State Lemon Laws
State lemon laws vary greatly in their interpretation of the federal laws. The federal statutes say that “consumers” can be protected by law if they receive a “defective” product that cannot be repaired by a “reasonable number of attempts” by the manufacturer. Now, there are a number of ways to decipher what problems are covered. For instance, if someone’s window doesn’t roll down or the radio doesn’t work, should they be entitled to a replacement vehicle? Also, there are different ideas about what a “reasonable” number of attempts to repair may be. For some states, it’s as few as one attempt to fix a serious defect, and as much as four repairs done on the same part or eight repairs on various parts.
When it comes to automobile lemon laws for the different states, the Ohio lemon law is one of the best. For example, instead of covering consumers for 1-2 years, Ohio law allows consumers up to five to file their complaint. The law may apply to passenger vehicles carrying nine or fewer people, ride-sharing vehicles not carrying more than fifteen people, farm trucks that carry less than a ton and are used for personal reasons, noncommercial motor vehicles and any parts of motor homes that are not used for cold storage, cooking, eating or sleeping. Most states do not cover motor homes at all, so Ohio law is a little more liberal in its translation. A “reasonable number of repair attempts” is defined as three or more times in a year or 30 days of downtime to fix the same problem, eight or more attempts to repair any nonconformity, or one attempt to repair a nonconformity that could cause serious injury or death if not repaired.
What makes New Jersey lemon law code special, compared to other state lemon laws, is that they specifically include motorcycles and used cars in their law. Motor homes and commercial vehicles are still not covered, but the lemon law in this state affords more protection than most others. They give the manufacturer a total of three attempts to repair the vehicle or 20 calendar days of downtime (whereas most other states allow for 30 out-of-service days and four repair attempts). The New Jersey statutes say that a person must send the manufacturer a “final demand” letter, which gives the manufacturer one last attempt to repair the vehicle over the next 10 days before the consumer files the official lemon law complaint.
State lemon laws may allow a manufacturer up to four times to correct defects, but not always. For instance, the Georgia lemon law says that a consumer may be eligible for a refund or replacement after just one attempted repair at a serious impairment. Safety defects in the braking or steering systems are simply not tolerated under Georgia law. Other defects allow the manufacturer an additional try to repair the vehicle again during the first two years or 24,000 miles before the lemon law for Georgia applies. In some states, the vehicle must be out of service for 30 days (or repaired four times) within the first year before a consumer can cash in. However, in Georgia, the vehicle must be out of service for just 15 days during the first 12,000 miles and 30 days during the first two years. In this state, new vehicle purchasers, those who lease and small business owners (making $100,000 or less per year) are all eligible for consumer protection.
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