The Lemon File

How We Check

Where The Lemon File gets its rules, how statutes are read and dated, why some rows say not confirmed, what the tools never do, and how often we recheck.

Lemon law is easy to get wrong. Every state writes its own, the counts and windows differ, notice steps hide further down a section, and old numbers keep being repeated after a law changes. A missed notice step or a skipped state board can cost someone a claim. This page sets out where our rules come from, how we read and date them, why some rows say “not confirmed”, what our tools do and don’t do, and how often we recheck.

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.

Where rules come from

We go to the source that makes the rule and link it at the claim. The full list, with each link and read date, is on our sources page.

  • State lemon laws: each state’s statute in official text, from the legislature’s or code reviser’s own site or an official PDF, cited by section, with the site’s own currency note where it gives one and the date we read it.
  • State process and fees: the state agency’s own page, such as the attorney general, the DMV, consumer affairs or the state arbitration board. Where an agency page says something different from the statute, we follow the statute.
  • Federal law: the US Code on govinfo.gov (the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. 2301-2312, and the recall law, 49 U.S.C. 30120), the eCFR with its “up to date as of” date (16 CFR 455, 700, 701, 702 and 703; 49 CFR 579.5), and the Federal Register for changes, such as the CARS Rule’s withdrawal.
  • Federal agencies: the FTC for warranties, service contracts and the Buyers Guide, the FCC for auto-warranty robocalls, NHTSA for recalls (and its own recall lookup), and the IRS for the business mileage rate that the Virginia and Maine offsets use.
  • Warranty terms: each carmaker’s own current warranty booklet, named with its model year and the date we read it. A maker’s web page counts only where no booklet could be read, and the page says so.
  • Never a source: law firm pages and blogs, lawyer directories, “free case review” or case-evaluation sites, lemon-law firm networks, legal summary sites, warranty sellers and “best extended warranty” or warranty-review pages, dealer blogs, forums and video sites. Not for a rule, a number or a statement, not even as “according to”. Claims from such sites appear only as claims we have checked, without naming who made them.

How a rule gets on the page

Each rule is sorted by how directly we read it, and that decides how we word it:

  • Read in official text. Stated plainly, with the section and the date we read it. Before a page uses a rule, the whole section is read again, not just the sentence that matched a search, because exceptions often sit further down: business buyers and fleet sizes, motorcycles and motor homes, leases, a maker program that must come first only if the warranty disclosed it, a final repair attempt after written notice, and whether days are calendar or business days.
  • Read only in an agency copy, an older official copy or in part. Not stated as a flat rule. Where a page uses it, it says exactly what we read and what we could not.
  • Not read. It stays off the page. State tables show “not confirmed” with a link to the state agency and the official code.

Why some rows say “not confirmed”

Some official code sites refuse automated reads, publish their code only through a commercial vendor’s terms, or would not load when we tried. We don’t fill those gaps from a law firm page or a summary site. As of 11 November 2026:

  • New Hampshire and Tennessee: statute not read. Rows say “not confirmed” and link the state agency.
  • Arkansas, Mississippi and Wisconsin: read only in session laws, an agency’s copy of an older code edition, or agency pages. Rows say “not confirmed in current official text” and link the agency, and these states are not in our tools.
  • Indiana: read in the official text as archived in March 2014; we could not open the current official code. The Indiana page says so in those words.
  • Georgia: read in the official text posted by the Georgia Attorney General, current through the 2024 session. A 2025 bill reworded one definition, and the page says that too.
  • Utah: the statute is read; the state rule that sets a use-offset formula is not, so the offset shows the statute’s own words and no number.

“Not confirmed” never means a state has no rule. It means we have not read it in official text yet.

How rules are named and dated

  • Section and read date on every state number, in text, tables, tools and graphics, and a dated fact-check note at the end of each page.
  • The official site’s own currency note, where it gives one: Texas statutes “current through the 89th Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 2025”; Michigan’s act “Complete Through PA 114 of 2026”; Georgia’s AG-posted text “Current through 2024 Regular and Extraordinary Session”. Many state sites give no such note, and we don’t invent one.
  • Federal editions: the US Code by edition (2024, on govinfo), the eCFR by its “up to date as of” date (9 November 2026 when we read it on 11 November), Federal Register documents by citation and date.
  • Numbers that move: the IRS business mileage rate by period and release (72.5 cents a mile for 1 January to 30 June 2026 and 76 cents for 1 July to 31 December 2026, per the IRS), state program fees by the date we read them, and California’s list of makers that opted into its newer lemon-law procedure by the date of the list.
  • Silence is not a rule. When a statute says nothing on a point, such as a deadline, an offset formula, whether days are calendar or business days, or who chooses between a refund and a replacement, the page says the statute is silent. It does not fill the gap.
  • Reader links on official sites, so you can read the same text we did. For Illinois we read the legislature’s official file repository and link its public site.

What the tools do, and don’t

Our tools show rules and arithmetic, never a verdict or a date.

  • The lemon law checker shows, for each number the state’s statute names, whether your entries reach it or not, then lists what it can’t check: whether it is the same defect, whether the defect substantially impairs use, value or safety, whether notice was given the way the statute requires, and whether a program or board must come first. Reaching the numbers creates a presumption in law, not a result. The tool never says “you qualify” or “your car is a lemon”.
  • The buyback and refund estimator applies the state’s own use-offset rule, with its section, to the numbers you enter, and labels the result an estimate. Where a statute gives no formula, it shows the statute’s words and no number. The maker, a board or a court decides what is paid.
  • The deadline rule lookup shows the rule in words, with its trigger, its length, any pause and its section, and says an earlier date may apply. It computes no date. Where a lemon law states no period, it says so.
  • The extended warranty break-even calculator uses only your own numbers and gives no “worth it” verdict.

Each formula is tested against answers worked by hand before the tool goes live. A state we have not read in official text is not in a tool’s state list, or shows “not confirmed”.

How pages are checked

After a page is written, a separate fact-check compares each window, count, day total, notice step, program rule, offset, deadline rule, fee and date with its source, and reworks every sum. A final review 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. A page with a serious problem still open does not go out. The same state’s numbers must match across its state page, the all-states table and the tools.

How often things are rechecked

  • State rows (windows, counts, days, notice steps, programs, offsets, deadline rules, fees): every three months, and again after each state’s legislative session.
  • California’s opt-in list: after 15 December each year, when the Department of Consumer Affairs must publish it.
  • The Virginia and Maine offsets: each January, when the IRS sets the business mileage rate, and whenever the IRS changes the rate mid-year, as it did in 2026.
  • The maker warranty table: each model year.
  • Federal parts: when the Federal Register shows a change to a rule we rely on.

A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Between rechecks a law can change without our knowing, which is why every state number shows the day we read it.

How we treat claims seen elsewhere

Claims repeated online are reported as claims, never as fact, and we don’t name who made them. Some we have checked, as of 11 November 2026:

  • “A car is a lemon after three repair attempts.” Not as a national rule. Counts differ by state: two attempts for a defect likely to cause death or serious bodily injury in California (Civ. Code 1793.22(b)), one for such a defect in Ohio (1345.73(A)(4)), four attempts on the same defect in New York (Gen. Bus. Law 198-a), and some states add a final repair attempt after written notice.
  • “The lawyer is free; the maker pays.” Not everywhere. Under Magnuson-Moss, fees “may be allowed” to a consumer who “finally prevails” (15 U.S.C. 2310(d)(2)), and the Texas, Illinois and Nevada lemon laws contain no attorney-fee clause. See how lemon lawyers are paid.
  • “Any outside oil change voids your warranty.” The FTC’s rule names a “void if serviced elsewhere” condition as prohibited (16 CFR 700.10(c)), though a maker may still deny a repair where it can show the outside part or service caused the damage. See what voids a car warranty.
  • “An extended warranty is a warranty.” Federal law calls it a service contract (15 U.S.C. 2301(8)).
  • “The CARS Rule requires” or “the new 2024 Buyers Guide”. The FTC withdrew the CARS Rule effective 12 February 2026 (91 FR 6507), and the Used Car Rule behind the Buyers Guide last changed effective 27 January 2017 (16 CFR 455).
  • “Arizona and Illinois have no used-car rule.” Both have one (A.R.S. 44-1267; 815 ILCS 505/2L). See used car lemon laws.

Our limits

We read the statutes, rules and agency pages a page depends on, not every court decision that interprets them, and courts can read a section differently from how it looks on the page. Some makers’ booklets could not be opened, so the warranty table lists only makers whose terms we read. No check catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake. Fixes are logged on our corrections page, and our editorial policy covers the rest of how pages are made.

Before you rely on a rule here, check it against the official text we link and with the state agency. If a deadline may be close, don’t wait for a recheck of ours.

Statutes and rules on this page checked on 11 November 2026.