Wirtz Law Blog

The success of a California lemon law case depends on what a vehicle owner and their attorneys can prove in court. Evidence in these cases typically involves paperwork recording essential events related to the vehicle and its issues. 

Common examples of records needed in a lemon law case include:

• Your vehicle’s original manufacturer’s warranty or certified pre-owned (CPO) warranty.
• Owner’s manual
• Repair paperwork from the dealership.
• Bills and receipts from repairs, towing, and related expenses.
• Bills and receipts from rental vehicles, public transportation passes, rideshare or cab rides, and other forms of alternate transportation you needed while your car was in the shop.

Don’t limit the records you keep to this list, however. A good rule of thumb in a lemon law case is if the record is related to your vehicle or its problems, keep it. Keeping records safe and secure is essential as well. Here’s how to store and protect your records in a California lemon law case.

Keep Hard Copies

Many records are made on paper. Dealerships may give you a paper copy of a receipt or service record, for instance. A towing company may give you a paper receipt when you pay your towing bill. 

Keep all these paper copies together in one place. Consider making photocopies of everything in the file. If you make photocopies, store them in a different location than the original file. For instance, you might keep one file at home and one in your desk drawer at work. 

You can also turn hard copies of records into digital ones by scanning or photographing them. 

Obtain Digital Copies

Some records come in digital form. Some dealerships allow you to receive receipts or service records by email, for example. Towing companies may also email you a receipt. Many public transportation and ridesharing apps only provide receipts in digital form. 

When you receive a digital record:

• Create a file you can control. For example, you may need to download a digital receipt that arrives in your email. For receipts in apps, take a screenshot of the receipt on your phone. 
• Turn paper copies into digital ones with electronic scanning. Both iPhone and Android users have access to apps that will scan documents using a smartphone or tablet camera. Taking a clear photo of these documents can also help you create digital versions. 
• Choose your storage carefully. Local storage, such as on your phone, keeps files directly in your control – but it can mean losing files forever if your phone breaks or is lost. Cloud storage, which keeps files on remote servers, makes them easier to access but also places ultimate control of the file in the hands of the cloud storage service.

Ideally, you’ll store digital versions of your records in at least two locations. In other words, the best system for managing lemon law case records is to use backups.

Don’t Skip Backups!

In today’s digital world, file backups are essential. Losing the only copy of a file to a lost device, disk corruption, or a cloud service shutting down can be catastrophic to your case. 

Best practices for backing up your digital files include:

• Two copies, two locations. Always have at least two copies of your digital file 一 and never store both copies in the same place. For example, you might have a local copy on your computer hard drive and one stored in the cloud. Or you might put copies of your records on two separate thumb drives and keep one at home and the other at work or with a trusted friend. 
• Never go cloud-alone. Files in the cloud are easier to access 一 but cloud storage is on a cloud service’s server, which you don’t control. Files stored in Dropbox, for instance, are on Dropbox’s servers, not your own. If you use a cloud-based system to store your files, always have at least one backup copy on a drive or device you control. 
• Back up your files every time you make a change. Every time you need to add a record to the collection, add it to both copies. If you add a file to your cloud storage, add it to your local storage as well – and vice versa. While this takes some extra time, the protection it offers you and your case is well worth the effort. 

Finally, don’t hesitate to consult an experienced California lemon law attorney if you have questions about your case or records. A lawyer can help you understand how to protect your records 一 and what to keep to build your case.