Lemon Law Changes as of 2011

California’s Lemon Law was recently revised, adding valuable new protection for consumers of new vehicles purchased or leased in California.  Under this new revision, a “repair attempt” under the statute is no longer limited to an actual “repair” under warranty. Under the new revision, so long as the consumer has a warranty Repair Order written with the complaint plainly stated, whether the authorized dealer service department effects repairs – or not – is of no concern to the consumer, and the visit is counted as a “repair attempt visit” under the California lemon law.

This is great news for consumers as it removes an auto manufacturers defense of “could not duplicate complaint”, which has been a long-held defense ploy in automobile lemon law cases. Now the consumer simply gives the automobile manufacturer a opportunity to repair. The consumer no longer has to worry if they made a repair or not.