Rhode Island lemon laws? Need help!?

Question

Hi, im from MA, and im purchasing a vehicle in Rhode Island. The dealer is selling wholesale, and pretty cheap. I'm a mechanic by trade, not automotive, but all around and fairly good with cars. on My initial inspection and test drive the car (jetta) drove excellent. I noticed no problems, no major leaks, noises, poor performance...etc, the car seemed to drive very well and typical for a car with 144k mi.

Now heres the deal, the car is cheap enough, and its a pretty good deal, $3800, its a 99 Jetta with 144k mi, bodys in great conditon and runs and drives pretty nicely.

The problem I'm having is the dealer is offering no warranty on the car. In MA i know theres 30 days warranty no matter what.

Rhode Island....i dont know. i tried checkin the laws, but some sites said im covered by law 30 days, and some sites say affter 100k mi, im not covered at all if they dont offer.

$4000 is a lot of money, so im a little nervous, can anyone help clear this up for me? Thanks.

Answer 1

Rhode Island does have a Lemon Law and it covers any vehicle other than motorized campers during the express or implied warranty term or any person entitled to enforce warranty. This is right out of Lemon Law, The Standard Reference Guide. No warranty, no lemon law.

Not sure why they'd give you a warranty on a vehicle with 144k miles on it. What does VW say?

Answer 2

If your really worried about it buy an aftermarket used car warranty if you can.

http://www.warrantydirect.ca/

http://autorepairwarranty.com/

Answer 3

Hubba hit this right on.

You assume ANY used car purchase is "AS IS" and you are better off.

You make smarter purchases that way and with a used VW, you should be nervous.  More like insane if you bought that car anyway!

Answer 4

The lemon law does NOT apply to USED cars. How many times does it need to be said. Personal opinion on the vehicle....pass. The car has a lot of miles and the Jetta isn't a durable car nor one that is cheap or easy to repair. My daughter had one and it was one of the worst I have ever worked on. ADDED INFO----- I would be very cautious about an "aftermarket" warranty. Many are not worth the paper they are written on.

Answer 5

Tiffany, Maybe you need a new car. :) I found a huge list of Rhode Island car dealers. I think someone in your city can help assist you. http://www.localnewcar.com/Rhode-Island-... Just phone one of them or drop by one day when you have some free time. Some dealers can even setup a test drive.