct a qualifying problem.
Nevada law provides important presumptions when the same nonconformity has been repaired four or more times and continues, or when the vehicle has been out of service for repairs for 30 or more cumulative calendar days during the applicable period.
That does not mean you should necessarily wait for four repairs.
It means that the repair history matters.
What if the dealership refuses to work on the vehicle?
That can be more complicated.
If the dealership tells you that there is nothing wrong, ask whether the dealership is declining to perform additional diagnostic work.
Keep any written communication.
If a manufacturer representative becomes involved, keep those communications too.
You want to know:
Who knew about the problem, when did they know about it, and what did they do about it?
What if the problem affects safety?
If your vehicle loses power, has a braking problem, steering problem, serious electrical failure, or another potentially dangerous defect, treat the safety issue seriously.
Do not continue driving a vehicle that is unsafe simply to accumulate repair visits. Have the vehicle inspected.
What should you do if this keeps happening?
Create a timeline:
Vehicle delivered: January 10
Problem first occurs: February 5
Repair #1: February 10
Problem returns: March 3
Repair #2: March 8
Problem returns: April 1
Repair #3: April 5
Problem returns: May 20
Repair #4: May 25
That timeline can make the situation much easier to understand for you and the manufacturer.
Could this become a Nevada Lemon Law case?
Possibly.
The fact that the dealership says it cannot find anything wrong does not automatically eliminate a Lemon Law claim.
At the same time, an owner’s belief that something is wrong does not automatically establish one.
The key is evidence.
Your repair orders, diagnostic records, warranty information, communications, photographs, videos and timeline can help determine what actually happened.
Nevada also has specific requirements concerning written notice of the nonconformity and strict deadlines.
Take the 30-Second Nevada New Car Problem Quiz
If your new car has been in the shop repeatedly, you don’t have to figure out whether it might be a lemon by yourself.
Take our 30-second Nevada New Car Problem Quiz.
We’ll ask about your vehicle, warranty, repair history and time out of service.
Precision Injury Law represents Nevada consumers with qualifying vehicle warranty and
Lemon Law problems.
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