Every state
Lemon law attorneys near you
A new or used vehicle still under warranty that the dealer cannot fix.
Deadline, in general
Commonly three to four years from when the warranty was breached.
Every state has a lemon law. They differ in the detail, but the shape is the same: if a vehicle still under its manufacturer warranty has a defect that substantially affects its use, value or safety, and the manufacturer has been given a reasonable number of attempts to repair it, the manufacturer has to replace it or buy it back. The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act sits behind the state statutes and applies everywhere.
The feature that matters most to anyone worried about cost: where a claim succeeds, the Act requires the manufacturer to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney fees and costs. That is why lemon law attorneys generally take these cases with nothing out of the client’s pocket, and it is why a manufacturer that would ignore you will answer a lawyer.
Tell us what happened
A few questions about your situation. It is free, and there is no obligation of any kind.
This may be your situation if
- —The same fault has been back to the dealer repeatedly and is still not fixed.
- —The vehicle has spent a long stretch out of service waiting on parts or diagnosis.
- —The defect affects safety — brakes, steering, stalling, airbags, electrical failures.
- —You are being told the fault is "normal for this model" or cannot be reproduced.
- —The vehicle is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, or was when the problem started.
What an attorney generally does here
- —Read the repair history and count the attempts and days out of service.
- —Work out whether the presumption in the Act applies to your history.
- —Calculate a buyback properly, including the mileage offset the manufacturer will apply.
- —Deal with the manufacturer directly instead of the dealership.
- —File suit where the manufacturer refuses, with fees recoverable from them.
The deadline
Commonly three to four years from when the warranty was breached. Set by Your state’s lemon law, and its limitation period for warranty claims.
The clock and the warranty period are different things, and both matter. A vehicle can be outside its warranty and still support a claim, or inside it and past the limitation period. This is one to ask about early rather than late.
Worth gathering first
- —Every repair order, including the ones where nothing was found.
- —The purchase or lease agreement.
- —The warranty booklet or the terms you were given.
- —A note of how many days the vehicle was unavailable to you.
- —Any correspondence with the dealer or manufacturer.
If you work in care
When your car is how you reach your clients, a vehicle that keeps failing is not an inconvenience, it is lost shifts and lost pay. Keep a note of the visits you could not make: the cost of being without the vehicle is part of the picture.
Common questions
How many repair attempts make a car a lemon?
There is no single magic number. The Act contains a presumption that turns on repeated attempts at the same substantial defect, or a long period out of service, within the first part of the warranty. Outside the presumption a claim can still succeed on the facts.
Does the lemon law cover used cars?
It can, where the vehicle is still covered by the manufacturer’s original warranty or was sold with a dealer warranty. Sold strictly "as is" with no warranty is a different position.
What does a lemon law case cost me?
Where the claim succeeds the Act makes the manufacturer responsible for reasonable attorney fees and costs, which is why these are generally taken on with nothing payable by the consumer. Get that confirmed in writing in the fee agreement.
Do I get a refund or a replacement?
Either can be the remedy. A buyback returns what you paid less a statutory offset for the miles you drove before the defect appeared; a replacement is a comparable vehicle. The manufacturer generally chooses, subject to challenge.
Related
This page is general information about how this kind of matter works in the United States, and the rules that matter most here are set state by state — the deadline where you live may be shorter than the general figure given above. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for advice about your own situation, and reading it or sending the form does not create an attorney-client relationship. Unified Savers is not a law firm and not a lawyer referral service. Deadlines stated are general rules and exceptions frequently make them shorter. See the disclaimer and privacy policy.