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The statute of lemon law in the state of New Mexico is codified into the “Motor Vehicles Quality Assurance Act”, enacted in the year 1985. This statute protects the rights of the consumers against defects in the vehicles manufactured and sold in the State.

Conformation of new vehicles to warranties

If a new motor vehicle does not confer to the warranty, then the manufacturer has to take such steps to bring the vehicle up to the promised standards.

In case even after at least four repair attempts or after causing the vehicle to remain idle for 30 days during the warranty period, the defects still persists, then, the manufacturer may replace the vehicle with a new comparable vehicle, of refund the amount along with all the incidental expenses to the consumer.

While returning the above amount to the consumer, the manufacturer is permitted to deduct a reasonable amount from the above sum towards normal ware of the vehicle before the defect is detected.

Conformation of used motor vehicles to warranty

A used motor vehicle is under an implied warranty of merchantability, which extends up to 15 days or 500 miles from the date of delivery.

If he dealer changes any of the provisions of the warranty without the buyer’s consent, then the buyer can treat the purchase agreement voidable.

The dealer however can avoid his obligations under this warranty if the defect is caused due to the abuse, neglect, misuse, or failure of maintenance of the vehicle by the consumer.

In case of a breach of the implied warranty, the consumer needs to give to the dealer a notice of the same within thirty days, giving the seller an opportunity to repair the defect.

Unless there was a deliberate attempt on the seller’s part to hide the true condition of the vehicle at the time of sale to the buyer, his liability will be restricted to the purchase cost of the vehicle.

The dealer/ seller has to notify the consumer at the time of sale about his rights under the State statute regarding the implied warranty.

If the seller discloses the true nature of the condition of the vehicle to buyer, and yet the buyer decides to purchase the vehicle, then he would have deemed to have wavered his implied warranty.

Dispute resolution

If the manufacture has set up an informal dispute resolution forum and has made the consumer aware of the same, then, in case of a dispute, the consumer would first have to seek redressed there. Otherwise, he would not be liable to any other reliefs under this statute.

Resale of returned motor vehicle

According to the provisions of the statue, no returned vehicle will be resold unless it is freed of all its defects. Further, the new buyer is to be given a full written disclosure of the reasons for the return of the vehicle by the first buyer. A notice of the fact or repurchase or return of the vehicle is to be prominently displayed on the vehicle.

Period of limitation for initiating action

A cause of action will be initiated within a period of 18 months from the date of delivery, or if an informal dispute resolution mechanism is resorted to, then within 90 days of the final award of the tribunal, whichever is later. The winner of the action will be entitled to costs of the action.

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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