State lemon law
New Hampshire Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, New Hampshire law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.
3
Repair attempts
30
Days out of service
What counts as a lemon in New Hampshire
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 term of the express warranty, with no separate month or mileage cap of its own.
- The same defect has been through at least three repair attempts within the express warranty term and still exists.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repair of one or more defects for a cumulative total of 30 or more business days during the warranty term.
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 under an express warranty in New Hampshire.
What you get
Replacement or a refund, awarded by the state arbitration board.
The deadline
A proceeding must be commenced within one year of the later of the expiration of the express warranty or the manufacturer's final repair attempt on the defect being complained of.
Where it is decided
The New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board hears the case. It has three consumer representatives, a new car dealer and someone knowledgeable in mechanics, holds the hearing within 40 days of the complaint, and decides within 30 days of the hearing.
Worth knowing
- New Hampshire pins its window to the warranty rather than to a fixed number of months and miles, so a long warranty is worth more here than in most states.
- The deadline runs from the last repair attempt as well as from the warranty, which protects an owner whose car was in and out of the shop as the warranty ran out.
How New Hampshire compares
No state on this site asks for fewer than New Hampshire's 3 repair attempts, and 19 others ask for the same 3. 7 states count fewer days out of service. New Hampshire 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 N.H. Rev. Stat. ch. 357-D, New Motor Vehicle Arbitration and from New Hampshire New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board, at the Division of Motor Vehicles, 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.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. ch. 357-D
- New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board, NH DMV
- New Hampshire New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board, at the Division of Motor Vehicles
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 New Hampshire New Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board, at the Division of Motor Vehicles, or to a lawyer in New Hampshire.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst