Ok PFA, I confess, yes, I am guilty as charged.  I have put a lemon on the market.   But before you guys start scolding me… give me a minute to explain what happened. 

In 2002, I purchased a new car… a ‘02 Pontiac Grand Am. I was trying to be conservative with this new purchase so I opted for a manual transmission.  It’s been a few years ago, so my memory may be a bit foggy… but I think the difference between a manual and automatic transmission was about $1,000. Well, this decision may have saved me a thousand dollars on the front end, but it wound up costing me nearly $2,500 plus and a bunch of headaches on the tail end. 

After about 20,000 miles the clutch went out!  Let the dealer tell the story… it was my fault because I did not know what I was doing.  Let me tell the story… the true story… they sold me a car with a faulty clutch. 

The first car I ever owned had a manual transmission.  I’d driven that car for nearly 3 years and 70,000 miles and never wore out the clutch. So I was not buying the dealer’s version about my not knowing how to properly operate the vehicle. 

But I soon found out that regardless of whose fault it was… I would have to pay the cost of repairs. You see even though I was well within the 36,000 mile warranty period, replacing a clutch is considered to be regular maintenance… i.e. not covered under warranty.  How can a clutch burning out at 20,000 miles be considered maintenance?  That is not maintenance… that is a defect.

But anyway, I shelled out the money to get it fixed.  And drove the car for another 10,000 miles or so… then I saw the warning signs that the clutch was about to go out again.  So instead of waiting for to happen… I figured I’d just trade the car in. 

I know some of ya’ll may be thinking… 2 clutches in 30,000 miles… I agree with the dealer… it is her.  No, people it was not me… I swear I can handle a standard just fine.  It was the car.  It was a lemon.  From the beginning, the shift stick never moved seamlessly.  It seemed that I always had to force it into the right gear.  Actually, it got so bad that I had to wrap my wrist with an Ace band to prevent my hands from hurting.  That should have given me a clue that something was wrong. 

But anyway, that is my story… I was sold a lemon… so I traded it in so the next joker could deal with those problems.  But I am not the only one guilty of selling lemons.  Folks do it all the time.  That is why it is important to get a CARFAX vehicle history report whenever you buy a used car.    

CARFAX reports give you a detailed history of a car.  The report includes ownership history, title history, service repairs and maintenance, mileage and all other kinds of valuable information.  A detailed report for one car is only $29.99… well worth the cost.  Many reputable used car dealers will provide you with the report or you can buy it yourself.

CARFAX also provides some free services such as:

Lemon Check - Enter the VIN to see if a vehicle has ever been labeled as a lemon

Problem Car Alert - Enter your zip code to find a list of cars that questionable problems like a flood damage or an altered odometer

Record Check - Enter the VIN to see how many records are available for the vehicle

Recall Check - Search by manufacturer to see all of the recall reports