Lemon cars: What you need to know (CBC Marketplace)

this week on marketplace just went completely dead you buy a car but land of lemon these a major glitch happening in this week oh we investigate why car makers won't help someone needs to be done with a problem any of us could have we look into a fix for a broken system you could be a leader and bring in a lemon law and later on marketplace busted their marketing has as certain got to the point where I think they're getting greedy that's growing we're taking this faulty car for a risky test-drive hey you ready oh really to find out what's wrong okay good from the back seat our cameraman records every move we're on the road in quenelle British Columbia it's home to crystal walls and her family but get in touch with us after buying a new car their dream car or so they thought just one month after shelling out $26,000 for a Dodge Journey well you won't believe what happens to Krystal and her son we are on highway doing highway speeds and I'll send meat in the car just stalls and it just went completely dead yeah kind of hit the gravel shoulder and I have to manually steer it to get it off to the side of the road oh my god that's what I thought cuz I had to send me behind me that was most definitely the scariest day of my life like all new cars crystals was covered under warranty after bringing it in she thought the problem was fixed boy was she wrong this car has probably stalled at least close to 25 times and it's like a year old 25 times it's just stalled out on you while you're driving yeah while you're driving it's a gamble buying a new car is there's a chance you'll get stuck with a worthless lemon this vehicle has been nothing but a disappointment just check out these home videos some of you sent to marketplace it looks like a pretty good vehicle but don't let it fool you very very cheap black horse transmission in four years she's engine light on and making high noise pitches every time that they drive how often do you walk down the street see a car and said oh that one was a nightmare all the time we catch up with Phil Edmundston in Vancouver he know so much about lemons he could write a book about him in fact he has dozens of books over 40 years I see small problems I see big problems no wonder he's the king of lemons I want to play you a bit of Crystal story and what happens when their car stalls and it just went completely dead so what's Phil's verdict I think that this vehicles a lemon mainly because it's unreliable but also because it's dangerous you buy a car generally to have a more tranquil spirit not to be terrified no one knows for sure how many lemons are out there but Phil's best guesstimate I'd say one in ten cars it is so bad that you should have it replaced 10% of cars could be lemons sure that's a lot the more high-tech cars become the more lemons you see because there's so much more to go wrong yep a lot of us could get stuck just like Cristal back in quenelle she keeps bringing in her car for repairs but it just keeps stalling too scary to drive how often is it just out there not going anywhere probably six out of seven days a week you don't drive it it's parked it's parked in the driveway time for our own expert to step in for Reid kanjis and mechanic with more than 30 years experience he's seen it all what are you looking for in here you just want to make sure that all the connectors are good on it okay nothing loose sometimes these clips come loose and it can cause a stalling problem and all that next for Reid hooks up the cars computer to his own looking for clues if there's anything that's not good it will show up out here and tell me hey lazy days or days a fault cord nothing so far then for rechecks out the car service records from the dealership is there anything about them that stands out for you he deciphers their codes oh well this is the first one I looked at out here where you know they spent point three on this vehicle how long is that was 18 minutes 18 minutes 18 months this vehicle stalls yes that's that's right the dealership spent just 18 minutes trying to fix such a serious problem it's not long enough David no it's not long enough to check a stalling problem and do you think cries there Canada is helping they make the Dodge Journey they tell me that it's the dealerships problem what's the dealership say problem I call the dealership and the dealership says 100 percent that it's Chrysler Canada's problem how does that sit with you it just makes you sick to your stomach thank you for calling Regency Chrysler how may I direct your call we call up crystals local dealership they've looked at the car over and over and we're in town and we're wondering if we could come by and just talk to you about what you think is going on with her car right okay that's great it's gonna talk to us but when we show up American good to meet you just give me one second okay they'll only talk to us behind closed doors in the manager's office and listen to who she blames the customer they don't think she's done enough with us to problem solve this really yeah how many times she have to look at it like he can't facially she's just throwing the garbage everything's fixable Phil Edmonson says crystals case is classic crystal has had her car worked on time and time again so the dealership says they're trying well they're not trying because if they were not fixing the car the first time second and third time the same results time to get the manufacturer Chrysler into the picture we asked Chrysler for an interview but they won't talk just give us a ticket well a statement saying the vehicle exceeds all applicable safety standards hmm how safe would you feel driving crystals car we're about to find out remember our road test the car could stall at any moment so we drive with caution nerve wracking driving this car it is because you never know what's gonna happen thanks rain we push the car to the limit gear up and down here we go down a steep now it's an accident week to happen with a vehicle let's go to stalling issue what are you trying to pulling over in here okay we try everything restart offer dome reverse even refueling so far no stalling imagine if this stalled out on this bridge there's no way of going anywhere on this side it's about situation a bad situation that needs a fix coming up what our test reveals I don't know if I go good news or bad news for you guys and we go looking for answers you can be a leader and bring a law in to bc be the first in Canada why not do that we take a road trip to where the car is King LA and where everyone's protected if their car turns out to be a lemon America pleasure nice to meet you is this your new car yes it is Christopher Leyva used to drive a different car and you were happy with it for a while I loved it yeah when I first got it I was I was thrilled it's my dream car but then a near accident that sounds kind of familiar the worst the scary thing that happened actually I was a little free way and the car just stopped on me while you're on the freeway I was going 65 miles per hour and the car started making these noises and then it just completely stopped and luckily I know I was near the the ramp the exit ramp I pulled over and it really that really freaked me out repairs don't work months roll by and no fix so Christopher hires a lawyer and thanks to California's lemon law gets a full refund in you won't believe this Canada just three weeks it was great you know and I got all my money back I got my car payments my deposit plus interest and listened to the low down on legal fees win or lose I don't pay anything you pay nothing zero yep car owners win cuz the lemon law squeezes car makers into pain Oh legal fees in a settlement we want to meet the man who helped Christopher hit the jackpot lawyer Norman tailors helped thousands of lemon owners since the lemon law got on the books 25 years ago how does the lemon law work for car owners once they begin to manufacture a reasonable opportunity to repair their rights kick in and they're entitled to a refund or a replacement sounds so simple we get his take on crystal walls case stocking quenelle BC with a Dodge Journey that keeps stalling out is she entitled to a new car do you think to me is a dream case in California I would take this case in heartbeat and I can almost assure you Chrysler would step up and settle this case very quickly we tell him there's not a single lemon law in any part of Canada when you don't have a law in place that makes the warrant or which is the manufacturer responsible for these situations that's when the consumer can get caught in the middle just like crystal from LA to the countryside of quenelle showing you where mechanic's farid can G wraps up a four hour test drive on crystals car the road test was a tough go raised more questions than answers this intimate problems are one of the most difficult problems to solve okay and that that's the big issue that there is no patent to this the computer doesn't seem to be storing any codes or whatever the computer doesn't store codes no wonder the cars stalling is such a puzzle and why Farid says with this lemon there's only one solution you should demand to get refund on the vehicle or in exchange on the vehicle kids it's really tough when you get something like this and they can't fix it and they can't do anything for you it's not their problem they tell you well whose problem is it they're stuck and crystals partner Ian aller II says car makers are taking other Canadians for a ride too the one thing that we find really troubling about this whole situation is in Canada there's no law that makes them accountable and that's why car expert Phil Edmondson says it's high time for lemon laws in Canada to spell things out a lemon law defines what is a lemon that takes more than three times repair it's a lemon or your car spends more than 30 days in the shop and still needs a fix it's a lemon what it really does too is it it defines the obligations of the car manufacturers and it also tells you what are your rights yep a lemon law would spell out when you're entitled to a refund or a replacement the lemon law is a big stick whether you wield it or not l all the players in the car industry know it's there and no one wants to get wet by this big stick we call the BC government to find out why crystals province doesn't roll out a lemon law we're hoping someone can call us back so we can arrange an interview meantime if you're stuck in Park with a lemon you could try suing but that costs money car makers tell you to turn to something they run out of this Toronto building cam vApp short for the Canadian Motor Vehicle arbitration plan you make your case could get a refund but odds are you'll get repairs to your car or maybe nothing I don't like cam fat because it doesn't have a prevention aspect like you would have with a lemon law clearly Canada needs lemon laws so we head to the capital of crystals province Victoria BC a minister responsible for Consumer Affairs Shirley bond declines our request for an interview so we track her down I'm happy marketplace wondering why BC doesn't have a lemon law to protect people who buy lemon cars show us between we have a consumer protection mandate in British Columbia and you know we are looking at what laws are in place in other provinces but certainly we don't have one currently and that's the point no law lemon law would clearly define the rights of a car owner and the obligations of a car maker isn't it time for that well in fact we are looking at whatever options are appropriate for British Columbia we'll continue to do that but where I look those lemon laws have been in place in the States for decades now why are you still looking sounds like we're getting the runaround too but I got there is forum activist to bring in a lemon law you could be a leader in British Columbia and bring in a lemon law does it look like lemonade is coming soon for people like crystal walls or anyone I wish that Chrysler Canada management team was in the vehicle the day installed out on being my son that was most definitely the scariest day of my life I think they would have given you a new car if they'd been in your car I think so I think it would have been all the proof they needed but just as crystal figure she's out of luck things change after we get involved her local dealership steps up with an offer to buy back her Dodge Journey cell crystal a new Dodge Caravan at the same price so crystal Luck's out but the big picture pay off lemon laws in Canada so car owners don't get squeezed you

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,535,874

Rating: 4.6952653 out of 5

Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, cbc marketplace, marketplace cbc, marketplace, cars, lemons, faulty cars, lemon laws, defective car, recall, car problems, recalls, automotive

Id: OEifM-CkXWQ

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 22 2015