Online Library - General Laws - Lemon Laws

South Carolina lemon laws can be cited under the Title 56, Chapter 28. This law is applicable when a purchaser is stuck with a new vehicle which has inherent manufacturing defects. This law extends to all motorized vehicles in South Carolina.

The dealers and suppliers in South Carolina are bound to operate within the scope of South Carolina’s lemon law. 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 first twelve months of purchase or the first twelve thousand miles of operation, whichever occurs 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 the first twelve months of purchase or the first twelve thousand miles of operation, whichever occurs 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.

A written summary of all motor vehicles repurchased or replaced must be mailed annually by a manufacturer to the Administrator of the Department of Consumer Affairs. In addition, every manufacturer should be able to provide any paperwork, reports, or other information regarding vehicle upon request by the administrator. Failure to supply either the written summaries of repurchased vehicles or respond to reasonable requests for information by the administrator will result into a penalty of one thousand dollars for each violation which the administrator in his discretion may impose.

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 10 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 court also empowers any one party who wins the decision to recover all legitimate litigation expenses, court and attorney fees from the other party.

The limitation period for any action to be brought in under the provisions of lemon law of (SC) shall commence within three years following the date of original delivery of the motor vehicle to 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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