Dealing With a PT Cruiser Lemon

The PT Cruiser is known as a "retro style" car. It's been very popular since it first came out in 2001. The PT part of its name stands for "personal transportation." Unfortunately, the PT Cruiser has several problems that make them lemon used cars.

For consumers who bought problematic PT Cruisers, there are laws to ensure they are treated fairly. Lemon laws were created to deal with vehicles that do not live up to the promises made by the seller and manufacturer.

A number of PT Cruisers experienced one defect in particular. Approximately 1,500 of them use large amounts of oil (one quart for every 500-1,000 miles). This same group also has air conditioning mildew odor problems. The mildew smell just won't go away. Chrysler, the manufacturer, appears unable to resolve these issues.

I Have One of Those PT Cruisers! What Can I Do?

If you bought the car new, and it's still under its original warranty, you should have legal recourse. If your state lemon law limits the time or miles under which your car is covered, then your case will come under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, as long as the original warranty is still in force.

One of the reasons given for state lemon laws not applying to this PT Cruiser issue is that many of the vehicles were bought used. It appears that some were sold as lemon law buybacks, without informing the second owner. Most states require that the defective car's title indicate that it's a lemon law buyback.

If you bought your PT Cruiser used, check to see if your state has a used car lemon law. If it does, check the requirements. If your lemon doesn't meet the criteria, use the federal lemon law and file a lemon law complaint to begin the required legal process.

Summary

If you don't already own a PT Cruiser, don't buy one. It's not worth the risk of ending up with one of the oil-eating lemons that appear to be unfixable.

And if you already own one, don't waste any time. Hire a lemon law attorney as soon as you think you have a lemon. You need to file a lemon law complaint against Chrysler before your warranty runs out if you hope to receive compensation for your lemon.