The California lemon law, also known as The Song Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, is the law the protects consumers when they purchase a vehicle or product that the manufacturer is unable to repair under warranty.

There are three main ways to qualify for the lemon law:

• Implied warranty- this means your car or RV wasn’t up to normal standards within the first year after purchase.
• Express warranty- you take your car or RV in multiple times for the same issue and the dealer can’t fix it.
• 30 day rule- the dealership has your car or RV for over 30 days for the same repair.

One thing to keep in mind- just because you technically qualify doesn’t mean you automatically have a good case. Factors such as the number of days at the dealership for repairs, number of repair visits, and how significant the issue is plays a huge part in how strong your case is.

Generally, if you have a lemon you are entitled to either a repurchase (also called a buyback) or a replacement. Depending on whether you have a car or RV, the rules change on what you can demand prior to a lawsuit. For example, if you own an RV and ask the manufacturer to buy your RV back (before a lawsuit is filed), the manufacturer can provide you a replacement RV instead and still be complying with the lemon law.

Sometimes. As long as you have repair visits under the manufacturer’s warranty, you may be able to build a lemon law case.

If you leased your car, you can qualify for the lemon law. As long as you have repairs under the manufacturer’s warranty, you may be able to build a case.

Yes they do. The RV industry is booming which has led to high demand. Unfortunately, to catch up with the demand, more and more lemons are slipping through the quality control cracks so RV lemons are more common than ever!

RVs qualify under a different section of the lemon law, so if you think you may have an RV lemon, make sure you talk to an attorney that has experience handling RV lemon law cases to make sure you get every penny you’re entitled to!