SamGuss-
As an attorney who holds licenses to practice in multiple states, one of them being Alabama, I wanted to offer my two cents.
You are not totally up sh*t creek here. You do have some legal recourse. The UCC is an ok option, albeit somewhat pie in the sky and more esoteric than practical for your purposes right now.
There are a couple of things to look at first. First, what representations did the dealer make about the vehicle. "As Is," that sort of thing. Were any warranties made, not made, etc. Any defects hidden or was there anything that a mechanic can now tell you that should have been disclosed to you? In other words, in looking at your crapped out engine now, can some mechanic say that the dealer should have known this would crap out "x" number of weeks ago? This is important, but I'll mention it more below.
Ok, as for the Alabama Lemon Law. It's not as gloom and doom as it sounds. It does give you no cause of action against the dealer under the Lemon Law Statute (i.e, Alabama Code Section 8-20A-1 through 8-20A-6). Specifically the part that excludes dealers is Section 8-20A-5.
BUT, the Lemon Law statute does allow you to return the vehicle to the dealer as they are the agent of the manufacturer so that the manufacturer can make repairs. If the manufacturer can't make repairs, then the vehicle can be replaced after a reasonable amount of attempts by the manufacturer, etc. So, you can still use the dealer as they are the agent of the manufacturer for purposes of trying to live up to your end of the Lemon Law statute, unless this is some real shade tree used car lot. Then, there maybe some problem establishing that agency relationship between the dealer and the manufacturer (not as easy as, say, between VW of North America and your local Hoover, Alabama VW dealership).
Now, the importance of what looking to the contract between you and the dealer, and the represenations, warranties and agreements they may have made - the Lemon Law statute only says you can't go after the dealership under some Lemon Law theory. IF they sell you POS and it's as a result of some misrepresentation, fraud, bs, some latent (hidden) defects that you couldn't otherwise know of, then you can go after them - period, and won't have to even fool around with the Lemon Law issue. As a trial attorney who handled some massive verdicts in your state, I can tell you that Alabama has some HUGELY friendly consumer protection statutes that LOVE the consumer and HATE the dealership (remember if you will the multi-million dollar BMW case against the dealer simply touching up some minor paint damage and not telling the buyer). This is where it pays to have a more aggressive attorney and one who is perhaps more broad-minded to think about pursuing other theories against the dealer, particularly when the pay off in punitive damages in Alabama has historically been so high (assuming you have some other facts to go on here though). But defnitely, if your attorney just thought of Lemon Law and nothing else, and asked no more questions to explicitly rule out other avenues for you, you should shop around for another lawyer asap.
So, don't give up yet.
