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Show JZr -jl t ifiS CdDimsiinnimniing IMiteirosit Sour complaints of auto owners come on heels of Utah's lemon law and now are looking for any excuse to get rid of the car. The lemon law sounds like an easy way out. For example, one buyer registered a complaint about the poor performance of his car. Upon closer investigation, it was discovered the owner was using regular unleaded instead of the premium unleaded gas specified in the owner's manual. The Utah lemon law was enacted to protect consumers, but they must understand its limitations. To qualify, a consumer must meet these minimum requirements: great horde of people out there who have cars they'd like to get rid of. Donald Cope, who investigates most of the potential lemon law cases for the state, says most consumers con-sumers who inquire don't really have a case. He says it is unfortunate, unfor-tunate, but many of them are unhappy unhap-py with their cars because they were not careful buyers. Cope says they may have bought a new car impulsively and now are experiencing ex-periencing "buyer remorse." That is, they have a car that either isn't what they expected or they got in over their heads on the payments The car must have been bought inUtah. The vehicle must be a private auto or pickup truck. Motorcycles, tractors, motor homes, mobile homes and trucks weighing more than 12,000 pounds are excluded. The complaint must be for a substantial defect that the dealer has attempted to fix four times or the consumer must have lost use of the car for a total of 30 working days. The problems must take place during the warranty period or during dur-ing the first year after purchase, whichever comes first. I by DENNIS HINKAMP consumer information writer "iiV Utah State University We Americans have a fickle love affair with our cars. Although it seems we can't do without them, we complain more about them than any other product we own. Since last April, there has been in effect in Utah what is known as a lemon law. Since it began, the Utah Department of Consumer Protection has received hundreds of inquiries about the law. It seems there is a |