Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 681 - Motor Vehicle Sales Warranties

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Any allowance for a trade-in vehicle: means the net trade-in allowance as reflected in the purchase contract or lease agreement if acceptable to the consumer and manufacturer. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Authorized service agent: means any person, including a franchised motor vehicle dealer, who is authorized by the manufacturer to service motor vehicles. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Board: means the Florida New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Buyer: means a person who buys or contracts to buy goods. See Florida Statutes 672.103
• Collateral charges: means those additional charges to a consumer wholly incurred as a result of the acquisition of the motor vehicle. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means the purchaser, other than for purposes of resale, or the lessee, of a motor vehicle primarily used for personal, family, or household purposes; any person to whom such motor vehicle is transferred for the same purposes during the duration of the Lemon Law rights period; and any other person entitled by the terms of the warranty to enforce the obligations of the warranty. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract for sale: includes both a present sale of goods and a contract to sell goods at a future time. See Florida Statutes 672.106
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Days: means calendar days. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Legal Affairs. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Incidental charges: means those reasonable costs to the consumer which are directly caused by the nonconformity of the motor vehicle. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Lemon Law rights period: means the period ending 24 months after the date of the original delivery of a motor vehicle to a consumer. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessee: means any consumer who leases a motor vehicle for 1 year or more pursuant to a written lease agreement which provides that the lessee is responsible for repairs to such motor vehicle or any consumer who leases a motor vehicle pursuant to a lease-purchase agreement. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessee cost: means the aggregate deposit and rental payments previously paid to the lessor for the leased vehicle but excludes debt from any other transaction. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Lessor: means a person who holds title to a motor vehicle that is leased to a lessee under a written lease agreement or who holds the lessor's rights under such agreement. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manufacturer: means any person, whether a resident or nonresident of this state, who manufactures or assembles motor vehicles, or who manufactures or assembles chassis for recreational vehicles, or who manufactures or installs on previously assembled truck or recreational vehicle chassis special bodies or equipment which, when installed, forms an integral part of the motor vehicle, or a distributor or an importer as those terms are defined in…. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Motor vehicle: means a new vehicle, propelled by power other than muscular power, which is sold in this state to transport persons or property, and includes a recreational vehicle or a vehicle used as a demonstrator or leased vehicle if a manufacturer's warranty was issued as a condition of sale, or the lessee is responsible for repairs, but does not include vehicles run only upon tracks, off-road vehicles, trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, motorcycles, mopeds, electric bicycles, or the living facilities of recreational vehicles. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Nonconformity: means a defect or condition that substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of a motor vehicle, but does not include a defect or condition that results from an accident, abuse, neglect, modification, or alteration of the motor vehicle by persons other than the manufacturer or its authorized service agent. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Procedure: means an informal dispute-settlement procedure established by a manufacturer to mediate and arbitrate motor vehicle warranty disputes. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Program: means the mediation and arbitration pilot program for recreational vehicles established in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Purchase price: means the cash price as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Reasonable offset for use: means the number of miles attributable to a consumer up to the date of a settlement agreement or arbitration hearing, whichever occurs first, multiplied by the base selling or sale price of the vehicle as reflected on the purchase invoice, exclusive of taxes, government fees, and dealer fees, or in the case of a lease, the agreed upon value as reflected in the lease agreement and divided by 120,000, except in the case of a recreational vehicle, in which event it shall be divided by 60,000. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Reasonably equivalent to the motor vehicle to be replaced: means the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the replacement vehicle shall not exceed 105 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the motor vehicle to be replaced. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Recreational vehicle: means a motor vehicle primarily designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use, but does not include a van conversion. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• registered mail: includes certified mail with return receipt requested. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Replacement motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle which is identical or reasonably equivalent to the motor vehicle to be replaced, as the motor vehicle to be replaced existed at the time of acquisition. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• Seller: means a person who sells or contracts to sell goods. See Florida Statutes 672.103
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Warranty: means any written warranty issued by the manufacturer, or any affirmation of fact or promise made by the manufacturer, excluding statements made by the dealer, in connection with the sale of a motor vehicle to a consumer which relates to the nature of the material or workmanship and affirms or promises that such material or workmanship is free of defects or will meet a specified level of performance. See Florida Statutes 681.102
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01