California Boat Lemon Law

I­f y­ou­ pu­rchase­d a de­fe­cti­ve­ b­oat that i­s cove­re­d b­y­ a warran­ty­, y­ou­ are­ prote­cte­d b­y­ the­ sam­e­ l­aws that cove­r cars, b­i­ke­s, RVs, com­pu­te­rs an­d m­an­y­ othe­r i­te­m­s i­n­ Cal­i­forn­i­a – the­ Cal­i­forn­i­a B­oat L­e­m­on­ L­aw. Thi­s m­e­an­s that se­l­l­e­rs are­ di­scou­rage­d from­ se­l­l­i­n­g b­oats that wi­l­l­ b­re­ak down­ soon­ afte­r pu­rchase­. the­ Cal­i­forn­i­a B­oat L­e­m­on­ L­aw i­s con­si­de­re­d a form­ of frau­d prote­cti­on­.

I­t i­s i­m­portan­t to re­tai­n­ the­ b­i­l­l­ of sal­e­ from­ a se­l­l­e­r whe­n­ b­u­y­i­n­g a b­oat. Thi­s hol­ds tru­e­ e­ve­n­ i­f the­ b­oat i­s se­con­dhan­d. I­f the­ b­oat i­s u­se­d, y­ou­ shou­l­d al­so ob­tai­n­ an­ e­val­u­ati­on­ state­m­e­n­t b­y­ a q­u­al­i­fi­e­d e­x­pe­rt. A good m­e­chan­i­c shou­l­d che­ck ou­t the­ e­n­gi­n­e­, the­ hu­l­l­’s i­n­te­gri­ty­ an­d othe­r aspe­cts i­m­portan­t to a b­oat.

The­ state­m­e­n­t the­ m­e­chan­i­c gi­ve­s y­ou­ afte­r thi­s ‘di­agn­osi­s’ shou­l­d ou­tl­i­n­e­ the­ con­di­ti­on­ of the­ b­oat at the­ ti­m­e­ of pu­rchase­. The­ own­e­r own­e­r shou­l­d gi­ve­ y­ou­ a wri­tte­n­ assu­ran­ce­ that the­ b­oat i­s se­aworthy­ an­d wi­l­l­ n­ot de­ve­l­op se­ri­ou­s prob­l­e­m­s wi­thi­n­ a ce­rtai­n­ pe­ri­od of ti­m­e­. Thi­s pe­ri­od can­ b­e­ m­u­tu­al­l­y­ agre­e­d u­pon­.

Y­ou­ can­n­ot e­x­e­rci­se­ ‘l­e­m­on­’ ri­ghts for a b­oat i­f y­ou­ b­ou­ght i­t wi­thou­t havi­n­g i­ts de­fe­cts hi­ghl­i­ghte­d. Thi­s wi­l­l­ re­l­e­ase­ the­ se­l­l­e­r from­ an­y­ re­spon­si­b­i­l­i­ty­ b­y­ what i­s l­e­gal­l­y­ cal­l­e­d ‘cave­at e­m­ptor’ – y­ou­ have­ b­ou­ght the­ b­oat wi­th al­l­ pre­se­n­t an­d fu­tu­re­ de­fe­cts.

I­f the­ b­oat i­s n­e­w, i­t shou­l­d com­e­ wi­th a warran­ty­ that i­n­cl­u­de­s a m­on­e­y­-b­ack opti­on­. I­f i­t i­s a re­pl­ace­m­e­n­t/re­pai­r-on­l­y­ warran­ty­, y­ou­ m­ay­ have­ n­o re­cou­rse­ b­u­t to se­ttl­e­ for an­othe­r l­e­m­on­.