A lemon law is a state statute that forces a manufacturer or dealer to refund or replace a vehicle with a substantial defect they cannot repair after a reasonable number of attempts. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have one for new vehicles. Only ten have a separate statute written for used vehicles.
That gap is why the phrase “used car lemon law” causes so much confusion. Two buyers with identical broken transmissions can have completely different rights depending on which side of a state line they signed the paperwork.
Here is the mental model that actually works. Think of used car protection as four layers stacked on top of each other, and count how many of them apply to you.
Layer | What it is | Where it applies |
State used car lemon law | Mandatory dealer warranty on qualifying used vehicles, sometimes with a refund right | 10 states |
State new car lemon law | Applies to a used vehicle only if it still counts as “new” under that state’s definition, usually meaning it was sold with a manufacturer warranty issued at sale | Varies, narrowing in California |
Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act | Enforces any written warranty or service contract on a used vehicle, blocks implied warranty disclaimers, shifts attorney fees | All 50 states |
State implied warranty and dealer fraud law | Merchantability under the Uniform Commercial Code, plus consumer fraud acts covering nondisclosure and odometer tampering | All 50 states |
Most people arrive at this page believing layer one is their answer. For four out of five American used car buyers, layers three and four are the answer.
A quick illustration, built from the pattern that shows up in these cases rather than any one client.
Imagine a buyer in Toledo paying $14,000 for a 2019 SUV with 71,000 miles. On day nine, the transmission starts slipping on the highway. She calls the dealer, who tells her the car was sold as-is and there is nothing he can do.
She Googles “used car lemon law” and finds a page about New York’s warranty tiers. Ohio has no used car lemon law, so she assumes she has nothing and stops looking.
She is wrong twice. First, the dealer sold her a 60-day powertrain service contract for $899, which she forgot she bought. That written contract puts her squarely inside Magnuson-Moss. Second, under federal rule, a dealer who sells a service contract within 90 days of the sale cannot disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability at all, which means the “as is” box on her paperwork may be legally void. The case she thought did not exist is a strong one.
The lesson is not that every used car dispute is winnable. It is that the answer almost never lives in the sentence “my state has no used car lemon law.”
Ten states require dealers to provide a written warranty on used vehicles that meet the statute’s thresholds. The table below shows the eligibility rule, the minimum warranty period, and the age cutoff for each, with the governing statute.
State | Statute | Eligibility for warranty | Minimum warranty period, whichever comes first | Age exemption |
Arizona | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 44-1267 | All used cars | 15 days or 500 miles | None |
Connecticut | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-221 | Price $3,000 to $4,999 | 30 days or 1,500 miles | 7 years or older |
Connecticut | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-221 | Price $5,000 and up | 60 days or 3,000 miles | 7 years or older |
Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481J-1 | Under 25,000 miles | 90 days or 5,000 miles | 5 years or older |
Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481J-1 | 25,000 to 50,000 miles | 60 days or 3,000 miles | 5 years or older |
Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481J-1 | 50,000 to 75,000 miles | 30 days or 1,000 miles | 5 years or older |
Illinois | 815 ILCS 505/2L | All qualifying used cars | Dealer pays a share of powertrain repair cost for 30 days after sale | 4 years or older |
Massachusetts | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90 § 7N¼ | Under 40,000 miles | 90 days or 3,750 miles | None |
Massachusetts | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90 § 7N¼ | 40,000 to 79,999 miles | 60 days or 2,500 miles | None |
Massachusetts | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90 § 7N¼ | 80,000 to 124,999 miles | 30 days or 1,250 miles | None |
Minnesota | Minn. Stat. § 325F.662 | Under 36,000 miles | 60 days or 2,500 miles | 8 years or older |
Minnesota | Minn. Stat. § 325F.662 | 36,000 to 75,000 miles | 30 days or 1,000 miles | 8 years or older |
New Jersey | N.J.S.A. § 56:8-69 | 24,000 miles or less | 90 days or 3,000 miles | 7 model years or older |
New Jersey | N.J.S.A. § 56:8-69 | 24,001 to 59,999 miles | 60 days or 2,000 miles | 7 model years or older |
New Jersey | N.J.S.A. § 56:8-69 | 60,000 to 100,000 miles | 30 days or 1,000 miles | 7 model years or older |
New Mexico | N.M. Stat. § 57-16A-3.1 | All used cars | 15 days or 500 miles | None |
New York | N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-b | 18,001 to 36,000 miles | 90 days or 4,000 miles | None |
New York | N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-b | 36,001 to 79,999 miles | 60 days or 3,000 miles | None |
New York | N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-b | 80,000 to 100,000 miles | 30 days or 1,000 miles | None |
Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-5.4-2 | Under 36,000 miles | 60 days or 3,000 miles | 7 years or older |
Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-5.4-2 | 36,000 to 100,000 miles | 30 days or 1,000 miles | 7 years or older |
Source for the statutory framework and warranty periods: Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Report 2015-R-0285, “Used Car Lemon Laws” (2015). The New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut figures were re-verified against the New York Attorney General, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Mass.gov, and the Connecticut DMV in 2026 and remain unchanged.
Three structural points worth holding on to.
Connecticut is the only one of the ten that sets eligibility by price rather than odometer reading. A $4,000 car gets 30 days. A $5,000 car gets double that. Buyers who negotiate a price down below $5,000 sometimes negotiate away half their warranty without realizing it.
Illinois is the only one of the ten that does not run its warranty on a days-or-miles basis. It runs a 30-day powertrain cost-sharing obligation instead, with the dealer’s share stepping down by vehicle age. If you are in Illinois, the Illinois used car lemon law guide walks through how 815 ILCS 505/2L actually pays out.
Arizona and New Mexico have the shortest windows in the country at 15 days or 500 miles, but they also have no age exemption at all. A 14-year-old car with 190,000 miles still carries the statutory window in those two states, which is more than most buyers in any other state get.
Five states give you the right to a full refund of the purchase price when the dealer cannot fix a covered defect. Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island (Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, 2015). In the other five used car lemon law states, the statute obligates repair, and your leverage for a refund has to come from somewhere else.
That distinction is the single most misreported fact in used car lemon law content. A warranty right and a refund right are not the same thing, and plenty of pages blur them.
Here is what “reasonable number of attempts” means in the two largest refund states.
State | Repair attempt trigger | Out of service trigger | Consumer cost |
New York | 3 or more attempts on the same defect | 15 or more days total | No deductible required by statute |
New Jersey | 3 or more attempts on the same defect | 20 cumulative days | $50 deductible per repair of a covered item |
Sources: New York State Attorney General, Used Car Lemon Law fact sheet; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Used Car Lemon Law consumer brief (revised January 2024).
New Jersey adds two limits that catch people off guard. The state used car lemon law does not apply to extended service contracts or to a remaining manufacturer warranty, so if your only written coverage is a third-party service contract, your claim moves to federal law rather than the New Jersey statute (New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs). And a dealer can sell a vehicle with 60,000 to 100,000 miles without the statutory warranty only if you sign a specific written waiver. Below 60,000 miles, no waiver is available and no “as is” sale is lawful.
New York caps coverage at 100,000 miles and requires a purchase or lease value of at least $1,500 (New York State Attorney General). Cars at 100,001 miles fall out entirely. If you are in New York, the deeper breakdown of covered parts sits in our guide to what is covered under New York’s lemon law.
Massachusetts runs two separate used car statutes, and the second one is the most underused consumer remedy in the country.
The Used Vehicle Warranty Law, M.G.L. c. 90 § 7N¼, gives you the mileage-based warranty in the table above. It applies to vehicles sold for $700 or more with fewer than 125,000 miles. A dealer in Massachusetts is anyone who sells more than three cars in a 12-month period, licensed or not, which pulls a lot of curbstoners into the statute (Mass.gov).
Then there is the Lemon Aid Law, M.G.L. c. 90 § 7N. If you get the car inspected at an authorized Massachusetts inspection station within seven days of purchase, and it fails, and the cost to repair the failing items exceeds 10 percent of the purchase price, you can void the sale and get your money back. You have to act within 14 days of the sale (Mass.gov).
Ten percent of a $9,000 car is $900. One failed emissions component and a bad tie rod can clear that bar. The catch is the seven-day clock, and most buyers spend the first seven days arguing with the dealer instead of driving to an inspection station.
Massachusetts also requires private sellers to disclose known defects that affect use or safety, which makes it one of the very few states where a private sale carries a statutory disclosure duty (Mass.gov). Full details are in our Massachusetts used car lemon law guide.
If your state is not on the list of ten, you are not without rights. You are in federal territory, and federal territory has better fee-shifting than most state statutes.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 2301 to 2312, is the federal warranty statute that applies in all 50 states. It does not require anyone to give a warranty. It governs what happens when they do.
Four provisions matter for a used car.
Any written warranty gets you in the door: Magnuson-Moss covers a used vehicle sold with a written warranty, whether that warranty came from the manufacturer as a remaining factory balance, from the dealer as its own limited warranty, or from a third party as a service contract. Even a handwritten “50/50 on the engine for 30 days” on the sales contract is a written warranty under the Act, because the statutory definition includes any written promise to refund, repair, or replace (15 U.S.C. § 2301).
A written warranty kills the “as is” disclaimer: Section 2308 prohibits a warrantor who gives a written warranty from disclaiming the implied warranty of merchantability. A supplier offering a limited written warranty may shorten the implied warranty to match the written one, but cannot remove it. So a dealer cannot hand you a 30-day powertrain warranty and simultaneously disclaim all implied warranties. Those two things are legally incompatible.
The loser pays your lawyer: Section 2310(d)(2) lets a prevailing consumer recover reasonable attorney fees and costs from the warrantor. This is why used car warranty cases get filed at all. A $6,000 damages claim is not economically rational to litigate until fees shift, and then it is.
There is no federal repair-attempt presumption: Magnuson-Moss does not define how many failed repairs make a lemon. Federal courts hearing these claims commonly look to the relevant state’s lemon law presumption to evaluate what was reasonable, and they apply the state limitations period for breach of warranty, which is four years from breach in most states under UCC § 2-725.
Read that last point carefully, because it cuts the other way too. Four years is longer than most state lemon law deadlines. Buyers who think they missed their window under state law frequently still have years left federally. Our federal lemon law for used cars page covers the pleading mechanics.
The FTC Used Car Rule, 16 CFR Part 455, requires anyone who sells more than five used vehicles in a 12-month period to post a Buyer’s Guide on every used vehicle offered for sale. It has been in force since the mid 1980s and applies in every state except Maine and Wisconsin, which are exempt because their own disclosure rules are comparable (Federal Trade Commission).
Most buyers glance at the Buyers Guide, notice the big “AS IS – NO DEALER WARRANTY” box, and assume it is a wall. It is closer to a window, for three reasons.
First, and this is the provision worth memorizing, the Buyers Guide’s terms override contrary terms in the sales contract. Under 16 CFR § 455.3, the Buyer’s Guide becomes part of the sales contract, and its warranty terms control where the two conflict. If the Buyer’s Guide box is checked “WARRANTY” and the contract you signed inside says “as is,” the Buyer’s Guide wins.
Second, each deficient, unposted, or contradictory Buyers Guide is generally treated as a separate violation carrying a per-vehicle civil penalty, which gives state attorneys general and the FTC a reason to take a pattern complaint seriously.
Third, 16 CFR § 455.5 requires that where the sale is negotiated in Spanish, the dealer provide a Spanish-language Buyer’s Guide on request, and the English guide must carry a statement telling the buyer they may ask for it. A Spanish-language negotiation with no Spanish guide is a documented violation, not a judgment call.
Photograph the Buyer’s Guide on the windshield before you sign anything, then staple the executed copy to your contract. Two minutes of phone camera work has decided more of these disputes than any other single act.
If you found an article from 2024 telling you to expect new FTC pricing and add-on disclosure protections, that advice is out of date.
The Rule on Combating Auto Retail Scams, the CARS Rule, was finalized in January 2024 with a 2024 compliance date. The Fifth Circuit vacated it on January 27, 2025, holding that the FTC failed to follow its own rulemaking procedures by skipping a required advance notice of proposed rulemaking. The FTC did not appeal, and the rule was formally withdrawn from the Code of Federal Regulations effective February 12, 2026 (Federal Register, 2026).
None of its requirements are in force. The Used Car Rule, Magnuson-Moss, the FTC’s general authority over deceptive practices, and every state dealer statute were never affected and still apply in full.
An “as is” sale means the dealer is not promising the car will keep working. It does not mean the dealer can lie to you, and it does not survive a written warranty.
“As is” does block:
“As is” does not block:
If a salesperson told you something verbally that contradicts the paperwork, understand the ranking. The Buyer’s Guide beats the contract. The contract beats the conversation. Verbal promises are the weakest evidence you can have, which is why the paperwork trail matters so much. Our page on what to do when a dealership sold you a bad car covers how to build that record after the fact.
California used to be the best state in the country for a used car lemon claim. It is now considerably narrower, and a lot of content on the open web has not caught up.
In November 2024, the California Supreme Court decided Rodriguez v. FCA US LLC (2024) 17 Cal.5th 189. The buyers purchased a used truck that still carried an active five-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty from the manufacturer. Repeated repairs failed. They sought the refund-or-replace remedy under Civil Code § 1793.2(d)(2) of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, arguing the remaining factory warranty made the truck a “new motor vehicle” under the Act.
The court held unanimously that it did not. The Act’s exceptions cover dealer-owned vehicles, demonstrators sold with a new car warranty, and manufacturer-certified pre-owned vehicles sold with the manufacturer’s CPO warranty. Ordinary used vehicles carrying only the unexpired balance of someone else’s factory warranty are not included.
The practical split now looks like this:
Vehicle type in California | Song-Beverly refund or replace | Magnuson-Moss claim |
New vehicle | Yes | Yes |
Manufacturer-certified pre-owned with CPO warranty issued at sale | Generally yes | Yes |
Dealer demonstrator sold with a new car warranty | Yes | Yes |
Ordinary used car with remaining factory warranty balance | No, after Rodriguez | Yes |
Used car with dealer-written warranty or service contract | No | Yes |
Separately, Assembly Bill 1755 (Ch. 938, Stats. 2024) and the follow-up Senate Bill 26 (2025) rewrote the procedure. Most of AB 1755 took effect January 1, 2025. It added pre-suit written notice as a prerequisite to civil penalties, created a manufacturer opt-in fast track with mandatory mediation, allowed a negative equity deduction in buybacks, and set an outer limit of six years from original delivery for filing.
The takeaway for a California used car buyer is not that you have no claim. It is that the claim has probably moved from state law to federal law, and that the warranty’s origin now decides everything. A warranty issued as part of your transaction is worth far more than a warranty that merely survived into it. Start with how a car qualifies for lemon law in California and California lemon law time limits.
A manufacturer-certified pre-owned vehicle is a used car that the manufacturer inspected, reconditioned, and sold with its own CPO warranty. A dealer’s in-house “certified” program is a used car with a dealer warranty and a sticker.
The difference is not marketing. It is who the warrantor is, and that determines who you can sue.
Factor | Manufacturer CPO | Dealer “certified” program |
Who issues the warranty | The manufacturer | The dealer or a third party administrator |
Who you pursue | Manufacturer, which has buyback procedures and deeper pockets | Dealer, which may have a bond and little else |
California Song-Beverly refund or replace | Generally available | Not available after Rodriguez |
Magnuson-Moss coverage | Yes | Yes |
Typical repair network | Any franchise dealer nationwide | Often the selling dealer only |
Before you buy, ask one question and get the answer on paper. Is the warranty issued by the manufacturer or by the dealership? If the salesperson gets vague, that is the answer. Our page on what a manufacturer warranty covers goes into the coverage details.
Buy from a private individual and the lemon law drops out in nearly every state. Statutory used car warranties are obligations imposed on dealers, and an individual selling their own car is not a dealer.
Three exceptions are worth checking.
Massachusetts imposes a disclosure duty on private sellers for known use or safety defects. Connecticut requires private sellers to disclose known defects, and a buyer who is not told may be able to rescind. And in every state, a private seller who actively lies about the car’s history can face a common law fraud claim, which has nothing to do with warranty law.
Watch for one more thing. Some states define “dealer” by volume rather than by license. Massachusetts counts anyone selling more than three vehicles in 12 months, and the FTC Used Car Rule counts anyone selling more than five in 12 months. The seller in a parking lot with three cars for sale and a stack of open titles may legally be a dealer with every dealer obligation attached, whether or not they have a license. Full treatment in does lemon law apply to private sales.
Every used car statute and warranty claim turns on the same threshold. The defect has to substantially impair the use, value, or safety of the vehicle. Annoyances do not qualify. Failures do.
Defects that clear the bar routinely:
Defects that usually do not, standing alone:
Two refinements matter. Several small defects can add up to substantial impairment when they occur together, and a defect that keeps coming back after repair is treated more seriously than the same defect appearing once. Also, covered-parts lists in the ten used-car lemon law states are specific. New York’s statutory warranty covers the engine, transmission, drive axle, brakes, steering, radiator, alternator, starter, and ignition system while excluding the battery, tires, and body parts (New York State Attorney General). Read the list before you assume you are covered.
Most state lemon laws presume a vehicle is a lemon after three to four repair attempts on the same defect, or after 30 cumulative days out of service, though safety-critical defects often need fewer attempts (typically one or two).
For used vehicles specifically, the triggers are shorter. New York uses three attempts or 15 days out of service. New Jersey uses three attempts or 20 cumulative days. Both are considerably faster than the new car standard, because the warranty windows they sit inside are also much shorter.
Two rules make or break the count.
Each visit needs a written repair order. A visit where the service advisor says “could not duplicate” and hands you nothing is a visit that did not happen as far as the record is concerned. Ask for the repair order every time, even when nothing was repaired, and confirm that the complaint you described is written on it in your words.
The clock usually pauses while the car sits. New Jersey and Connecticut both extend the warranty period by the time the dealer holds the vehicle for repairs, and Massachusetts extends it by one day for each day out of service plus one mile for each mile driven during repair. A dealer holding your car for three weeks is not running down your warranty, and any dealer who tells you otherwise is wrong. See how many repairs before lemon law and how long a dealership can hold your car for repair.
Recovery depends on which layer your claim sits in, and the numbers differ a lot.
Claim type | Typical remedy |
State used car lemon law, refund state | Full purchase price refund in exchange for the vehicle, subject to any statutory deductible |
State used car lemon law, repair-only state | Repair at dealer expense, sometimes with a cost share |
Magnuson-Moss breach of written warranty | Difference between the vehicle’s value as warranted and its actual value, plus consequential damages where allowed, plus attorney fees under § 2310(d)(2) |
Song-Beverly buyback, California | Restitution less a mileage offset, with civil penalties up to two times damages for a willful violation |
Dealer fraud or nondisclosure | Rescission or damages, often with statutory penalties and fees under the state consumer protection act |
Consequential damages are the category people forget to claim. Loan interest paid on a car that did not work, rental or rideshare costs while it sat at the dealer, towing, and in some jurisdictions, lost wages for time spent at the service department can all belong in the calculation. Keep the receipts.
To see how a buyback number is built, run your figures through the lemon law buyback calculator. And on cost, most lemon law representation is contingent with no upfront fee, because the fee-shifting provisions above are what pay the lawyer. The details are in how much lemon law attorneys cost.
If you have just realized something is badly wrong with a used car you bought, the next week determines how strong your case is. Work through this in order.
Do not sign a repair release, a settlement, or an arbitration agreement you have not read, and do not let the dealer trade you out of the car as a “solution” before you know what the claim is worth. Trading it in usually converts a refund claim into a loss you absorb. See can you trade in a lemon car.
These are the recurring reasons otherwise good cases fall apart.
Search behavior on this topic has shifted. Instead of typing three words, people describe the whole situation to an assistant and ask what to do. Here are the real phrasings that come up, with short answers.
“I bought a used car from a dealer, and it broke down a week later, what are my rights?”
Check three things in order. Whether your state is one of the ten with a used car lemon law and whether your car fits its thresholds. Whether you have any written warranty or service contract, which opens Magnuson-Moss regardless of state. Whether the dealer failed to disclose something, which opens a fraud claim regardless of warranty.
“Who is responsible if I find a defect after buying a car?”
The dealer, if a statutory or written warranty covers the part. The manufacturer, if a factory or CPO warranty covers it. Potentially either, if the defect was known and not disclosed. Nobody, if the sale was genuinely as is with no written warranty and no concealment, which is why the warranty question comes first.
“Does the lemon law apply to a used car with no warranty?”
Generally no. With no written warranty, no state used car lemon law applies outside the ten states, and Magnuson-Moss has nothing to enforce. Look instead at whether the “as is” disclaimer was properly made, whether a service contract was sold within 90 days, whether your state bars the disclaimer at your price point, and whether anything was concealed. More at does the lemon law apply to used cars with no warranty.
“Can I return a used car I just bought?”
There is no general three-day cooling-off right on car purchases in the United States. That rule is widely believed and almost entirely false for vehicles. Narrow exceptions exist, including Massachusetts Lemon Aid and some dealer-offered return policies. See can you return a car after buying it and the truth about the 3 day right to cancel.
“The dealership has had my car for a month and still cannot fix it, what now?”
You are likely at or past the out-of-service trigger in any statute that applies to you, and that time usually extends your warranty rather than consuming it. Get the repair orders, document the days, and get the claim evaluated. See what happens if the dealership cannot fix your car.
“Is my state one of the ones with a used car lemon law?”
Ten states have one. Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Rhode Island. If you are elsewhere, your claim runs federally.
Work the questions in this order, and you will know which layer you are in.
For state-specific detail, our state pages carry the statute and procedure for each jurisdiction, including California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Texas, Florida, and Ohio.
State used car guides with full statutory detail are available for Texas, Florida, and Ohio.
A used car lemon law is a state statute requiring dealers to provide a written warranty on qualifying used vehicles, and in some states to refund the purchase price if they cannot repair a covered defect. Ten states have one. In the other 40, used car buyers rely on the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, state implied warranty law, and dealer fraud statutes instead.
Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Rhode Island (Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, 2015). Of those, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island give a refund right when repairs fail. The other five obligate repair.
Usually not, with one large exception. If the dealer gave any written warranty or sold a service contract, federal law voids the implied warranty disclaimer for that warranty’s duration under 15 U.S.C. § 2308, which means the “as is” label does not hold. An “as is” sale also never protects a dealer who concealed a known defect, accident history, or true mileage.
It depends on the claim. State used car warranty windows are short, commonly 15 to 90 days or 500 to 5,000 miles from delivery. A Magnuson-Moss claim has no federal deadline of its own and borrows the state breach of warranty period, which is four years from breach in most states. California now caps Song-Beverly claims at six years from original delivery under AB 1755. Report the defect inside the warranty window even if you plan to file later.
Almost never. State used car lemon laws impose duties on dealers, not individuals. Massachusetts and Connecticut require private sellers to disclose known defects, and fraud claims are available anywhere a seller lied. Also check volume: a seller moving more than three cars a year in Massachusetts, or more than five a year for FTC Used Car Rule purposes, may legally be a dealer.
It depends who issued the warranty. A manufacturer-certified pre-owned vehicle sold with the manufacturer’s CPO warranty keeps broader protection, including California’s refund-or-replace remedy after Rodriguez. A dealer’s own “certified” program is a dealer warranty, which still supports a Magnuson-Moss claim but not a California buyback.
Three attempts on the same defect is the common threshold for used vehicles, or 15 days out of service in New York and 20 cumulative days in New Jersey. Safety-critical defects often need fewer. What matters more than the count is that every visit is on a written repair order describing the symptom you reported.
Rodriguez v. FCA US LLC (2024) 17 Cal.5th 189 held that an ordinary used vehicle carrying the unexpired balance of the original factory warranty is not a “new motor vehicle” under California’s Song-Beverly Act, so the refund-or-replace remedy does not reach it. Manufacturer CPO vehicles and dealer demonstrators sold with a new car warranty still qualify. Federal Magnuson-Moss claims remain available either way.
No. The Fifth Circuit vacated it on January 27, 2025, for procedural defects in the rulemaking, and the FTC formally withdrew it from the Code of Federal Regulations effective February 12, 2026 (Federal Register, 2026). The FTC Used Car Rule and its Buyers Guide requirement were never affected and remain in force.
If you are holding a used car that will not stay fixed, a case review costs nothing and takes about fifteen minutes. Bring your Buyer’s Guide, your contract, any warranty or service contract, and your repair orders.
This page is general legal information, not legal advice, and laws change. Verify your state’s current requirements with your state attorney general or a licensed attorney before acting.
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