Lemon law by state: is your car a lemon?

Five parts every lemon law shares

Behind the different numbers, the 51 laws are built the same way. First, a protection period after delivery, during which the defect must appear and the repairs must be tried. Second, a presumption: once the same defect has been repaired a set number of times, or the car has been out of service for a set number of days, the law presumes the manufacturer has had a reasonable chance. Third, a notice to the manufacturer, often with a final repair attempt. Fourth, a dispute step: a manufacturer program, a state program, or the courts. Fifth, a deadline to take that step. A claim that meets the test but misses the notice or the deadline can fail, which is why the checker gives all five.

Why your state changes everything

The same car, with the same defect and the same repair history, can be a lemon in one state and not in the next. Take a car delivered ten months ago that has been repaired three times for a stalling engine and spent 20 days at the dealer. In Massachusetts, Ohio or Georgia, where three attempts are enough, the presumption is met; in Arizona, California or New York, where four are needed, it is not yet. With the same 20 days, the car has met the days test in Maine and Mississippi but nowhere near it in Louisiana. If the car were 14 months old, it would be past the protection period in Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri, and well inside it in Florida, Texas or Virginia.

The grid below gives, for each state and the District, the number of attempts and the days test as we read them. Each opens the state’s own page, with its text, its official page and the details that a grid cannot show. 50 of the 51 were confirmed at the statute or the state’s official page; the one left is marked not confirmed.

The protection period

The period is the window in which the law watches the car. It runs from the day of delivery and ends at a time limit, a mileage limit, or the end of the manufacturer’s express warranty, usually whichever comes first. One year is the most common length; Illinois, Kentucky and Pennsylvania add a 12,000-mile limit to it. Two years or 24,000 miles is the other large group, with Arizona, Connecticut, Texas and Washington. California counts 18 months or 18,000 miles, Virginia 18 months with no mileage limit, and Maine three years. Arkansas is the rare state whose act reads whichever is later.

A period is not always a hard wall. Several states count repairs made after it if the first report fell inside it, Alabama, Idaho and South Dakota among them, and Michigan lets the four attempts spread over two years from the first. The checker shows the end of your period from your delivery date and warranty.

The repair tests

29 jurisdictions presume a lemon after four repair attempts on the same defect and 21 after three. 19 lower the count for a defect that is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, to one attempt in states such as Georgia, Iowa and Ohio or two in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas and Washington. The days test, the cumulative number of days the car has spent out of service for repairs, is usually 30, but it is 20 in New Jersey and North Carolina, 24 business days in Colorado since 2024, 40 in Nebraska and 45 in Louisiana. Business days in some states, calendar days in others: the checker applies the unit of your state. The repair attempts page sets out the count state by state.

Notice and the final repair

The notice is the step owners most often miss. In some states it is part of the test itself: in Florida, after the third attempt the owner writes to the manufacturer by registered or express mail, and the manufacturer has ten days to respond and ten more to repair; Iowa and Arkansas work the same way. In others, the notice is required only if the warranty or the owner’s manual says so, as in California, Connecticut and Virginia. Alaska wants a certified letter to both the manufacturer and the dealer within 60 days after the period ends; Wisconsin has its own form. A letter is never wasted. The letter builder writes one that cites your state’s law, and it never leaves your browser.

Arbitration: the state’s program or the manufacturer’s

Most claims are settled before any court, through one of two kinds of program. A manufacturer program, set up under the federal rule 16 CFR Part 703, is free to the owner and must decide within 40 days; its decision does not bind the owner. In 30 jurisdictions we read, a qualifying manufacturer program must be tried before a lawsuit. 14 have a program run or overseen by the state that the manufacturer must join, including Florida’s New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board, New York’s Lemon Law Arbitration Program, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and Washington’s Attorney General program. The arbitration guide lists them and places each step on a timeline.

Deadlines

Lemon law deadlines are short, and they run from different dates. Arizona and Texas give six months after the protection period ends; Iowa and Oregon a year after it; Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina and South Dakota three years from delivery; Colorado and Washington 30 months. Missouri, Mississippi and North Dakota take the earlier of a limit after the warranty ends and a limit after delivery, Tennessee the later. Florida and Georgia count the time to request state arbitration from the end of the rights period. The deadline calculator applies each rule to your delivery date.

What a buyback pays

A repurchase refunds the price with its collateral charges, which usually include sales tax, title and registration, less an allowance for the owner’s use. Several states fix that allowance by formula. Connecticut and Florida multiply the price by the miles driven and divide by 120,000; Delaware and Montana divide by 100,000; North Dakota and Pennsylvania allow at most ten cents a mile or ten percent of the price, whichever is less; Maryland caps it at 15 percent. On a $40,000 car first repaired at 6,000 miles, the Florida formula deducts $2,000. The buyback calculator applies the rule of your state.

The federal floor: the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act

Under every state law sits the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, sections 2301 to 2312 of title 15 of the United States Code. It does not count repair attempts, but it makes written warranties enforceable in court, stops a seller who gives a written warranty from disclaiming the implied warranties, sets the rules for manufacturer dispute programs through the FTC, and lets a consumer who wins recover court costs and attorney fees. It covers used cars sold with a written warranty, and vehicles that a state law leaves out. The Magnuson-Moss page explains it for car owners.

Used, leased, motorcycles and RVs

Most lemon laws cover new cars only. New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island have rules for used cars, and a used car with the rest of its factory warranty keeps that warranty. Leases are covered in most states, with the lessee as the consumer. Motorcycles and motor homes are where the laws differ most: Texas covers both, Florida covers RVs with 60 days out of service but not motorcycles, and Pennsylvania has covered motorcycles since May 2025 but excludes motor homes. See the pages on used cars, leased cars and motorcycles and RVs.

What this site does not do

It reports what each state lemon law and the federal act say, with the address and the date we read them, and it applies them to the figures you enter. It does not decide whether your car is a lemon: a program, a state agency or a court does, and a presumption can be rebutted. It is not legal advice, it is not a law firm, and it refers no one to a lawyer. When we could not open an official text, we say not confirmed rather than repeating a figure from a secondary site: in early November 2026 that was the case for 1 of the 51 jurisdictions, for which no figure is shown. Where we could only read an archived copy of an official text, the state page says so, with its date.

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