After being woken up by a call at 11 pm on a Sunday night from a person who recently purchased a used lemon car, I decided that it’s a good idea to post a blog about the top two misconceptions of the Texas Lemon Law. (Granted, I should re-program my phone answering system to not forward calls to my cell phone after hours to avoid folks calling me at arguably unreasonable hours).
1) Misconception number 1: All cars are covered under the Texas Lemon Law
– Wrong! The Texas Lemon Law mainly applies to NEW vehicles. In some very limited cases, used vehicles are covered to the extent that the manufacturer is required to repair the vehicle, but only if the used vehicle had existing warranty at the time of purchase and you timely file your claim. So, for example, if you have a used Ford lemon car, please do not call my law office. However, if you purchased a NEW Ford lemon car and it is giving you problems, then please contact me.
2) Misconception number 2: I’ll keep letting the dealership be nice and courteous to me and I can file a lemon law claim at anytime.
– Wrong! When the lemon law was originally drafted in Texas and thereafter revised, the deadline to file a claim is VERY short. It is within 24,000 miles or 24 months from the date of purchase, whichever occurs first. The law does not care that you took the vehicle in to be looked at before this deadline, it cares that you file your claim within the allotted statute of limitation. (If you past this deadline, then there may still be other laws that may protect you, but contact my office for more details).