The Texas lemon law covers a motor vehicle, defined as:
The lemon law covers the following consumers:
The lemon law covers any defect or condition that creates a serious safety hazard or substantially impairs the use or market value of the motor vehicle. This is referred to as a nonconformity. The Texas Department of Transportation has indicated that the nonconformity must continue to exist.
“Serious safety hazard” is defined as a life-threatening malfunction or nonconformity that substantially impedes a person’s ability to control or operate a motor vehicle for ordinary use or intended purposes or that creates a substantial risk of fire or explosion.
“Impairment of market value” is defined as a substantial loss in market value caused by a defect specific to the motor vehicle.
The lemon law provides manufacturers with an affirmative defense if it can be shown that the nonconformity is the result of abuse, neglect, or unauthorized modifications or alterations of the motor vehicle, or the nonconformity does not substantially impair the use or market value of the motor vehicle.
If a new motor vehicle does not conform to the manufacturer’s, converter’s, or distributor’s express warranty, then the manufacturer, converter or distributor must make the necessary repairs if:
The Texas lemon law establishes a presumption that a reasonable number of attempts have been undertaken to conform a motor vehicle to the applicable express warranties if:
The initial 12 month or 12,000 mile periods, the subsequent 12 month or 12,000 mile periods, and the 30 day period are extended by any period during which repair services are not available because of war, invasion, strike, fire, flood, or other natural disaster.
The 30 day period is tolled during any period of time that the manufacturer or distributor lends a comparable motor vehicle to the consumer during the time of repairs by a franchised dealer.
The manufacturer, converter, or distributor will not be required to replace or repurchase a vehicle unless:
The Texas lemon law provides that a manufacturer must pay the following amounts when it repurchases an owned vehicle under the lemon law:
(a) alternate transportation;
(b) towing;
(c) telephone calls or mail charges directly attributable to contacting the manufacturer, distributor, converter or dealer regarding the vehicle;
(d) meals and lodging necessitated by the vehicle’s failure during out-of-town trips;
(e) loss or damage to personal property;
(f) attorney fees if the complainant retains counsel after notification that the respondent is represented by counsel; and
(g) items or accessories added to the vehicle at or after purchase, taking into consideration the permanent nature, functionality and value added by the items or accessories and whether the items or accessories are original equipment manufacturer parts or non-OEM parts;
The reasonable allowance for use must be that amount directly attributable to use of the motor vehicle when the vehicle is not out of service for repair. The Texas Motor Vehicle Commission has established a presumption that a motor vehicle has a useful life of 120,000 miles, and has defined reasonable allowance for use to be the following except in cases where the preponderance of the evidence shows that the vehicle has a longer or shorter expected useful life than 120,000 miles:
| a) # miles vehicle traveled from delivery to consumer until first report of defect or condition leading to repurchase ————————————- 120,000 | X | Purchase price |
plus
| b) # miles vehicle traveled after date of first report of defect or condition leading to repurchase through date of the hearing ————————————- 120,000 |
The Texas Motor Vehicle Commission has set out the following amounts that a manufacturer must pay when it repurchases a leased vehicle under the lemon law:
To the lessee
(a) alternate transportation;
(b) towing;
(c) telephone calls or mail charges directly attributable to contacting the manufacturer, distributor, converter or dealer regarding the vehicle;
(d) meals and lodging necessitated by the vehicle’s failure during out-of-town trips;
(e) loss or damage to personal property;
(f) attorney fees if the complainant retains counsel after notification that the respondent is represented by counsel; and
(g) items or accessories added to the vehicle at or after purchase, taking into consideration the permanent nature, functionality and value added by the items or accessories and whether the items or accessories are original equipment manufacturer parts or non-OEM parts;
To the lessor
Refunds must be made to the lessee, lessor, and any lienholder as their interests may appear. The motor vehicle must be returned to the manufacturer, converter or distributor with clear title upon payment of these amounts. The lessor must transfer title of the motor vehicle to the manufacturer, converter or distributor as necessary to effectuate the lessee’s rights under the lemon law. The lease must be terminated without any penalty to the lessee.
The reasonable allowance for use must be that amount directly attributable to use of the motor vehicle when the vehicle is not out of service for repair. The Texas Motor Vehicle Commission has established a presumption that a motor vehicle has a useful life of 120,000 miles, and has defined reasonable allowance for use to be the following except in cases where the preponderance of the evidence shows that the vehicle has a longer or shorter expected useful life than 120,000 miles:
| a) # miles vehicle traveled from delivery to consumer until first report of defect or condition leading to repurchase ————————————- 120,000 | X | Actual price paid by the lessor for the vehicle |
plus
| b) # miles vehicle traveled after date of first report of defect or condition leading to repurchase through date of the hearing ————————————- 120,000 |
When replacing a vehicle under the Texas lemon law, the manufacturer must replace the motor vehicle with a comparable motor vehicle. The Texas Department of Transportation indicates on its web site that a replacement award will be reduced for mileage used. The manufacturer must also reimburse the consumer for reasonable incidental costs resulting from loss of use of the motor vehicle because of the nonconformity or defect. The Texas Motor Vehicle Commission has defined reimbursable incidental expenses as including but not limited to:
(a) alternate transportation;
(b) towing;
(c) telephone calls or mail charges directly attributable to contacting the manufacturer, distributor, converter or dealer regarding the vehicle;
(d) meals and lodging necessitated by the vehicle’s failure during out-of-town trips;
(e) loss or damage to personal property;
(f) attorney fees if the complainant retains counsel after notification that the respondent is represented by counsel; and
(g) items or accessories added to the vehicle at or after purchase, taking into consideration the permanent nature, functionality and value added by the items or accessories and whether the items or accessories are original equipment manufacturer parts or non-OEM parts.
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