If I Return My Lemon Car, Will They Lower My Credit Score?
Most people understand that your credit score is an integral part of your life, and how you manage your finances, get a job and find housing in today’s economic markets. To put your mind at ease, your credit score should not be affected just because you have a lemon car. For this reason, your credit score should not be lowered just because you are returning a lemon car to the dealership. Understand that your credit score can sometimes take a “hit,” when it is run during the initial car buying process. But just the returning of your vehicle to the car dealership, should not be an action that will actually lower your credit score for that reason alone.
Will My Returned Lemon Car Be Reported to Credit Companies?
Let’s start from the beginning to show how your credit score and reporting relates to buying a vehicle in the first instance. When you buy a car, the dealership must run your credit score to understand the depth of your credit score. If you are buying a car for the full price and paying in cash, then there is no reason to run your credit score. Therefore, your credit score is really being run because you are planning to finance some part of the purchase price for the vehicle you have selected to buy.
Next, once your credit score is run, the car dealership will determine if you have acceptable credit to extend a loan agreement for the purchase price of your vehicle. If you qualify for a loan, based on the car dealerships financial office criteria for extending credit, you will be allowed to sign a loan agreement through a lender that helps you to pay for the purchase price of the car over time. This will typically not reduce your credit score either, and is part of the process of buying or leasing a car from a car dealership.
Car Dealerships Have to Disclose Your Consumer Credit Score
When the car dealership does run your credit score, the auto dealership has to give you a disclosure of what they found about your credit status. This document is called a “Notice to Vehicle Credit Applicant” and it tells you the following:
- Your credit score from whatever credit agency they used to “pull” your credit score.
- A record of the consumer report that is your credit history, and what you owe to outstanding creditors.
- A record that the number or numerical rating of your credit score was identified on a verified consumer report, and that the score can go up or down over time.
- The date the credit score was initiated.
- A copy of your verified credit score for your records.
When you are buying a vehicle and dealing with a car dealership, you should take the discussion of your credit score seriously. You are within your rights to ask for a copy of any document that is “pulled” or reviewed by the finance department of the car dealership, in regards to the purchase of your vehicle.
Why Does Your Overall Credit Score Fluctuate Over Time?
A person’s credit score can move up and down somewhat over time. You can have a credit score that stays in a general range of a few points, and it can go up or down depending on your past credit history. Your credit score will also change based on your current credit history too. If you have paid a few bills late, it may not affect your credit score all that much. But if you have outstanding bills or obligations to creditors, and you are over 90 days paying on those bills, the creditor may have reported you to the credit consumer outlets and it may make a ding on your credit.
Verify the Accuracy of Your Credit Score Every Time That One Is Pulled or Created
When you get your credit report from an auto dealership during the process of buying a car, you always need to look it over to ensure that you are getting the most accurate representation of your credit. For example, if you paid off a creditor and that creditor did not show the outstanding debt as paid in full, it may still show up on the credit score as an outstanding debt. Many people are afraid to look at their credit score, thinking “no news is good news.” By and large credit scores are accurate when made by the major credit score outlet companies, but there can be mistakes. That is why checking the credit score for accuracy is a good idea.
“Help, I Need to Return My Lemon Car to the Dealer, and Don’t Want My Credit Score Ruined!”
Now that we have reviewed the credit score function and how it works, you can feel at ease to know that returning a lemon car to the car dealership should not affect your credit score. On the other hand, if you do not pay your car note for a new car or a leased car and then have the car repossessed for non-payment, that is a different situation. If you have a lemon, always continue to pay your car note or lease payment until that situation is all worked out. If you stop paying on your obligation, you could fall outside of the rules of the lemon laws, and will be working against the law where your car will be seized for a non-payment based on your contract to pay for it.
As a note, if you do not pay your car note and your car is repossessed, lemon or not, yes, you will be taking a “hit” or a “ding” on your credit for that one! This will just be an example of a creditor who you did not pay. For that reason, pay your car note or leased car note until it is all set with returning the car to the car dealership. Then you can rest easier that your credit score will not be ruined in that case.
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We have a knowledgeable legal team and we can take your call today to discuss your lemon car case. All that you have to do is to give us a call this afternoon, at Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537. Our legal team is ready to review your case with you now. We are a multilingual and highly knowledgeable group of attorneys, and we are ready to go over your legal issues regarding your lemon law case today.
Guardian Lemon Law Group Handles All Major and Minor Car Manufacturers
We talk to and negotiate full settlements with the major and minor car manufacturers, to get you the recovery compensation you deserve on your case. Just call us now at the Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537, to review your lemon law claim today.
There Are Many Common Defects That a Majority of Lemon Cars Will Possess
That many lemon cars have the same or very similar defects will come as no surprise to most people. The most common defects are often safety issues. This means that your lemon car is not safe to drive on the roadways, when it has a safety problem plaguing the vehicle. Some common defects for lemon vehicles can include problems with:
- Suspension
- Transmission
- Software failures
- Fabrication defects
- Metal joint fractures and cracks
- Improper welding
- Incomplete structural welding
- Contaminated power steering fluid
- Contaminated brake fluid
- Process deviation at the plant
- Improper nuts for adjusting rear wheel alignment
- Mistakes from a robot installer
- Mistakes from a human installer
- Tire pressure sensor defects
- Airbag defects
- Software failures
- Collision software failures
- Software misclassification failures
- Airbag deployment failures
- Seat belt and lap pretensioner failures
- Seat belt buckle switch failures
- Sunroof specification failures
- Insufficient tightening of seat belt failures during an accident
Any time that you experience a safety issue failure on your lemon vehicle, you are literally putting your own life and safety at risk on the roadways. That means that there could be some major safety component in your vehicle that will not perform properly during a crash or car accident.
For example, just the seat belt pretensioners not cinching or tightening up properly during a crash, can eject you from the vehicle through the windshield. This is a serious issue, and needs to be recalled, but if it isn’t then your lemon car needs to be repaired by the car dealership or replaced.
There is no other way around this issue, because your car is supposed to protect you in a car accident, not be the reason you get hurt, maimed or killed out on the open roads. When you have questions regarding your safety issues on your lemon car, all that you need to do is call us at Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537. We can discuss your case and review your claim for you today, just give us a call right now.
Recent Victories of Consumers Are on the Horizon
People are beginning to discover that their vehicle is a lemon car, often weeks to months after buying a brand-new vehicle. This is a sad situation, but it is getting better. The big car manufacturers are starting to understand that they can no longer produce poorly made cars, expecting nothing to happen to them.
Right now, large car manufacturers are having to “pay up” for the lemon cars that they are producing. You can get the full settlement for your lemon car claim too, but you need to call us today to get the process started. Just give us a call at the Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537 right now.
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You are automatically eligible for our zero-fee guarantee, when you give us a call today. All that you need to do is to call us at Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537.
Contact Us / Free Case Evaluation
We are here to answer any questions, that you might have regarding your lemon law case. We can also review your case for free with a free evaluation, and go over any credit score concerns associated with that claim. Just give us a call at the Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537 right now.
