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Texas Lemon Law Deadlines Run on 24,000 Miles, Refunds on One Repair Order Date

Two vehicles can carry identical repair histories and land in different places under Texas law, because Chapter 2301 of the Texas Occupations Code measures its qualifying window from the date of original delivery and closes it on whichever arrives first, the calendar or the odometer. Section 2301.605 supplies the presumption — a rebuttable one, not an entitlement. A rule of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, 43 TAC §224.260, supplies the arithmetic, and its output turns on one date most owners never write down: the first report of the defect. What follows reads both, with section numbers and effective dates attached. Three Presumption Tests, One Shared Cutoff Section 2301.605(a) establishes the presumption “that a reasonable number of attempts have been undertaken to conform a motor vehicle to an applicable express warranty” if any of three conditions is met. The first, §2301.605(a)(1), is the four-attempt test: “the same nonconformity continu...
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Four Repair Attempts Create a Presumption in California, Not an Automatic Buyback

A California owner whose new vehicle has been in the shop four times for the same defect is often told the car "qualifies as a lemon." The statute says something narrower. Four repair attempts inside a defined window create a rebuttable presumption that a reasonable number of attempts has been made. A presumption is an evidentiary starting position, not an entitlement to a check. Understanding the difference determines what a repair file has to prove, and it explains why two owners with identical repair histories can end up in very different positions. The window comes first, and it is short Civil Code section 1793.22, the Tanner Consumer Protection Act, opens every one of its thresholds with the same clause: the qualifying events must occur within 18 months from delivery to the buyer or 18,000 miles on the odometer, whichever occurs first . Not 18 months and 18,000 miles. Whichever arrives sooner closes the window. A commuter driving 1,600 miles a month reaches 18,000...
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