A lemon law is a state law that makes a carmaker replace a new vehicle, or buy it back, when the maker can’t fix a defect its warranty covers after a reasonable number of tries. There is no national lemon law for cars: every state and DC writes its own, and each decides four things differently. This guide takes them in the order an owner usually needs them, then the special cases: leases, motor homes, federal law and lawyers’ fees.
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.
Every rule below names its section and was read in official text on 11 November 2026. Each linked page has the exact words and the exceptions.
Start here: the four things every state decides
Every state answers the same four questions in its own words: how long the coverage window lasts, how many repair attempts or days in the shop create a presumption that the maker had enough chances, which steps must come first, and what the remedy pays once a deduction for your miles is taken off. Our guide to what a lemon law is and what it covers explains each one with real numbers from the statutes, who is covered, and what a lemon law does not do.
The windows differ: Illinois’s is 1 year or 12,000 miles, whichever is earlier (815 ILCS 380/2(f)); Florida’s is 24 months from delivery (Fla. Stat. 681.102(9)). And reaching a state’s numbers creates a presumption, not a result: the maker can still argue otherwise, and a board or court decides.
Repair counts and days in the shop
“Three strikes” is not the rule everywhere. Ohio’s presumption is reached at 3 repairs of the same defect, or 1 for a defect “likely to cause death or serious bodily injury”, or 30 calendar days out of service (Ohio Rev. Code 1345.73(A)). Texas counts 4 attempts, or 2 for a “serious safety hazard”, or 30 days (Tex. Occ. Code 2301.605(a)). New York counts 4 attempts or 30 calendar days, with no separate safety number (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 198-a(d)).
The lemon law number checker sets your repair history beside the numbers in 14 state statutes, prong by prong. It says only whether your entry “reaches it” or “does not reach it”, then lists what no tool can judge, such as whether the repairs were for the same defect.
The steps, in order
There is no national form to file: a claim is a sequence the state’s statute sets, and missing a step can cost the presumption or the refund. How to file a lemon law claim, step by step walks through the usual order: the repair record, written notice by the method the statute names, a final repair attempt where the state gives one, the maker’s program or the state board where either comes first, and only then court.
Florida, for one, names “registered or express mail” to the maker and then a final repair attempt (Fla. Stat. 681.104(1)(a)). Under federal law, a maker may require its own informal dispute program first if the program meets the Federal Trade Commission’s rules (15 U.S.C. 2310(a)(3)). Those rules make such programs free to consumers (16 CFR 703.3(a)) and say the decision does not legally bind anyone (703.5(j)); eCFR up to date as of 9 November 2026. How each program and state board works is on our page on lemon law arbitration.
Deadlines to act
The coverage window is not the deadline to file; the deadline is a separate rule. In Ohio, a suit must be brought within five years of the original delivery, with the time paused while a complaint is before a qualified dispute program (Ohio Rev. Code 1345.75(C)). In Texas, the complaint to the state goes in within six months after the earliest of the warranty’s end or 24 months or 24,000 miles from delivery (Tex. Occ. Code 2301.606(d)). Some lemon laws set no time limit of their own, and then a general limit probably applies.
The lemon law deadline lookup gives each state’s rule in words: what starts the clock, how long it runs, and whether a program or board pauses it. It computes no date, and every result ends: an earlier date may apply.
What a buyback pays
A buyback (repurchase) is usually the price paid plus the charges the state lists, minus a use offset: a deduction for the miles you drove. California takes the price times the miles before the first delivery for repair, divided by 120,000 (Cal. Civ. Code 1793.2(d)(2)(C)). New York leaves the first 12,000 miles free and divides by 100,000 (198-a(a)(4), (c)(1)). Ohio’s statute has no deduction for use (Ohio Rev. Code 1345.72(B)). The buyback and refund estimator applies 32 states’ rules to your numbers; its figures are estimates, and the maker, a board or a court decides what is paid.
A refund and a replacement are the remedies the statutes write down. Who chooses differs: Virginia gives the consumer “the unconditional right to choose a refund rather than a replacement vehicle” (Va. Code 59.1-207.13(A)), while in Missouri the maker acts “at its option” (RSMo 407.567.1). “Cash and keep” is not a remedy in any lemon law we read; it is a settlement whose terms are whatever both sides sign. Buyback, replacement or cash and keep sets the three side by side.
Leased cars
Most of the statutes we read cover lessees, but each defines which leases count. Ohio counts a lease “for a term of thirty days or more” (Ohio Rev. Code 1345.71(A)(2)); Florida wants a written lease “for 1 year or more” that makes the lessee “responsible for repairs”, or a lease-purchase agreement (Fla. Stat. 681.102(4), (10)). What changes is how the refund is split with the leasing company. Lemon laws for leased cars covers the split, the offset on a lease and when the lease ends without a penalty.
Motor homes and RVs
Most lemon laws that mention motor homes cover the driving part, not the living quarters. Some states set their own RV numbers: Florida counts 60 days out of service instead of 30 (Fla. Stat. 681.104(3)) and divides its offset by 60,000 miles instead of 120,000 (681.102(19)). RV and motorhome lemon laws by state has every state’s row.
The federal law underneath
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. 2301-2312, read in the US Code 2024 edition on govinfo) applies in every state, but for most cars it is not a “federal lemon law”. Its refund-or-replace right applies only to a warranty labelled “full” (2304(a)(4)). New-car warranties are almost always labelled “limited” (the labels are set by 2303(a), (d)). For most owners the federal route is a suit for damages over a broken written or implied warranty (2310(d)(1)), in federal court only if at least $50,000 is in controversy (2310(d)(3)). It leaves state rights in place (2311(b)(1)). The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act explained goes through it section by section.
Lawyers and who pays the fees
What you pay your own lawyer is set by your written fee agreement; what a court can order the other side to pay is set by the statute’s fee clause, and the wording ranges widely. Ohio says a consumer “shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and all court costs” (Ohio Rev. Code 1345.75(A)); Maryland says a court “may award” them (Md. Com. Law 14-1502(l)); Texas’s lemon law (Occ. Code 2301.601-2301.613) and Illinois’s (815 ILCS 380) have no fee clause at all. Under federal law, fees “may be allowed” to a consumer who “finally prevails” (15 U.S.C. 2310(d)(2)). So “the lawyer is free because the maker pays” is not what the statutes say. How lemon lawyers are paid, and who pays the fees gives each state’s rule and the state bars’ own referral services.
A reading path
- New to all this: start with the four things every state decides, then your own state’s page from the lemon laws in all 50 states and DC table.
- The car keeps going back to the shop: gather the repair orders, run the number checker, then read the filing steps before sending anything.
- An offer is on the table: read what a buyback, a replacement and cash and keep each involve, and try the estimator with your own figures.
- Leased, a motor home, federal law or fees: the sections above.
What to keep, and the next step
Keep every repair order: the date in and out, the mileage, the complaint as the shop wrote it, what was done, and the days out of service, even when the shop found “no problem”. Keep the warranty booklet and owner’s manual, which say where written notice goes and whether a maker program comes first. Then open your state’s page in lemon laws by state, which links the official statute and the state agency.
Fact-check note. Statutes and rules checked on 11 November 2026, as cited on each linked page: 15 U.S.C. 2301-2312 (US Code 2024 edition, govinfo); 16 CFR 703 (eCFR, up to date as of 9 November 2026); and the state statutes named above in each state’s official text. Lemon laws change: we recheck state rows every three months and after each legislative session.
