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In California (CA), if you buy or lease a car that has a fault or defect which significantly reduces its safety, value or use, you can get redressal from the manufacturer of the car using Californian state laws. The CA lemon law, while not assisting everyone having a defective vehicle, makes provisions for car owners to get certain vital rights so that their faulty cars can be repaired or replaced while under warranty.

Even if the CA lemon law does not cover your vehicle, there are other state and federal laws that may come to your aid. These laws stipulate that vehicles adhere to some basic safety standards, ban deceptive practices and expect truth-in-lending. The provisions set down by these laws will assist consumers in getting a refund and their attorney's fees at a minimum.

The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act

Within the California Civil Code from section 1790 is the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. This act stipulates that if the make of a car cannot repair a faulty purchased or leased car so as to bring it to adhere to its original written warranty after having made a reasonable number of attempts, he must repurchase or replace the car. In repurchasing, the car manufacturer is permitted to cut money only for the miles driven by the customer before taking the car to the repair shop due to the fault.

To be able to avail of these rights, a vehicle must have been leased or purchased in California for family, business or personal usage.

The Act gives protection during the entire term of the written warranty. So if you have a warranty for 3 years, you are protected for the full three years. In fact you can get even longer protection. The law gives you four years time to file a case after first discovering the fault.

So now suppose a car has 3 years’ warranty. A defect is discovered for the first time two years into this warranty period. That would give the person an additional 4 years to take legal action. This implies that although the warranty term is 3 years the buyer now gets 6 years from the date of purchase to file a suit.

If your car is deemed to be a lemon, the CA Lemon Law grants you the right to select either a refund or a replacement car. The manufacturer cannot insist that you choose only a replacement car. Moreover, depending upon your case, you may even be able to get compensation for towing, repair and using a rental vehicle.

California Law for Used Cars

Even if a car is resold, the Warranty Act is applicable if the car is still within the original new car warranty term. The time remaining on the new car warranty then gives protection to the new owner of the used car. The CA law applies to certified used cars – those cars that have quality guarantees that are sold by dealers or through manufacturers’ schemes. Even resold defective cars – repurchased by the dealer or manufacturer and then resold – and vehicles covered under extended service contracts are protected by the Act.

According to CA Lemon law, the first time that a repurchased lemon is sold it must have at least 1 year factory warranty to cover all faults and it is illegal to sell such a car “as is”. It is mandatory to title the car “lemon law buyback” and to put a “lemon” sticker on the door jamb of the car. Even if such a faulty repurchased car is illegally sold “as is”, the owner gets rights under the CA Lemon Law.

What to do if your car is a lemon

To keep all your records in order, send a letter to your manufacturer stating your case and requesting that he buy back your car. This letter must be sent by certified post with return receipt requested to the address mentioned by the car manufacturer on your owner’s manual. The clear and conspicuous provision of this address by the manufacturer is mandatory post January 2001. Please do not rely on only making calls to the manufacturer’s customer service number as the letter sent by you is needed as evidence to your case.
Your manufacturer may willingly buy back your faulty car or you may need to hire an attorney or utilise the arbitration programme offered by the manufacturer, if he does offer one.
To see if the manufacturer of the lemon has an arbitration programme, look through your owner’s manual or call the state Consumer Affairs hotline at (800) 952-5210. To avail of arbitration, you will be required to call for an application form and a copy of the arbitration rules. These will assist in understanding the criteria on which your case will be resolved.
Make a compilation of all the records that you think will act as evidence in your case (warranty, repair orders, reports generated after checking of your car and technical service bulletins) and having made copies hand them over to the panel set up for arbitration.
If you do decide in favour of arbitration, the panel must grant you a hearing within 40 days. It would be preferable to go to the hearing to present you side of the story, because who else could tell it better? If you decide to accept the arbitration panel’s decision, the car manufacturer will be bound by it and will be given 30 days to execute the order. The manufacturer cannot appeal against the order given by an arbitration programme. In the event that the arbitration panel rules against you, you can approach the court and claim a replacement or refund. Be encouraged by the fact that most Lemon Law judgements rule in favour of the consumer.
If arbitration as an option is not available to you, approach the court via a lawsuit. You will be required to take on an attorney who knows his Lemon Law or consumer warranty law. It will always help your case if your attorney only even takes on cases in the interest of the consumer not the car manufacturer. If your attorney works on contingency then you will not be required to pay him beforehand. If the ruling goes in your favour, you may even get your attorney fees compensated.

Lemon Law Presumption

The CA Lemon Law understands that having bought or leased a vehicle the consumer has aright to expect it to function safely and reliably. Hence, it has granted the consumer the right to ask for a refund or replacement if the fault substantially detracts from the vehicle’s use, safety or value and the customer has tried to approach the manufacturer for getting the vehicle repaired. This right to refund or replacement stands firm even if the maker of the car claims that they are unable to find any problem.

Some unethical manufacturers may not want to comply with their legal responsibility, so the CA Lemon Law under special section to the Warranty Act - Civil Code section 1793.22 (b), has given consumers suggestions on how to make a reasonable legal presumption tat the manufacturer has had adequate chance and time to repair their faulty vehicle and has still not done it.

This presumption can be comparable with “an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty”. The consumer can presume that a new car under warranty is a lemon if several ineffective attempts have been made to get the defect repaired and it is found that the fault cannot be repaired.

These guidelines are:

The vehicle should have been taken to the an authorised dealer four times or more for the same fault or the faults may have been different but due to these, your vehicle should have been out of commission for 30 days or more. It is not necessary that these 30 days are consecutive. If the fault is such that it may cause death or injury to you or people in the car, then you can ask for a refund or replacement after only 2 failed repair attempts.

Post January 2000, the 4 repair attempts or the 30 days out of service should have occurred within 18 months or 18000 miles (whichever happens first) from the date of purchase or lease.


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