State lemon law
Tennessee Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Tennessee 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
12
Months covered
What counts as a lemon in Tennessee
Meeting any one of these raises a presumption that the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts. The repairs have to fall inside one year from the original delivery or the length of the express warranty, whichever is longer, is what the filing deadline is measured from.
- The manufacturer or dealer cannot repair the defect after three attempts.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repairs for a total of 30 or more 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 vehicles, and vehicles still under the manufacturer's warranty, where the defect makes the vehicle unreliable or unsafe for normal operation.
What you have to send the manufacturer
Before a refund, the owner must notify the manufacturer of the problem in writing by certified mail, and the manufacturer gets ten days to fix the car.
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 a refund of the purchase price, less a reasonable allowance for use.
The deadline
A lawsuit must be brought within six months of the later of one year from the original delivery or the expiration of the express warranty.
Worth knowing
- The ten-day final repair window is short and starts when the certified letter arrives, so the letter is worth sending early rather than at the end.
How Tennessee compares
No state on this site asks for fewer than Tennessee's 3 repair attempts, and 19 others ask for the same 3. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Tennessee 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 Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 55-24-101 to 55-24-212 and from Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs, 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.
- Lemon Law, Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs
- Automobile issues chapter, Tennessee Attorney General consumer guide
- VTR-58, the Lemon Law, Tennessee Department of Revenue
- Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs
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 Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs, or to a lawyer in Tennessee.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst