Brown

— Plaintiffs (hereinafter referred to collectively as Brown) appeal from an order of the municipal court denying their motion to strike $31,300 in attorney fees and $1,346 in costs claimed by defendant West Covina Toyota (hereinafter Toyota) in a memorandum of costs filed after a judgment on directed verdict in defendant’s favor. The issue on this appeal is whether the municipal court properly permitted Toyota to recover costs and attorney fees under Civil Code section 2983.4, part of the Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Financing Act (Civ. Code, § 2981 et seq.).

Factual and Procedural Background

According to the allegations of the complaint, Brown purchased a 1989 Toyota Tercel from Toyota in May 1990 for $11,970.88 pursuant to a written contract; the car had on it 23,917 miles; Toyota also “appended to the [vehicle] a service contract which defendants told plaintiff, and plaintiff reasonably believed, was an express written warranty in which [Toyota] warranted to perform any repairs or replacement of parts necessary to ensure that the [vehicle] and the components therein were free from all defects in material and workmanship”; in November 1990, at…