The Lemon File’s pages are written to be accurate, useful, fair to owners, dealers and makers alike, and honest about where each rule comes from and what a page cannot know. This page sets out how that works and where its limits are.
This page is general information, not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Lemon laws, deadlines and required steps vary by state and change. The statute, the maker, a state board or a court decides a claim.
How a page is made
- Research. We start from the state statute in official text, the state agency’s own pages, the federal statutes and regulations, and the carmaker’s own warranty booklet, and note what they settle and what they leave open.
- Writing. A draft is written from that research under The Lemon File name.
- Fact-check. A separate check compares each window, repair count, day total, notice step, program rule, offset, deadline rule, fee and date with its source, re-reads the whole section for exceptions, and reworks every sum on the page.
- Graphics. Charts and diagrams repeat numbers from the text and add no new facts. Every rule in a graphic shows its section and read date, and example numbers are marked “example”.
- Final review. A last read looks for errors, gaps and anything that could lead a reader to miss a notice step, a program or board that must come first, or a filing window. If it finds a serious problem, the page is fixed and reviewed again. We do not publish a page with a serious problem still open.
Each page ends with the date its statutes and rules were checked. No process catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake.
Our sources
Every rule, number, window, deadline, fee and offset links to a primary source at the claim: the state statute in official text, the state agency’s own page for process and fees, the US Code on govinfo, the eCFR, the Federal Register, the FTC, the FCC, NHTSA, the IRS for the mileage rate some offsets use, and a carmaker’s own warranty booklet for its warranty terms. A state rule reaches a page only if we read it in official text. If we cannot confirm something, we leave it out or say plainly that it is not confirmed. Our how we check page explains how each kind of fact is handled, and the sources we use lists them.
Law firm pages, lawyer directories, case-review sites, legal summary sites, warranty sellers and warranty-review pages are never a source, not for a rule, a number or a statement. Claims from them appear only as claims we have checked, without naming who made them.
Rules for every page
A wrong line about a notice step or a deadline can cost someone a claim. So every page follows these rules:
- A clear note near the top. Every page says it is general information, not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney, that lemon laws, deadlines and required steps vary by state and change, and that the statute, the maker, a state board or a court decides a claim.
- No national rule that doesn’t exist. There is no national lemon law for cars, no national use-offset formula, no national deadline and no national “three strikes”. We give the federal frame, then only the state rows we have read.
- Section and read date. Every state number shows both, in text, tables, tools and graphics. Rows we have not read say “not confirmed” and link the state agency.
- No verdicts. Pages never say whether a reader’s car is a lemon, whether they qualify or have a claim, whether they would win, or whether they should sue, settle, arbitrate, accept a buyback, a replacement or a cash offer, hire a lawyer or buy an extended warranty. They explain the process, what each choice involves and when owners usually involve a lawyer.
- No “your deadline is”. Deadline pages and tools show the rule in words, its trigger, any pause and its section, with a warning that an earlier date may apply. No date is computed for a reader.
- No letters or forms to fill in. A notice letter is a legal step with state-specific rules. Pages list what each statute requires and link the state’s own sample or form where one exists; we post no template and no tool fills one in.
- Extended warranties are service contracts. Pages say so, name no seller except in a regulator’s own action, and give no “worth it” verdict.
- Makers and dealers are described by the statute and their own documents. A maker appears only as the publisher of a cited warranty booklet, on a state’s official list, or in a regulator’s action, never next to a defect claim about that maker.
What we do not claim
- We are not a law firm, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship.
- We do not claim to have handled the claims, arbitrations or buybacks we describe, or to have tested any car or warranty.
- We do not invent authors, quotes, owner stories, case results or reader comments.
- We do not rank or recommend lawyers, carmakers, models, dealers, warranty sellers or arbitration programs, and we do not call anyone “best”.
- We do not call an offer, a buyback amount or a warranty price “fair” or “good” for your situation. Tools give estimates from your own numbers.
- Photos are stock images chosen to illustrate a topic. They do not show cars, owners or cases we know of. A maker’s badge may appear on a car in a photo, never as a recommendation and never beside a claim about that maker’s defects. No legible dealer names, plates or vehicle identification numbers.
Fairness
Pages are written for owners, buyers of used cars and anyone trying to read a warranty booklet or a dealer’s paperwork. We describe what makers, dealers and arbitration programs do by what the statute and their own documents say, without casting them as villains or heroes. Where a statute is unclear, or courts may read it differently, we say so and do not pick a winner. Sometimes the honest answer is that the maker, a state board or a court decides.
Tools
Our tools are formulas with named inputs and shown working, each checked against answers worked by hand before it goes live. They use your numbers and the state’s rule as read, with its section and date. They show whether your entries reach the numbers a statute names, an estimated use offset, a deadline rule in words, or a break-even point. They never say you qualify, that your car is a lemon, what your deadline is, what a maker must pay, or whether a warranty is worth buying.
Updates and corrections
Lemon laws, program fees, the IRS mileage rate and maker warranties change, so pages are rechecked on the schedule set out on our how we check page, and sooner when we learn a source has changed. A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Errors are fixed and recorded on our corrections page.
Advertising and independence
Display advertising pays for this site, and advertisers have no say over what we publish. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, make no lawyer referrals, sell no warranties or service contracts, and publish no rankings. Our about page has more on how the site works.