Nobody wants to drive a lemon—those cars that never seem to work no matter what you try, a vehicle that seems perfect but falls apart when you bring it home. However, there are a lot of misconceptions floating around as to what constitutes as a lemon, and countless Americans are missing out on protections that they would be entitled to under the law, both state and federally. Let’s take a look at some of the confusion surrounding New Jersey Lemon Laws today.

Protection is widespread. There are so many vehicles that are covered under New Jersey Lemon Law legislation, and are not limited to a small subset of automobiles. They can cover motorcycles, SUVs, and trucks as well as the average car. On the state level, it will protect vehicles with defects or warrant problems, provided they were purchased, leased, or registered in NJ for the first time. It covers cars that have been through too many repairs to be reasonable, or have issues that significantly impact its use, safety, or value.  Federal lemon laws can also help you to reclaim money that had been spent on attempting to repair your vehicle, and can sometimes even provide a full refund.

Time is on your side. While there is a window of time that you will be able to claim your car as a Lemon, this statue of limitations is not as slim as the industry would have you think. In New Jersey, you get up to 24,000 miles or two years after purchase to file your claim. That said, if your car starts showing issues after these milestones, you may still be eligible for some protection. This may be under other consumer protection laws besides the Lemon Law, and differ by case.

Try, and if you don’t succeed…try, try again? Sometimes so, but not as much as popular culture would have you believe. There is a common misconception that you need to have brought your car in to the shop for repairs some set number of times before you are able to claim it as a lemon, when in reality there is no such requirement. However, this law isn’t for one-time issues, but rather problems that haven’t improved after a “reasonable number of attempts” at repair. So it’s either repeated tries or an extended stay in the garage—if your car is stuck getting repaired for more than 30 business days, you will be able to get your car replaced or refunded by the manufacturer.

It’s also important to note that this manufacturer-required refund or replacement won’t be applicable if the issue with your car is deemed significant enough, for reasons of safety, value, or use. If the problem is due to actions on your end- like neglect, abuse, or collision, you will also not be able to claim those benefits.

If you have additional questions or are seeking more information about the Lemon Law, statutes of limitations for ‘lemon’ vehicles, or other issues, please contact our office today. We can be reached by phone at 973-686-9787 and look forward to fielding your questions soon.