Lemon Law Glossary

Super Cruise Unavailable. Then the truck braked on its own with nothing in front of it. The Hummer EV file out of Nevada, a 2025, is an ADAS file first and everything else second, the hands-free system disengaging, phantom braking, infotainment freezing with the navigation gone, wind noise through the microphone on calls, a swing gate that would not behave, an A/C odor. Fifty-seven days out of service. ADAS means advanced driver-assistance systems, and a fault in one is a warranty defect like a bad transmission, except that these systems touch braking and steering, so a documented ADAS failure is often treated as a safety defect and needs fewer repair attempts. GM took the truck back.

Reverse would not engage. On a 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning in Arizona that complaint came back across six visits and 132 days out of service, and the file closed as a cash-and-keep. Arizona's statute, Revised Statutes 44-1261 to 44-1267, applies during the warranty term or two years and 24,000 miles from delivery, whichever comes first. Four repair attempts for the same defect or 30 cumulative calendar days out of service raises the presumption. Two things Arizona insists on, written notice to the manufacturer and one final attempt at a repair. Details are on the Arizona lemon law page.

Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a consumer who finally prevails may recover costs and expenses, including attorney fees based on actual time expended, as part of the judgment. Most state lemon laws contain a similar provision. Fee shifting is why lemon law firms, including Easy Lemon, can take cases without charging the client an hourly rate.

Repair attempts only count toward a lemon law claim when they are made by the manufacturer or its authorized dealer or agent. Keep every repair order the dealer hands you, even the ones that say "could not duplicate." Those documents are the spine of the claim.

After a manufacturer repurchases a lemon, some states require the title to be branded so the next buyer knows the history. New York, for example, requires "lemon law buyback" branding on titles. A brand lowers resale value and can change what an insurer will write. Read more in Does a lemon title affect insurance?

When a repurchased vehicle is repaired and resold, the disclosure tells the next buyer what the defect was and that the manufacturer took the car back. Disclosure rules and title branding differ by state. If you bought a used car and later learned it had been bought back with no disclosure, that is a separate claim from the original lemon law case.

The owner kept the truck. That is the whole structure, the title stays, the remaining warranty stays, and the manufacturer writes a check for the lost use and the lost value. On the Wagoneer file it was a 2023 in Florida, ten repair visits, 162 days out of service, 92 of them with the engine sitting at the dealer under no open repair order, nobody able to say what was being done to it or when. It closed at $22,000. Chapter 681 of the Florida Statutes does not name cash-and-keep anywhere. Its remedies are replacement or refund, so this came out of negotiation, not out of the book. Bought with 11 miles on it. At intake, 46,000.

A CPO warranty is a written warranty under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, so repeated failed repairs on a certified used car may support a federal claim even where the state new-car lemon law does not apply. New York and New Jersey also have their own used car lemon laws. Coverage depends on the warranty terms and the state, so check the used car lemon law page.

Not every lemon law carries a civil penalty, and the trigger and cap differ where one exists. Consumer protection statutes such as Florida's FDUTPA and the Uniform Commercial Code provide their own damages measures that can run alongside a lemon law claim. Whether a penalty is on the table in your state is a question for the state pillar page and for counsel.

When a manufacturer repurchases a lemon, the refund is more than the sticker price. Collateral charges are the add-ons you paid to get the car on the road. Most state statutes list them expressly; Florida's, for instance, defines collateral charges and requires their refund.

Federal law defines a consumer as a buyer of consumer goods, any person to whom the product is transferred during the warranty period, and anyone entitled to enforce the warranty. State lemon laws use their own definitions, and most limit coverage to vehicles bought or leased for personal, family, or household purposes. A vehicle titled to a business can fall outside some state statutes but still qualify under the federal act.

Two hundred seventy-nine days. That was the case, not the mirror that would not dim, not the SOS button that quit twice, not the gateway module the dealer swapped on the fourth trip. An Illinois owner brought a 2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio in six times and none of the complaints looked like a lemon on its own. The shop time did. Illinois counts business days toward the out-of-service total and wants written notice to the manufacturer, so every repair order got tallied by its in and out dates, the messy ones too. It closed at $17,000, cash-and-keep, and the owner still has the car.

Many state statutes require written notice to the manufacturer before the presumption applies or before suit can be filed. The demand letter does that job and starts the clock on the manufacturer's final repair attempt where one is required. Send it by the method the statute names; Georgia and Maryland, for example, call for certified mail with return receipt.

A demonstrator has miles on it but has never been titled to a retail buyer. Florida's statute expressly covers new or demonstrator vehicles. In other states, coverage turns on how the statute defines a new vehicle, so check the pillar page for your state.

The new-vehicle limited warranty in your glovebox is an express warranty. Under federal law it is a written warranty when it affirms the product is defect-free or promises to repair or replace it. Lemon law claims are built on the manufacturer's failure to honor this promise after a reasonable number of tries.

Federal law treats a service contract as distinct from a warranty: it is a contract in writing to perform services over a fixed period, entered into for separate consideration. Dealers often call these "extended warranties," but they are not warranties and do not by themselves create a lemon law claim. A supplier that sells a service contract within 90 days of sale cannot disclaim implied warranties on the product.

FDUTPA prohibits unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts in trade or commerce. A dealer that hides a repair history or a manufacturer that misrepresents a fix can face a FDUTPA count in addition to the lemon law count. The act provides actual damages and attorney fees to a prevailing consumer.

After the presumption threshold is met, states such as Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan require the consumer to notify the manufacturer in writing and allow a final attempt before demanding a repurchase. Georgia gives the manufacturer 28 days for that attempt. Ohio's chapter prescribes no final-repair-attempt step. Skipping a required notice can stall an otherwise strong claim.

Eighty-three days is what a Florida Wrangler file came to. A 2023, six repair visits, a fuel tank isolation valve throwing evap leak codes, a charging fault on the IDCM that kept coming back, a timing chain tensioner piston that collapsed, coolant that kept disappearing, and on one of those visits a spun rod bearing on cylinder three that took the crankshaft with it and ended in a whole new engine. Florida's statute, sections 681.10 through 681.118, presumes a lemon after three attempts plus one final try on written notice, or 30 days out of service, inside a 24-month rights period, and the arbitration board hears it before any lawsuit. This one did not need the board. It closed at $13,000 and the owner kept the Jeep. More on the Florida lemon law page.

Florida is one of the few states that runs its own arbitration board rather than relying on manufacturer programs. The consumer files a Request for Arbitration, the board hears the case, and either side may appeal to circuit court. After 15 cumulative days out of service the consumer must notify the manufacturer in writing; the 30-day figure is what raises the presumption.

A warrantor that labels a warranty "full" must remedy defects within a reasonable time without charge, may not limit the duration of implied warranties, and must offer a refund or replacement if it cannot fix the product after a reasonable number of attempts. Most automaker warranties are labeled "limited" to avoid these duties. The label matters for the federal claim, not the state claim.

The Georgia Lemon Law, Ga. Code §10-1-780 to §10-1-795, covers new vehicles bought or leased in Georgia for personal use. Three repair attempts for the same defect, one for a serious safety defect, or 30 cumulative days out of service raises the presumption. Trucks over 12,000 lbs GVWR, motorcycles, and golf carts are excluded. See the Georgia lemon law page.

Eighteen months or 18,000 miles. That is the Illinois window, shorter than most states, and it is the first thing to check on any Illinois file. The Telluride file fit inside it, a 2025 with a pulsing vibration on acceleration above 45 mph, four visits, 60 days out of service, full buyback. The act sits at 815 ILCS 380/1 to 380/7, counts business days rather than calendar days for the out-of-service test, and requires written notice to the manufacturer before the presumption does its work. Details are on the Illinois lemon law page.

If you told the dealer you needed a truck to tow a 9,000-pound trailer and the dealer sold you one that cannot, the fitness warranty may be in play. It is narrower than merchantability and depends on what the seller knew at the time of sale. Under federal law, a written warranty cannot disclaim it.

Every sale by a dealer carries an implied warranty that the car will pass without objection in the trade and is fit for ordinary use. A car that stalls, will not start, or throws the same fault code every month arguably breaches it. Under the Magnuson-Moss Act, a seller that gives a written warranty may limit the duration of the implied warranty but cannot disclaim it outright.

The Uniform Commercial Code lets a buyer recover expenses reasonably incurred in inspection, transportation, care, and custody of goods rightfully rejected, plus other reasonable expenses tied to the breach. In a lemon case that means the tow bills and rental receipts. Keep them.

A warrantor may set up an informal dispute settlement procedure that complies with FTC Rule 703 and require consumers to use it before suing under the federal act. The decision is not binding on the consumer. Whether a given program qualifies, and whether your state requires it, is a state-by-state question.

A lease gets unwound, not bought back, but it comes to the same thing for the lessee. The Kia Sorento file was a 2025 in Ohio, a no-start with a check engine light on day one, four visits, 41 days out of service, and Kia unwound the lease. The manufacturer pays off the lease and refunds what the lessee paid in, less the use offset, and the lessee returns the car and walks away from the remaining payments. Every one of the twelve state statutes summarized on this site extends coverage to vehicles bought or leased in the state. Leasing does not cost you the claim.

Under 320 miles. That is how far a 2026 Ram 1500 Rebel GT got in North Carolina before the digital cluster lit up with warnings, ten days after delivery, and the dealer found the instrument panel cluster had failed internally. One visit. The truck sat from September 15 to November 5, 2025, 52 consecutive days, while the cluster was replaced, a proxi alignment re-paired it to the truck, and RRT 25-223 was run. The slang word is lemon. The legal test is a covered defect that substantially impairs use, value or safety and that survives the attempts or the days your state sets. Fifty-two days on one repair order is the days leg. Stellantis settled it as a cash-and-keep, and the owner still drives the truck.

Every state has one, and no two are identical. They differ on the coverage period, the number of attempts, the day count, notice rules, and whether arbitration comes first. The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act sits alongside them and covers warranty breaches the state law may miss. Start with the what is lemon law page, then find your state on areas we serve.

Because the statutes shift attorney fees to the manufacturer when the consumer prevails, lemon law attorneys typically work without charging the client hourly. Easy Lemon is a consumer brand of RockPoint Law P.C.. Meet them on the team page.

Buyback and repurchase are the same word. What it looks like in a file is a Florida Hummer EV, 2024 model, twelve repair visits, a rear hatch that would not latch no matter what the dealer did to it, latch adjusted, wedge adjusted, actuator replaced, gate module reprogrammed, a trip to a body shop for alignment, still would not latch, while the roof leaked into the cabin at both front corners and the Super Cruise buttons failed badly enough that the whole steering wheel came out. Sixty-six days on a lift. GM took the truck back. That means the purchase price and collateral charges refunded and the lien paid off, with a deduction only for miles before the first repair, on a truck delivered with 2,575 already on it, all of it laid out in section 681.104(2) of the Florida Statutes. Timing is covered in how long a buyback takes.

Florida gives you 24 months from delivery. That is the rights period, the window in which the defect has to be reported for chapter 681 to apply, and it is not the deadline to file. The 2024 Mercedes-Benz C-Class file in Florida is what it looks like in practice, a car that would not crank, a check engine light that came and went, a loud noise from the engine and transmission at low speed, a turbocharger replaced, and then a recommendation to replace the engine, all of it written on repair orders inside that window. Mercedes bought the car back. Ohio measures its period as a year or 18,000 miles and Maryland 24 months or 18,000 miles. Report the defect in writing inside the window, even when the repair visits run past it.

In a repurchase, the manufacturer pays the lienholder the loan payoff directly, and the balance goes to the consumer. If the payoff is larger than the refund because of negative equity rolled into the loan, the consumer may owe the difference. The lienholder must release its lien before title can transfer back to the manufacturer.

The Magnuson-Moss Act requires warranties on consumer products costing more than $10 to be labeled either "full" or "limited." A limited warranty can restrict remedies to repair only and can cap the duration of implied warranties, but it still must be honored. Failure to repair under a limited warranty after a reasonable number of attempts is a breach.

Seven days out of service would not get a Washington file past the state count. The Audi Q5 e file did not need it to. Wireless CarPlay dropped on every one of four visits, the MMI screen went black while driving on three of them, the charging pad overheated, and Audi applied TSB 2062466/5, then TSB 2064681/5, then a full MMI update and an engineering Android update, and the defect outlived all of it. The federal act, 15 U.S.C. 2301 through 2312, asks a different question than a day count. Did the warrantor fix the covered defect in a reasonable number of tries. Four documented failures on the same complaint answered that, and Audi took the car back. The act reaches used cars and older cars state statutes leave out. Read the Magnuson-Moss page.

Lemon law obligations run to the manufacturer (or its distributor for imports), even though the dealer performed the repairs. The dealer is the manufacturer's agent for warranty work. Under the federal act the same party is called the warrantor: any supplier who gives or offers to give a written warranty.

Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Maryland require the consumer to use the manufacturer's program first if it is state-certified or meets state standards. New Jersey and Wisconsin do not. The result generally binds the manufacturer but not the consumer, who can still go to court. Check the arbitration line on your state's pillar page.

The Maryland Automobile Warranty Enforcement Act, Md. Code, Com. Law §14-1501 to §14-1504, covers new vehicles bought, leased, or registered in Maryland. Four repair attempts, 30 cumulative days, or a single failed attempt on a braking or steering failure raises the presumption. Suit must be filed within three years of delivery. See the Maryland lemon law page.

A high-voltage battery failure on a 2024 Kia EV9 in Michigan, three visits, 75 days out of service, and Kia bought it back. Michigan's act runs from section 257.1401 to 257.1410 of the Compiled Laws and covers new vehicles bought or leased in the state for personal use. Two mechanics to get right. The consumer must give the manufacturer written notice, and the manufacturer then gets a final repair attempt before the repurchase obligation attaches. The filing deadline is the earlier of the warranty term or four years from purchase. Details on the Michigan lemon law page.

The New Jersey Lemon Law, N.J. Stat. §56:12-29 to §56:12-49, covers vehicles bought or leased in New Jersey within two years or 24,000 miles of delivery. Three attempts for the same defect, one for a serious safety defect, or 20 cumulative days out of service raises the presumption. New Jersey also has a separate Used Car Lemon Law for dealer-sold used vehicles. See the New Jersey lemon law page.

Loss of brake pressure on a 2024 Tesla Cybertruck, 19 days out of service, and Tesla took it back in New York. Nineteen days is under the 30 the statute names, and the file still resolved as a buyback, which tells you the day count is a presumption and not the only road in. New York's New Car Lemon Law, General Business Law 198-a, covers vehicles bought, leased or registered in the state, and four repair attempts or 30 cumulative days out of service in the first 18,000 miles or two years raises the presumption. There is a separate Used Car Lemon Law at 198-b, and New York requires "lemon law buyback" branding on titles. See the New York lemon law page.

New York's Attorney General administers the New Motor Vehicle Lemon Law Arbitration Program. A consumer files a request, an arbitrator hears the case, and the award is binding on the manufacturer. The program is an alternative to court, and an attorney can represent you in it.

Refill Inverter Coolant. That dash message is the nonconformity in the Kia Niro file, a 2020 in Florida, and it appeared on all five repair orders. What the dealer did about it changed every time, a leaking evaporator core and a dead on-board charger the first visit, debris in the radiator and a new long block the second, a restricted low-conductivity coolant pipe the fourth, corrosion through the whole cooling circuit and a new traction motor, high-voltage pump, water pump and A/C chiller the fifth. The statute does not care which part. Nonconformity means the vehicle does not conform to its warranty, and a warning that survives five repairs and 110 days out of service is one condition, not five. It settled at $4,000, cash-and-keep.

A no-start on day one. The Sorento was a 2025, leased in Ohio, and it went back four times in under 8,100 miles, a check engine light with P1326 stored, the whole HPCU assembly replaced on P1618, a fuel rail pressure sensor on P0191, and then a 14-mile-an-hour limp home with every warning on the dash lit. Forty-one days. Ohio's statute, Revised Code 1345.71 through 1345.77, covers new vehicles bought or leased for personal use in the first year or 18,000 miles, and it presumes a lemon after three attempts on one defect, one attempt where the defect could kill someone, eight attempts on anything, or 30 days down. No certified-mail step, no final-attempt step. Kia unwound the lease. See the Ohio lemon law page.

Twenty-one thousand dollars, and the owner kept the truck. That was the close on a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD file in Pennsylvania, a cash-and-keep, which tells you the statute's remedies were never the only outcome on the table. The Pennsylvania Automobile Lemon Law, 73 P.S. 1951 through 1960, covers new vehicles bought, leased or registered in the state, and it presumes a lemon after three repair attempts for the same defect or 30 cumulative days out of service, all inside the shorter of 12 months, 12,000 miles or the warranty term. The Bureau of Consumer Protection runs the state's arbitration program. Twelve months is short. The repair orders have to start early. See the Pennsylvania lemon law page.

One hundred sixty-six days. Texas presumes a lemon at 30, so the Audi Q8 e-tron file in Texas did not argue about whether Audi had a reasonable opportunity. The count argued it. Three visits, an electric motor that failed, a coolant leak in the drivetrain, then module failures cascading through the electrical system while the car sat at the dealer for the better part of six months. A presumption moves the burden. Once the attempts or the days are met, the manufacturer has to show it did not get its chance, instead of the owner proving it did. It is not the only road. A file one visit short can still prove a reasonable number of attempts on its facts. This one was not short, and Audi repurchased the car.

Four is New York's number. Same complaint on every ticket, four trips, four times home unfixed, and the manufacturer has had its reasonable chance under General Business Law 198-a, or 30 days out of service does the same job. The RAV4 Hybrid file had both. A 2023 model, 140 days in the shop across the four visits, no loaner on any of them, the owner borrowing rides for the better part of five months. Toyota opened at $1,000 toward attorney fees and nothing for the car. Not the argument, the count. It ended in a full repurchase.

The recall got done. The light came back. That was the 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLE file in New York, a persistent check engine light that returned after the recall repair, three visits, 106 days out of service, and a $33,500 cash-and-keep at the end of it. A recall is a fleet-wide fix ordered under federal motor vehicle safety law and a lemon law claim is about your specific car and the manufacturer's repeated failure to fix it, and the two overlap exactly there, when the recall remedy does not hold or is not available for months. Recall repair visits count as repair attempts. Browse open campaigns on the recalls page.

Florida covers recreational vehicles with a longer 60-day out-of-service threshold. Texas covers towable RVs. Wisconsin includes motor homes. Other states limit coverage to passenger vehicles, so the answer depends on where you bought the unit. The federal warranty act applies to RVs regardless.

Fifteen repair orders. That is what a 2021 GMC Yukon out of Idaho produced before GM took it back, 80 days out of service, and the check engine light throwing a different code almost every time, P2459, U02A9, P14D9, P3055, P3056, U043A. Nobody remembers fifteen visits. The paper does. Each order should show your complaint in your words, what the technician found, the odometer and the in and out dates, and you want a copy every time, the visits where the dealer says it could not reproduce the fault most of all. A visit with no paperwork is hard to count.

Every state summarized on this site lists replacement as a remedy alongside repurchase. In most states the consumer picks. A replacement should be comparable in model and trim, and the manufacturer typically pays the collateral charges on the swap. Many consumers choose the refund instead so they can shop a different brand.

Repurchase and buyback are interchangeable. The manufacturer refunds the full purchase price, including collateral charges, less a reasonable offset for the consumer's use before the first repair attempt. The loan is paid off directly to the lienholder. See what a manufacturer buyback is.

Under U.C.C. §2-608, a buyer who accepted a vehicle can revoke acceptance if a nonconformity substantially impairs its value and was hard to discover or the seller promised to cure it. Revocation must happen within a reasonable time after the buyer discovers the defect. It is a fallback when the lemon law does not fit, such as a used car with a dealer warranty.

Arizona's statute contains an express right-to-cure provision. In substance it is the same as the final repair attempt required in Florida, Georgia, and Michigan. The consumer sends notice, the manufacturer gets one more shot, and if the defect persists the repurchase obligation kicks in.

Two is Texas's number for a serious safety hazard, four for anything else. A seatbelt that does not hold is the first kind. The Acadia file was a 2024 in Texas, four repair visits on the belt, 103 days out of service, and it closed as a cash-and-keep. Brakes, steering, airbags, fuel leaks, sudden loss of power, that is the usual list. Georgia, New Jersey and Ohio presume a lemon after one failed attempt on a serious safety defect, and Maryland applies the single-attempt rule to braking or steering failures after notice and a chance to cure. Write the risk in your own words on the repair order. The technician will not do it for you.

The Magnuson-Moss Act defines a service contract as a written contract to perform, over a fixed period or for a specified duration, services relating to maintenance or repair, entered into for separate consideration. It is not a warranty. Selling one within 90 days of the sale bars the seller from disclaiming implied warranties.

Several statutes only require the consumer to arbitrate if the manufacturer's program is certified by the state or meets state standards. If the automaker has no certified program in your state, you can usually go straight to court. Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Maryland use this conditional model.

The filing deadline is different from the window in which the defect must first appear. Wisconsin and Maryland allow three years from delivery; Ohio is much tighter. Florida measures from the end of its 24-month rights period, and Texas and Arizona measure from the end of the warranty or the 24-month mark. Find your state on areas we serve and read the deadline line before waiting.

Back glass broken on day two is not substantial impairment. A radio stuck at full volume is not either, on its own. The Blazer EV file out of Missouri had both, a 2024, and then it had the thing that was. Service High Voltage System, a failed coolant control valve, then the same warning back with reduced power and a coolant hose found on the wrong port, then Service Charging System twice, a temperature sensor, terminal 48 backed out of the X140R connector, and finally no cabin heat in an electric SUV with a battery message on the screen. Seven visits, 53 days. Use, value or safety, the test asks whether a reasonable buyer would have paid the price knowing, and nobody pays full price for a car that may not charge. It closed as a cash-and-keep.

A TSB tells technicians how to address a pattern failure the manufacturer already knows about. It is strong evidence in a lemon law case because it shows the defect is not unique to your car. TSBs are searchable by VIN through NHTSA. If the TSB fix has been applied and the problem returns, that visit still counts as a repair attempt.

The screen went blank on every one of seven visits. A 2024 Cadillac Lyriq in Texas, 36 days out of service, and GM repurchased it in full. Texas sets four repair attempts for the same defect, two for a serious safety hazard, or 30 cumulative days out of service, covers new vehicles bought or leased in the state including towable RVs, and puts the whole thing in the Occupations Code at sections 2301.601 to 2301.613. There is no manufacturer arbitration here. A complaint goes to TxDMV, which holds a hearing at no cost to the consumer. See the Texas lemon law page.

A manufacturer cannot void your warranty because you had oil changes done at an independent shop or installed non-OEM brake pads, unless it provides those parts or services free of charge or has an FTC waiver. Dealers sometimes claim otherwise to deny a warranty repair. That denial can itself be a breach.

Texas does not use manufacturer arbitration. The consumer files a complaint with TxDMV, a hearing examiner takes evidence, and the agency can order the manufacturer to repurchase or replace the vehicle. The hearing is free to the consumer. Filing deadlines are strict, so read the deadline on the Texas pillar page.

UDAP statutes prohibit deceptive business conduct and typically allow a consumer to recover actual damages and attorney fees. Florida's version is FDUTPA; New York's is General Business Law §349. When a dealer misrepresents a car's repair history or a manufacturer denies a known defect, a UDAP count can sit beside the lemon law count.

Article 2 governs the sale of goods, including vehicles. Section 2-314 creates the implied warranty of merchantability, 2-608 allows revocation of acceptance, and 2-714 and 2-715 set the measure of damages. The Magnuson-Moss Act borrows these state-law warranties and adds a federal cause of action and fee shifting on top.

A Florida repurchase is not the sticker price back. The manufacturer gets to deduct a reasonable offset for use, and the statute, section 681.102, measures it by the miles on the odometer at the first repair visit for the defect, not the day of the buyback, which is why the first drop-off date matters more than people expect. The Rivian R1S file is where that bit. A 2024, the airbag warning toggling on and off with nothing hit, roof trim loose above the driver's head in the rain, moisture in the taillights and the center light bar, the frunk switch dead, four visits, 69 days out of service, and Rivian took it back. Every mile before that first drop-off cost the owner something. Every mile after it did not.

New York's Used Car Lemon Law, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §198-b, requires dealers to give a written warranty whose length depends on mileage. New Jersey has its own Used Car Lemon Law covering used vehicles bought from dealers. Most states have no used-car statute, in which case the federal warranty act and the UCC are the tools. Read the used car lemon law page.

The Magnuson-Moss Act uses "warrantor" where state lemon laws say "manufacturer." A dealer that issues its own written warranty on a used car is also a warrantor for that warranty. The warrantor is the party liable for fee shifting when the consumer prevails.

The bumper-to-bumper warranty period and the lemon law coverage period are related but not identical. Pennsylvania covers the shorter of 12 months, 12,000 miles, or the warranty period; Arizona covers the warranty term or two years/24,000 miles, whichever comes first. A defect that first appears inside the lemon law window but is still unfixed after it closes is still a claim.

Three visits for a transmission judder between gears and 54 days out of service, on a 2025 Kia K5 GT in Wisconsin, and Kia took the car back. Wisconsin's statute is a single section, 218.0171, and it covers new vehicles bought or leased in the state for personal use, motor homes included. Four repair attempts for the same defect or 30 cumulative calendar days out of service raises the presumption. Written notice to the manufacturer is required. Arbitration is not, and that matters, because a Wisconsin owner can file suit without first sitting through a manufacturer program. See the Wisconsin lemon law page.

Telling the dealer is not the same as telling the manufacturer. Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin all require written notice to the manufacturer at some point in the process. Florida requires it after 15 cumulative days out of service. Use the address in your warranty booklet and the delivery method the statute names.

The Magnuson-Moss definition has two prongs: a written affirmation that the product is defect-free or will perform for a set period, or a written undertaking to refund, repair, or replace if it does not. The promise must be part of the basis of the bargain. A new-vehicle limited warranty and a CPO warranty both qualify.