Are You Buying a Lemon?

Lemons have been around for a long time and in some cases, we’ve even admired a few, but for the most part, these are cars that didn’t perform as expected after purchase.  a vehicle that brings you the feeling that it will let you down every time you get into the car in order to take a ride.  Over the years there have been fewer true lemons than in the past, but there are still some vehicles that can be considered lemons when you take into consideration what’s expected of them in the market today.

In the past, a lemon would be described more as a vehicle that leaves you stranded on the side of the road.  The ironic aspect of this is the lemons of the past happened when we didn’t have the ability to simply pick up a cell phone and call for help.  Many of us that are part of an older generation can remember having to walk for miles to find a phone to call for help and then have to wait a long time for a tow truck or for the help needed. If nothing else, these times allowed us to have something fun to share with others as we told them of our time the car let us down.

Today more of the vehicles we have can be considered lemons because of an infotainment system that doesn’t work exactly right or a system that decides not to work.  The electronics and computers that are found in modern vehicles make it more difficult to have an actual lemon, but some vehicles have issues and when one system stops working many others do as well, making it nearly impossible to trust these vehicles but this doesn’t happen very much at all anymore.

The list below from AutoGuide.com take a list of brands and uses data based upon the number of times each brand was mentioned at all.  Any brand that didn’t even reach 10,000 mentions online isn’t included in this list, but the rest is here for you to see.  This list allows us to see more closely how consumers feel about their vehicles rather than being concerned with the number that is actually not working on the road.  Long gone are the days of lemons being cars that were the models that made you walk to the nearest service station for help.

As you take a look at this list, where does the vehicle you want to purchase fall?  If you see your brand near the bottom of the list, you should consider this a warning sign that you need to learn more about the vehicle you’re considering.  On the other hand, if your brand comes in the top part of the list you’ll be happy to note that other consumers have loved that brand as well.  Take a look at this list and think about the number of times the brand you drive is mentioned as a lemon and make the smart choice for your driving experience on the road.