Guides
The questions owners actually ask — counted, noticed, decoded, and calendared. Every guide is built from the same checked dataset as the checker.
The attempt count that triggers the lemon law presumption in every state — and why the same defect, described the same way, is what counts.
California's presumption: 4 attempts at the same defect, 2 at a life-threatening one, or 30+ days in the shop — inside 18 months or 18,000 miles.
Texas runs on staggered clocks: first repairs inside 12 months/12,000 miles, the pattern completed inside 24 months/24,000 miles.
Florida: 3 attempts at the same defect inside 24 months — plus the 15-day notice duty most owners miss.
New York new cars: 4 attempts or 30 days inside 18,000 miles/2 years. Used cars run on a completely different law.
Ohio has four doors: 3 attempts at one defect, 1 at a deadly one, 8 at anything, or 30 days out — and no mileage deduction at all.
In most states the presumption does not exist until the manufacturer gets written notice and a chance to cure. What the letter must contain, state by state.
The 30-day notice that preserves up to 2x civil penalties on California's AB 1755 fast track — what it must contain and what happens if you skip it.
Three steps stand between a Texas owner and a courtroom — written notice, a cure opportunity, and a mandatory TxDMV complaint.
After Florida's presumption numbers are met, the registered-mail notice opens a 10 + 10 day final-attempt clock (45 days for RVs).
State boards, the TxDMV, Part 703 programs, and manufacturer programs — who must go where first, and what it costs.
Manufacturers' first offers routinely use the wrong state's formula, the wrong mileage basis, or a deduction the state doesn't allow. Check these five numbers.
Two clocks run on every claim — the presumption window and the filing deadline. Confusing them is the most expensive mistake in lemon law.
A 2024 California Supreme Court decision that decides most used-car lemon claims in the state — what it held and what still survives.
Since January 1, 2025, your California deadline and notice rules depend on your manufacturer's election. How the tracks work and where the roster lives.
The presumption is a shortcut, not the whole road. What still exists when your numbers miss: the underlying claim, Magnuson-Moss, and state consumer law.
Returned lemons are resold legally in most states — with disclosures and, in Oklahoma, a permanent title brand. What to check before you buy one.
Dates, the defect in the same words, days in the shop, odometer in and out — the five fields every repair order must show.
30 days means six weeks in business-day states and one month in calendar-day states. Which your state uses, and how to count from repair orders.
Delay is a strategy. The counters are procedural: name the statute, name the numbers, name the date, and put it in the letter.
Most state lemon laws are new-car laws. Where used cars are actually covered: New York's tiers, California after Rodriguez, and the warranty-transfer states.
Only 5 states cover the whole motor home. 21 cover the chassis. Louisiana has a separate RV act. The map, state by state.
28 states cover motorcycles, 18 exclude them, 4 are genuinely undecided. Plus the special divisors nobody prints.
Most states cover lessees like buyers. The exceptions — Alaska, Missouri, Nevada, South Dakota — and the lease-specific refund math.
The federal warranty act that covers what state lemon laws don't — used cars, excluded classes, expired windows — and pays the lawyer when you win.