Filing a lemon law claim can be tricky, especially if you don’t know the correct steps or what is required of you. If you buy a new car, you may find that it has a warranty defect that the car dealer cannot repair. If you buy or rent a defective vehicle, including motorcycles and other types of motorized vehicles, you could be protected by the lemon law.
In California, the lemon law requires the manufacturers of defective vehicles to replace or reimburse the original costs of the vehicle if they are unable to repair it. Thus, for the lemon law to apply, one must make several attempts to repair their vehicle during the warranty period. This is defined as the presumption of the lemon law. Most manufacturers and attorneys generally consider four or more repair attempts to be a reasonable number of attempts.
The presumption of the lemon law identifies a vehicle as a lemon (a vehicle with serious problems) if, within the first 18 months or 18,000 miles after the purchase or lease of the new vehicle, one or more of the following situations have occurred:
- You have had the vehicle repaired for the same problem four or more times, and it has not been fixed.
- The vehicle has been in the shop for more than 30 days for repairs of any problems covered by the vehicle’s warranty.
- You have taken the vehicle in for repair at least twice for a problem that is serious enough to cause severe personal injury or death, and it has not been fixed.
If any of these 3 mentioned situations occur in California, the vehicle will be presumed to be a lemon. Once this happens, you can call us to help you receive a refund or replacement. We are committed to helping you through the entire process of filing your claim.
