The Lemon Law is a consumer protection law, it protects people from products which have serious and substantial defects. Each state has its own version of the Lemon law but basically the law allows consumers recourse should this happen, the consumer can get a refund of the purchase price either in full or prorated or he or she can get a replacement. You must give the manufacturer a number of opportunities to rectify the problem, if the vehicle cannot be made as good as new after these multiple attempts it is a lemon in the eyes of the law.
Under most state laws for a vehicle to qualify as a lemon it must have a substantial defect which is covered by the written warranty, the defect must have happened within a specified period of time that varies by state and the vehicle cannot be repaired to as new condition after the manufacturer has been given a reasonable number of opportunities to fix it. In most, but not all states, the Lemon Law applies when a vehicle is purchased or leased new.
As is often the case in law there are times when there will be different interpretations of a term or word, one such term is “substantial defect.†A substantial defect is a defect which must make the car unsafe for the transport of the occupants, it denies the owner full use of the vehicle and it is detrimental to the resale value. Examples of a substantial defect would be faulty brakes or steering mechanism as opposed to minor defects which might be nothing more serious than a loose rearview mirror.
In every state the substantial defect must show up within a specified time period or a specified number of miles, depending on the state the time varies from one to two years and the mileage varies from 12 to 24,000.
Just because your new car has what could be classified as a serious defect does not automatically classify it as a lemon. The Lemon Law states that you must give the vehicle manufacturer or the authorized dealer a reasonable number of attempts to fix the problem. In the majority of states the vehicle owner must give the manufacturer at least three chances to repair the defect or if the car is in the repair shop for a period of time, usually 30 days, trying to diagnose and fix the defect then the car can qualify as a lemon.
Each state has its own version of The Lemon Law, some states are considerably more lenient than others. For an explanation of all the state Lemon Laws you are invited to contact YourLemonLawRights.com.
