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The lemon laws of Alabama can be found under the Alabama Code Section 8-20A. These laws safeguard the rights of a buyer who ends up buying a new vehicle with inherent manufacturing defects. The lemon laws may be invoked when a vehicle is under the manufacturer’s warranty period and the defects of the cars cannot be repaired even after repeated attempts. The warranty on a new vehicle is for a period of 24 months from the date of delivery of the vehicle or 24,000 miles, whichever happens first.

A vehicle is considered a lemon if:

It is has been repaired 3 or more times during the manufacturer’s warranty term, but still the defect persists.
It has been out of service, as it was under repair, for more than a cumulative total of 30 days.
If the defect has been reported within 24 months from the date of delivery of the vehicle or 24,000 miles, whichever happens first.

The number of days of repair may exceed due to occurrences which are beyond the manufacturer’s control for e.g. declaration of war, floods, strikes and lockouts etc.

The consumer is advised to inform the dealer via notification by return receipt service that one last chance to repair the vehicle is being given to him. It is important that the defect is inherent and persistent in nature because of which the vehicle is not meeting the standards proposed by the manufacture at the time of delivery. After the last chance letter the manufacturer has a maximum of 7 business days to repair the defect.

If the defect still exists the consumer could go in for a refund with respect to the old vehicle then the manufacturer would have to refund him the full purchase price - which shall be inclusive of all collateral charges- after deducting a nominal allowance for the consumer's private use of such vehicle.

The consumer need not go for out of court settlement with the manufacturer. Even if he does, and is not contended with the outcome, he may still bring in a suit against the manufacturer in court. Moreover the manufacturer's informal arbitration process must be in accordance with Federal Trade Commission regulations. The decision so arrived is a binding on the manufacturer but not on the consumer.

The US federal law governing lemons is officially called The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, however, most American states each have their own lemon law.


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