State lemon law
Delaware Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Delaware law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.
4
Repair attempts
30
Days out of service
12
Months covered
What counts as a lemon in Delaware
Meeting any one of these raises a presumption that the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts. The repairs have to fall inside the warranty term or one year from the original delivery, whichever is earlier.
- The same defect has been subject to repair four or more times and still exists.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of more than 30 calendar days.
Failing all of these does not end a claim. The presumption is a shortcut through the evidence, not the whole of the law, and a vehicle that misses it can still be a lemon on ordinary warranty grounds. It does mean the owner has to prove what the presumption would have assumed.
Which vehicles the law reaches
New automobiles sold in Delaware under a manufacturer's express warranty.
What you have to send the manufacturer
The defect has to be reported to the manufacturer, its agent or a dealer inside the warranty term or the first year.
Keep every repair order. The dates a vehicle went in and came out are what the whole test is counted from, and they are the one part of the record the owner controls.
What you get
Replacement of the vehicle, or repurchase with a refund of the full purchase price.
The deadline
The report of the defect has to reach the manufacturer inside the warranty term or the first year, whichever ends earlier.
How Delaware compares
20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Delaware's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Delaware sets no mileage limit at all, which is unusual: most states end the window at a mileage as well as a date.
Before you file: what is already on record
A lemon law claim is about your car. What other owners have reported about the same year, make and model is separate, and it is public: it can tell you whether the failure is a known pattern, whether NHTSA is investigating it, and whether a recall already covers the repair you have been paying for.
Under investigation 2010 Ford Fusion 2012 Ford Focus 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2013 Ford F-150 2010 Toyota Prius 2011 Ford Fusion
Where this comes from
Read from Del. Code tit. 6, ch. 50 and from Delaware Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Unit, checked on 2026-08-20. Nothing on this page is copied from another summary, and there are a great many of them that disagree with the statutes they describe.
- Del. Code tit. 6, ch. 50
- Delaware Lemon Law, Department of Justice
- Delaware Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Unit
This is not legal advice. It is a reading of a public statute, written by somebody who is not a lawyer and does not know your car, your paperwork or your state's case law. A lemon law claim turns on facts this page cannot see. Take the statute and your repair orders to Delaware Department of Justice, Consumer Protection Unit, or to a lawyer in Delaware.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst