ABA Family Legal Guide

Automobiles

Consumer Protections

Lemon Laws

What's a lemon?

States vary in how they define a lemon. As a general rule, a lemon is a car that continues to have a defect that substantially restricts its use, safety, or value, even after reasonable efforts to repair it. There may be specific legal rules concerning how many repair attempts you must make over a period of time for the car to qualify as a lemon.