A woman from British Columbia launched an online petition for British Columbia to adopt a “lemon law” after her recent experience with a new vehicle.
“I want to facilitate the process for the British to recover their money if they buy a defective vehicle,” said Nicole Pajak Consumer Matters.
In February 2023, the North Vancouver resident bought a new, fully electric Volkswagen 2023 Volkswagen.
She says it was her dream vehicle until she started to have problems. “The windows flowed instead of the rise, infotainment has passed out and the interior lights which,” said Pajak.
She says that one of the most persistent problems was a creaking of the brake pedal. However, the most serious problem that Pajak said was on several occasions, his young son could not get out of the back of the vehicle because the rear doors would not open. “He had to climb the front seat because we could not open the rear doors,” she said.
Pajak estimates that she made nearly 58 trips to the dealer and her vehicle was in the car store for almost 90 days.
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Since Canada has no official “lemon law”, Pajak turned to the Canadian arbitration plan for motor vehicles also known as Camvap, which tries to resolve disputes between consumers and manufacturers.
Finally, a Camvap referee allocated a takeover to Pajak, but Pajak said that going through the process was exhausting. “I am not a lawyer, but I had to become my own defender,” said Pajak, adding: “The burden of proof is strongly on the consumer.”
Now it pleads for a “lemon law” similar to that of Quebec – the first of its kind in Canada.
Quebec’s “lemon” legislation adopted in 2023 aims to protect consumers dealing with defective vehicles.
The new law designates any vehicle which has experienced three unsuccessful repair attempts for the same problem in the first three years, the owner can continue for the sale to be reversed or continue his damage.
“With this arrangement, you can only use your calendar and show that the vehicle is out of the road for 30 days or there have been three repair attempts. Usually, a work order is enough proof for this to facilitate the case,” said George Iny Director of the Association for the Protection of the Automobile For Non -profit for Global News.
Does Quebec’s “lemon-law” work for consumers? Iny says the law is in its early days. “Since the law is still new, we do not know if car manufacturers will settle before going to court. So far, they act as most of the law,” said Iny.
In the meantime, when asked if British Columbia would adopt legislation similar to consumer protection in Quebec, the British Columbia Prosecutor Niki Sharma says he is being revised.
“I am reviewing this right now on strengthening our rules concerning this. We have a few priorities on which we work with regard to consumer protection, but it is always good to know what other provinces do, “said Sharma.
Camvap has said to consume Matters that disputes about software problems cannot be arbitrated and have said that there are no specific changes taken into account for software problems at the moment.
Pajak says that owners of vulnerable electric vehicles and better legislation are necessary to reflect the growing change to electric vehicles. Consumers interested in signing the online petition of Pajak for a lemon law can go to this website.
& Copy 2025 Global News, A Division of Corus Entertainment Inc.