How Long Can A Dealership Hold Your Car For Repair (And Why)?

Exact Answer: 30 Days

There are many investments people make after they start earning, but buying vehicles is certainly one of the many. Despite age, gender and race, everybody loves vehicles. Some love creating them, some love driving them, while some just love selling them. There are different types of vehicles made in this world, and one of them, probably the most popular of them all, is cars.

When somebody buys a car, the feat doesn’t end there. There are many aspects a person must take care of.

The cars must be taken care of properly and must be serviced at regular intervals. They must be washed, the oil must be changed, and fuel must be refilled.

How Long Can A Dealership Hold Your Car For Repair?

When a car stays idle for long, one will notice many problems. Some people just fix the current problem by visiting a nearby car service shop or fixing it themselves. Yet, some decide it’s better to visit a car dealer and get the car completely serviced. Some faults can be easy to fix, while some can be more intricate and will be more complicated.

When somebody lets their car into the mechanic shop, they would never know the consequences. After the mechanic lets the owner know about the faults, if the issues require great attention and changes, it is better to consider including the car dealership, before making huge decisions.

Although, there is always a catch. When a person drops off his/her car at a low-end mechanic shop, the fault will be rectified in just a few days, but when the car is dropped off at a dealership for bigger problems, it will certainly take a while for the problems to be rectified. The longer the car stays with the dealership, the longer the process takes time, and repairs are more complicated. One fact that many people don’t know is that there is a certain duration for which the dealership can retain the car.

People wait for many days without the knowledge that there is a time limit for which the car can stay with the dealership. According to law, the dealership can retain the car for about 30 days for repair. When a dealership holds the car for more than a month, there are many rights and laws that a person can use and enforce.

Why Can A Dealership Hold Your Car For Repair For That Long?

There are ways to speed up the process of getting the car, and there are also many things that can delay how long the car stays with the dealership. It all depends on the skills of the dealership, the depth of the issues, and how long a person allows the car to stay with the dealership. One can give more time to the dealership to look into the problems, but when a person thinks they have given enough time to the dealership, they are entitled to use laws like the lemon law case.

They can also claim financial compensation for the extra time the dealership had the car, and they can even file complaints and enforce various consumer rights they want. These rules and laws are applicable only when the dealership holds the car for more than 30 days. Sometimes, one can decide if they want to give them more time to repair their cars because some issues take a long time to be fixed.

Conclusion

Problems that lead to engine replacements, spark plug replacements, clutch replacements, and transmission repairs take longer than the others. Since intricate parts are being used here, it would certainly take longer than the other repairs, and when these repairs are made, it means the car needs desperate care.

Yet, whatever the repair might be, it can’t take longer than 30 days. Some repairs might require parts that even the dealerships don’t have, and at times like this, they must be acquired.

Whatever the issue, model of car, or whomever the dealership might be, all that matters is communication and how well the dealership handles the issue.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0377221792902422
2. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/jmlr20&section=30