What qualifies as a lemon in New Mexico?

The same uncorrected fault has been subject to repair four or more times inside the warranty term or the first year, whichever ends sooner, and it still exists. The vehicle has been in the manufacturer's or dealer's possession for repair for a cumulative 30 or more business days in that same period, not counting time in for routine scheduled maintenance. These attempts must fall inside whichever comes first: the express warranty expiring, or one year from the date the vehicle was originally delivered, with no mileage limit of any kind. (Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act, N.M. Stat. §§ 57-16A-1 to 57-16A-9)

State lemon law

New Mexico Lemon Law

When a new vehicle keeps failing, New Mexico law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.

Repair attempts

Days out of service

Months covered

What counts as a lemon in New Mexico

Meeting any one of these raises a presumption that the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts. The repairs have to fall inside whichever comes first: the express warranty expiring, or one year from the date the vehicle was originally delivered, with no mileage limit of any kind.

The same uncorrected fault has been subject to repair four or more times inside the warranty term or the first year, whichever ends sooner, and it still exists.
The vehicle has been in the manufacturer's or dealer's possession for repair for a cumulative 30 or more business days in that same period, not counting time in for routine scheduled maintenance.

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

Passenger vehicles normally used for personal, family or household purposes, including automobiles, pickups, motorcycles and vans, sold and registered in New Mexico with a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds (§ 57-16A-2(F)).

What you have to send the manufacturer

The presumption cannot be used against a manufacturer at all unless it has already had prior direct written notification from the owner and a chance to cure (§ 57-16A-3(C)). The manufacturer is separately required to tell the owner about that obligation, in the warranty or in a notice of its own.

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 return of the vehicle for a refund of the full purchase price including all collateral charges, less a reasonable allowance for use. The allowance covers use before the fault was first reported and any later period when the vehicle was not off the road for repair (§ 57-16A-3(B)).

The deadline

Eighteen months from original delivery, or 90 days after the final decision of an informal dispute settlement panel, whichever is later (§ 57-16A-8). Going to the manufacturer's panel therefore extends the deadline rather than eating it.

Where it is decided

No state-run programme. Where the manufacturer runs a procedure that substantially complies with 16 CFR 703, the refund and replacement remedy is closed to an owner who has not used it first. The Attorney General may investigate whether a given procedure is in fact fair and impartial (§ 57-16A-6).

Used cars

New Mexico is one of the few states with a real used-car warranty. A used vehicle dealer cannot disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability for the first 15 calendar days or 500 miles, whichever ends sooner, and the sale agreement must say so in bold ten-point type or the buyer can void it. The buyer pays at most $25 towards each of the first two repairs (§ 57-16A-3.1).

Worth knowing

Thirty business days, not calendar days. Six weeks of a vehicle sitting at a dealer can fall short of the test where in a calendar-day state it would have passed it.
Choosing this Act closes the ordinary sales-law route: an owner who seeks enforcement under it is foreclosed from the Uniform Commercial Code remedies in §§ 55-2-602 to 55-2-608 (§ 57-16A-5).
Attorney fees run both ways. A consumer who wins gets fees and costs; a consumer who loses a claim brought frivolously or in bad faith pays the manufacturer's (§ 57-16A-9).

How New Mexico compares

20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than New Mexico's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. New Mexico sets no mileage limit at all, which is unusual: most states end the window at a mileage as well as a date.

Every state's thresholds side by side

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.

Check your VIN for open recalls Look up your year, make and model

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 Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act, N.M. Stat. §§ 57-16A-1 to 57-16A-9 and from New Mexico Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs Division, checked on 2026-08-21. Nothing on this page is copied from another summary, and there are a great many of them that disagree with the statutes they describe.

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 Mexico Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs Division, or to a lawyer in New Mexico.

Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-21.
Independent developer and analyst