Step 4: Certified Informal Dispute Settlement Program

If you have completed Steps 1 through 3, as applicable, you will need to apply for arbitration through the manufacturer’s certified informal dispute settlement program. Arbitration is a process whereby the parties to the dispute present their complaints and arguments before an impartial decision-maker or board.

The State of Georgia has certified the Better Business Bureau AUTO LINE as the informal dispute settlement program for the following manufacturer(s):

Currently no manufacturer has a certified program in Georgia. Skip to Step 6.

Note: The certification of the following 5 manufacturers expired May 1, 2009. Consumers who purchased motor vehicles from these 5 manufacturers are not required to proceed through a Certified Informal Dispute Settlement Program (Step 4) after May 1, 2009.

Volkswagen of America
Volkswagen of America, Audi Division
General Motors Corporation
Saturn Corporation
American Isuzu Motors, Inc.

Note: The certification of the following manufacturer expired November 16, 2009. Consumers who purchased motor vehicles from this manufacturer are not required to proceed through a Certified Informal Dispute Settlement Program (Step 4) after November 16, 2009.

Hyundai Motor America

Note: The certification of the following manufacturer expired December 7, 2009. Consumers who purchased motor vehicles from this manufacturer are not required to proceed through a Certified Informal Dispute Settlement Program (Step 5) after December 7, 2009.

Kia Motors America

If your vehicle was made by a listed manufacturer, you must file a claim with the BBB AUTO LINE before you can apply for a state-operated arbitration hearing. The certified program has forty (40) days to decide your dispute from the filing date.

Filing is deemed to have occurred when you provide the BBB AUTO LINE with your name and address; your vehicle year, make, model and identification number (VIN); and, a statement as to the nature of the problem or other complaint. The address and phone number are:

BBB AUTO LINE
Council of Better Business Bureaus
4200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 800
Arlington, Virginia 22203
800-955-5100

You may call BBB AUTO LINE or you can use the form titled Georgia Lemon Law Dispute Claim for BBB AUTO LINE (Form C) to commence the filing of your claim. If you use this form to notify BBB AUTO LINE, considering sending it by certified mail, return receipt requested, to confirm the date your claim was received. Be sure to keep a copy of the form and note the date it was received for your records. After, it is received, please send us a copy of Form C for our records.

After BBB AUTO LINE receives your claim, it will inform you of other information and documents it will need to hear and decide your dispute. As part of the process, the BBB AUTO LINE may try to mediate a settlement between you and the manufacturer.

If you proceed to arbitration, a hearing will be scheduled at a neutral location reasonably convenient to you. The BBB AUTO LINE has the authority to award you a repurchase or replacement of your vehicle, or it can decide against you and award no relief. The certified program can also award other remedies, such as affording the manufacturer another opportunity to repair the problem or requiring the manufacturer to give an extended warranty.

A letter stating the decision is usually sent within 7 to 10 days after the hearing. You will have up to twenty (20) days to accept or reject the decision from the date you receive it. Although you as a consumer are not bound by the decision and are free to reject it, the manufacturer is bound by the decision. If you do not notify the certified program of your acceptance or rejection by the deadline, you are deemed to have rejected the decision. If the decision is an award which you accept, the manufacturer has up to thirty (30) days to comply from the date it receives notice of your acceptance, unless a shorter period is specified in the decision.

What to Do Next

If a settlement or the decision is acceptable to you and the manufacturer complies with it, the Lemon Law process has worked for you and you do not need to proceed beyond this step.

If would like to pursue the dispute further through state-operated arbitration, you can proceed provided any one of the first four situations apply and you timely file for arbitration:

1.    Your dispute has not been settled, heard or decided and it has been at least forty (40) days from the date you filed with BBB AUTO LINE; or

2.    You agreed to a settlement, but the manufacturer has not complied and it has been at least forty (40) days from the date you filed with BBB AUTO LINE; or

3.    You accepted a decision, but the manufacturer has not complied; or,

4.    A decision was rendered that you rejected.

                  and

You submit a completed application form to OCA for state-operated arbitration within 1 year of the expiration of the Lemon Law rights period, or within 60 days from the conclusion of a certified program proceeding, whichever occurs later. If you are eligible to proceed to Step 5, you should do so as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please call us at 404-651-9397.

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