State lemon law
Idaho Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Idaho 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
24
Months covered
24,000
Miles covered
What counts as a lemon in Idaho
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 express warranty term, two years from the original delivery, or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first.
- 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 30 or more business 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 motor vehicles sold in Idaho under an express warranty.
What you have to send the manufacturer
The consumer must notify the manufacturer, its agent or a dealer of the problem in writing and give them a chance to repair it before asking for a refund or a replacement.
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
A comparable vehicle, or a refund of what the consumer paid including the value of any trade-in, capped at 105 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
The deadline
The attempts have to fall inside the earliest of the warranty term, two years, or 24,000 miles.
Worth knowing
- The refund is capped at 105 percent of list price, which is aimed at inflated trade-in allowances rather than at the buyer.
How Idaho compares
20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Idaho's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. 15 states stop counting at fewer than 24,000 miles.
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 Idaho Code §§ 48-901 to 48-913 and from Office of the Attorney General of Idaho, Consumer Protection Division, 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.
- Idaho Code § 48-903 (the presumption)
- Idaho Code § 48-901 (definitions)
- Idaho Lemon Law, Office of the Attorney General
- Office of the Attorney General of Idaho, Consumer Protection Division
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 Office of the Attorney General of Idaho, Consumer Protection Division, or to a lawyer in Idaho.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst