State lemon law
New Jersey Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, New Jersey law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.
3
Repair attempts
20
Days out of service
24
Months covered
24,000
Miles covered
What counts as a lemon in New Jersey
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 first two years or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first.
- The dealer has not fixed the same material defect after at least three attempts.
- The vehicle has been out of service for 20 cumulative days while the dealer tried to fix it.
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 vehicles bought or leased in New Jersey inside the term of protection.
What you have to send the manufacturer
The letter to the manufacturer must go by certified mail, return receipt requested, and it has to reach the manufacturer before the odometer passes 24,000 miles and within two years of delivery.
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 refund of the purchase price, less a deduction for the use the owner had of the vehicle.
The deadline
The notice has to reach the manufacturer inside the two-year, 24,000-mile term of protection. That is the deadline that ends claims in New Jersey, and it is a postal deadline rather than a filing one.
Where it is decided
The Division of Consumer Affairs runs the dispute resolution program. The Director's decision binds both sides, with a right of appeal to the Superior Court.
Used cars
New Jersey has a separate used car lemon law covering vehicles bought from a dealer, with a warranty whose length depends on the mileage at sale.
Worth knowing
- The deadline is unusual in being tied to the arrival of a letter rather than to the filing of a claim, so the certified mail receipt is the document the case turns on.
How New Jersey compares
No state on this site asks for fewer than New Jersey's 3 repair attempts, and 19 others ask for the same 3. 3 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 New Jersey Lemon Law, N.J.S.A. 56:12-29 et seq. and from New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Lemon Law 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.
- New car lemon law, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- Your road to relief (the state's lemon law brochure)
- Lemon law regulations, N.J.A.C. 13:45A-26
- New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Lemon Law 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 New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Lemon Law Unit, or to a lawyer in New Jersey.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst