Question for the lawyerin types (about Lemon Law

DavidWhite

DavidWhite

Final Approach
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DW
So I've got a 2012 Kawasaki ZG1400 (Concours 14) that has had a wiring issue that causes my blinkers to go out (blows fuses every 15 miles)since about 2000 miles. I bought it new from the dealer with 0 miles. I thought that we had fixed the problem the first time, but it has resurfaced at around 5800 miles. Apparently the wiring harness that I need is on backorder for an indefinite amount of time, so right now I have a 700 pound paperweight that isn't legal to ride and costs me $500/mo. Do I have any legal action I can take?

My states lemon law says that after I have been without use of the vehicle for 40 days I can lemon law it. Should I speak to a Lemon Law attorney beforehand and get some options? The last few days have been gorgeous, I'm stressed out, and I REALLLY REALLLLLLLY need my motorcycle fix.
 
I'm also hesitant to spend too much time riding a bike dependent on LOTS of electronics with a known electrical issue. I just have this mental image of being in a turn, the bikes engine failing, and getting thrown.
 
DavidWhite said:
I'm also hesitant to spend too much time riding a bike dependent on LOTS of electronics with a known electrical issue. I just have this mental image of being in a turn, the bikes engine failing, and getting thrown.
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Can't fault you for that. Give it back and buy a Honda.
 
DavidWhite said:
So I've got a 2012 Kawasaki ZG1400 (Concours 14) that has had a wiring issue that causes my blinkers to go out (blows fuses every 15 miles)since about 2000 miles. I bought it new from the dealer with 0 miles. I thought that we had fixed the problem the first time, but it has resurfaced at around 5800 miles. Apparently the wiring harness that I need is on backorder for an indefinite amount of time, so right now I have a 700 pound paperweight that isn't legal to ride and costs me $500/mo. Do I have any legal action I can take?

My states lemon law says that after I have been without use of the vehicle for 40 days I can lemon law it. Should I speak to a Lemon Law attorney beforehand and get some options? The last few days have been gorgeous, I'm stressed out, and I REALLLY REALLLLLLLY need my motorcycle fix.
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Have you made sure that each service visit is well-documented, with service orders properly written-up and dated for in/out?

Dealers will sometimes try to do intake without proper service orders, to make proving up a lemon law issue more difficult.
 
SCCutler said:
Have you made sure that each service visit is well-documented, with service orders properly written-up and dated for in/out?

Dealers will sometimes try to do intake without proper service orders, to make proving up a lemon law issue more difficult.
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I know for a fact that they have kept records of my visits. How detailed they are I have no idea. I'm going to get them to print out all of my service orders today when I go in.
 
DavidWhite said:
If I do get my money back I'll be buying 3 bikes.

A Suzuki DRZ 400, older (like 2005ish) CBR600, and a CB750.
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Never mind the 600, go for the liter bike. You won't be disappointed. You also won't want to ride the 750 after being on the super bike for 10 minutes.
 
A buddy operates a recycled parts supply for motorcycles. Check www.rubbersideup.com to see if he can supply the required item(s). If it doesn't show on the website, call him. Lots of bikes being parted out, but not all parts available get photographed and shown on the site.
 
steingar said:
Never mind the 600, go for the liter bike. You won't be disappointed. You also won't want to ride the 750 after being on the super bike for 10 minutes.
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I can't afford the insurance on a liter bike, but if I get an older 600 I won't have too much money into it so I'd just get liability insurance.

For sharts and giggles I got an insurance quote on a ZX10R when I was looking at bikes, and it was around $600/mo for full coverage. My Concours OTOH is only about $100/mo.
 
Perhaps I am biased by the silly expense of insuring more cars than I need. Motorcycle insurance must be very cheap.
 
DavidWhite said:
I've learned with airplanes (and motorcycles) that its nice to have more than one so when one (or two) are broken and its a nice day I can still have fun. Cold or rainy days are for maintenance.
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Buy Hondas and they won't spend much time busted.
 
SCCutler said:
Perhaps I am biased by the silly expense of insuring more cars than I need. Motorcycle insurance must be very cheap.
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The nice thing is with older bikes is you can just get liability. strangely enough my current motorcycle that is worth more money and with significantly more hp than my car is $40/mo cheaper to insure.
 
DavidWhite said:
I'll get the p/n later today and give him a call. Thank you Mike.
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If it doesn't show on the website, call him. Lots of bikes being parted out, but not all parts available get photographed and shown on the site.
 
AggieMike88 said:
If it doesn't show on the website, call him. Lots of bikes being parted out, but not all parts available get photographed and shown on the site.
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That's kinda what I figured. I imagined he had a few more parts for kawis than a throttle body assembly haha. I can see how big of a PITA it would be to catalog all the parts, photograph them, and hoist them to the interwebs. That is a fairly time consuming process I'm sure.
 
DavidWhite said:
I can't afford the insurance on a liter bike, but if I get an older 600 I won't have too much money into it so I'd just get liability insurance.

For sharts and giggles I got an insurance quote on a ZX10R when I was looking at bikes, and it was around $600/mo for full coverage. My Concours OTOH is only about $100/mo.
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Jesus. When I had my sickle, I paid like $110/yr for insurance.
 
DavidWhite said:
That's kinda what I figured. I imagined he had a few more parts for kawis than a throttle body assembly haha. I can see how big of a PITA it would be to catalog all the parts, photograph them, and hoist them to the interwebs. That is a fairly time consuming process I'm sure.
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But it's a good biz. Not many in this space at this time.

He made his original mark on the world in the used auto/truck parts industry, but was as big of a bike nut as you are. So he moved over from there, buying bikes at the salvage auctions, and parting out.

Last I talked with him, he's moving in on $2M/yr in sales and growing steadily.

Could be a business for you to check into.
 
DavidWhite said:
I can't afford the insurance on a liter bike, but if I get an older 600 I won't have too much money into it so I'd just get liability insurance.

For sharts and giggles I got an insurance quote on a ZX10R when I was looking at bikes, and it was around $600/mo for full coverage. My Concours OTOH is only about $100/mo.
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Fun fact. This bike costs $40,000/yr (not a typo) to insure for "full coverage" with Progressive at an agreed value of $50k.

http://www.sabertoothmotorcycles.com/wildcat-series.html
 
DavidWhite said:
For sharts and giggles I got an insurance quote on a ZX10R when I was looking at bikes, and it was around $600/mo for full coverage. My Concours OTOH is only about $100/mo.
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Yeah, I had some wild quotes when I got my 954. Wound up with State Farm, I think I'm at $300/yr. Its only $75/yr for the Wing. The super bike's insurance will probably go down after I take off the collision, it's old enough to not be worth the repairs.

I could see you having trouble with high rates due to your youth though. An older super bike isn't a bad idea, but I'd still go for the liter bike. They don't cost that much more and boy do they deliver. I like my own stable of super bike and Goldwing.
 
Why is a complete wiring harness necessary? These are usually not hard to repair with very cheap supplies.

They are also made of unobtanium new.

And a new harness won't fix the fault if the problem is a bracket that contacts it where it shouldn't.

These things are just wires. A mechanic who can't fix those needs to take down his shingle and go home in shame.
 
DavidWhite said:
If I do get my money back I'll be buying 3 bikes.

A Suzuki DRZ 400, older (like 2005ish) CBR600, and a CB750.
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The street legal DRZ?

Its a decent trail bike but a dog on the street. See if you can find a YZ, CR, RM, KX 450F that has a street legal kit.
 
MAKG1 said:
Why is a complete wiring harness necessary? These are usually not hard to repair with very cheap supplies.

They are also made of unobtanium new.

And a new harness won't fix the fault if the problem is a bracket that contacts it where it shouldn't.

These things are just wires. A mechanic who can't fix those needs to take down his shingle and go home in shame.
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Because:

#1, they don't know how to get the wiring connectors apart
#2, they don't know how to hook an ohm meter to the contacts in said connectors
or
#3, they can't follow a wiring diagram
 
asechrest said:
Fun fact. This bike costs $40,000/yr (not a typo) to insure for "full coverage" with Progressive at an agreed value of $50k.
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ACK! Don't ever use the term "full coverage". Most people mean liability/coll/comp by the term, while others mean the maximum liability limit available, others think it means every coverage possible.

There is no such thing. Full coverage is the coverage the insured says he asked for... after there has been a loss and he realizes he didn't buy what he now wishes he had bought.
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As for the lemon law, they vary by state. In Missouri the dealer has the option of replacing your defective vehicle with another of like kind and quality. The one time I wanted to use it the dealership owner (Gary Drewing of Machens Ford) warned me that I really didn't want to push the issue. "you won't like the color I pick"
 
MAKG1 said:
Why is a complete wiring harness necessary?
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Bike wiring is really, really weird. I know folks who've junked otherwise functional bikes for electrical gremlins. It's often cheaper just to replace the wiring harness than try and chase these things down, I've seen it done. Odds are the mechanics at the stealership don't even know how to fix wiring, replacing the harness is probably standard operating procedure.
 
Kawasaki will be sending me a new wiring harness and I will be riding within 2 weeks. Apparently you just need to mention the magic "L" word (Lawyer) and they really kick into overdrive whatever they're doing.
 
I put it in quotes for a reason, and only in response to the same term. I never use that in the course of biz. Ever. :)

Gerhardt said:
ACK! Don't ever use the term "full coverage". Most people mean liability/coll/comp by the term, while others mean the maximum liability limit available, others think it means every coverage possible.

There is no such thing. Full coverage is the coverage the insured says he asked for... after there has been a loss and he realizes he didn't buy what he now wishes he had bought.
==================

As for the lemon law, they vary by state. In Missouri the dealer has the option of replacing your defective vehicle with another of like kind and quality. The one time I wanted to use it the dealership owner (Gary Drewing of Machens Ford) warned me that I really didn't want to push the issue. "you won't like the color I pick"
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steingar said:
Buy Hondas and they won't spend much time busted.
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The only time my Honda CL-175 was broken was after stopping a 1968 Ford Mustang that hit it broadside. But it wasn't as broken as we were.

SkyHog said:
Jesus. When I had my sickle, I paid like $110/yr for insurance.
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Got you beat. I believe I was paying significantly less, but that was in 1970 and it was just minimum coverage liability on a Honda 90. My thought process was that if I did more damage than that with a Honda 90 I was dead, so what did I care? No assets when you are fresh out of high school.
 
steingar said:
Buy Hondas and they won't spend much time busted.
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My same-generation Concours has not been back to the dealer since the day I rode it away, which was 11,000 miles ago. The only maintenance I've done has been per the factory service intervals in my own garage.

Just because you buy something brand new doesn't mean you're entitled to it not breaking. In fact it's probably more likely to be broken then something that has proven it self for a year and a few thousand miles. Machines break, all of them, and the more you get used to that idea the less upsetting it is.
 
DavidWhite said:
1969, but they demand a premium. My girlfriends dad has a 1979 CB750f that might sell but that's a little bit too late model for my liking.
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The one nice thing about the later models is the purists won't complain if you cut them up. Btw I typoed in first post it's actually a '78 that Robins dad has got.

If I got the later model I would definitely turn it into a cafe racer - the earlier ones I would leave as they are. They are purdy enough already :)
 
The CBR 600 was my first and so far only bike. Got too cocky and wrecked it within a month of ownership.
 
JB1842 said:
The CBR 600 was my first and so far only bike. Got too cocky and wrecked it within a month of ownership.
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I'm pretty careful with my bike. I'm reminded every time I ride with a group that I am indeed the granddad poking along. Well within my capability as a rider to be hyper-aggressive on the streets like some bikers, but not acceptable to my personality.

I'm plenty happy poking along at 5 over, unless there isn't any traffic. That's when I get myself into trouble (and speeding tickets)
 
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