The lemon laws of Tennessee can be found in the Tennessee Code Annotated 55-24-201.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. Lemon Laws were incorporated in 1984 and amended in 1986 after which they came into force in a much stronger and comprehensive form.
A vehicle is considered a lemon if:
It is purchased after 1st January 1987 and has been repaired 3 or more times since then, 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 year or within the term of the warranty, whichever comes first.
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 limitation period for any action to be brought in under the provisions of lemon law of (TN) shall commence within six months from the expiration date of any warranty term or within one year from the date of original delivery of the vehicle to the consumer, whichever is the later date.
The US federal law governing lemons is officially called The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, however, most American states each have their own lemon law.
