You bought a new car, and it keeps going back to the shop. The dealer is polite, the loaner cars keep coming, but the problem never really goes away. At some point a reasonable person starts to wonder: is there a law for this?
In Florida, there is. It is called the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act, found in Chapter 681 of the Florida Statutes. Almost everyone calls it the Lemon Law. This guide walks through what it says, who it protects, and what it can require a manufacturer to do.
The basic commitment of the law
Florida's Lemon Law rests on a simple idea. When a manufacturer sells a new vehicle, it commits that the vehicle will work. If the vehicle has a serious defect, the manufacturer gets a reasonable number of chances to fix it. If the manufacturer cannot fix it, the law says the manufacturer, not the owner, should absorb the loss.
When a claim succeeds, the manufacturer must either repurchase the vehicle and refund what the consumer paid, or replace it with a comparable new vehicle. The choice between those two remedies belongs to the consumer, not the manufacturer.
Which vehicles are covered
Chapter 681 covers new vehicles and demonstrator vehicles that are sold or leased in Florida. A demonstrator is a vehicle the dealer used for test drives or display but sold with a new-vehicle warranty.
Some categories sit outside the law. Used vehicles are not covered. Motorcycles and mopeds are excluded. Trucks with a gross vehicle weight over 10,000 pounds are excluded. For recreational vehicles, the law covers the chassis and drivetrain but not the living quarters.
Leased vehicles generally are covered when the lease was entered in Florida and the lessee is responsible for making repairs happen. Many owners are surprised to learn that leasing does not take them outside the statute.
What counts as a lemon
The law does not use the word lemon. It uses the word nonconformity, which means a defect or condition that substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of the vehicle. A failing transmission, an engine that stalls, or an electrical fault that keeps disabling safety systems can qualify. A rattle in the glovebox, on its own, usually does not.
The defect also cannot be the result of an accident, abuse, neglect, or a modification made by someone other than the manufacturer or its authorized dealer. The vehicle has to have arrived with the problem built in.
The clocks that run the case
Two timing rules shape almost every Florida lemon claim.
First, the Lemon Law Rights Period. The defect must be reported to the manufacturer or its authorized service agent within 24 months after the date the vehicle was delivered to the original consumer. You can read more about how that window works in the 24-month rights period guide.
Second, the repair attempt rules. The manufacturer, through its dealers, gets a reasonable number of attempts to fix the problem. The statute presumes that number has been reached after three repair attempts for the same defect plus a final attempt, or after the vehicle has been out of service for 30 or more cumulative days. The details live in the three repair attempts guide.