What Do The Lemon Laws In Texas Cover?

The lemon laws in Texas are similar to the federal consumer rights laws; one of the primary constraints to qualify for lemon laws in the state of Texas is that you need to be a resident of the state to apply under the law if you have purchased a vehicle that needs multiple repairs and even after numerous attempts, the manufacturer has failed to rectify the defects under the warranty; also the vehicle must be titles in the state of Texas to avail of the benefits of this law.

What do the lemon laws in Texas cover?

There are several product which are covered under the lemon laws in Texas such as trucks, defective cares, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and even boats, all vehicles or that were purchased with a written warranty including household products such as computers and other consumer durables are covered by the law. If you are dealing with a defective vehicle, you will need to file your claims with the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Given below is the criteria to file such a claim; however, the decision rests with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. However, if you are not satisfied with the results of such a claim, you can always approach the court in this matter

The procedure and the law:

The steps that you need to take in order to place your claim in front of the state authorities were established in 1991 by the Texas Legislature. There are several lemon laws in Texas that deal with faulty vehicles; however in the simplest form the law states that a vehicle which malfunctions after purchase and it cannot be subsequently fixed by the manufacturer or the dealer despite several attempts is covered by the lemon laws in Texas; however, in order to move court in this matter or to file your claim with the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles; you will have to satisfy one of the three conditions: the four time test, the serious safety test and the 30 day test

The four time test: Through this test the dealer gets two attempts to fix the problem in 12 months or in 12,000 miles whichever expires first after the purchase of the vehicle. The manufacturer or dealer subsequently gets two more attempts to fix the same problem in the next 12 months or 12,000 miles, so essentially, the manufacturer gets four shots at repairing the vehicle in 2 years or 24,000 miles. However, if the manufacturer cannot rectify the problem in these 4 attempts, the consumer can submit a claim or even move court in the matter if a satisfactory resolution is not reached.

The safety hazard test: It would be difficult to determine which is better the four time test or the safety hazard test if a safety hazard indeed exists; however, you need to understand that a safety hazard is interpreted rather broadly, you can expect the rule to be quite stringent to file a claim in this context. Several problems can be deemed to be safety hazards; for instance, a brake failure or even malfunctioning rear lights. Even safety belts that work improperly can be considered to be a safety hazard. However, the Motor Vehicle Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles does offer certain allowance so that the manufacturer can get ample of opportunity to correct the issues before lemon laws in Texas are applied to the matter. However, since a safety hazard can jeopardize the life of the driver and other people on the road, the manufacturer only gets 2 attempts to fix the issue, o the manufacturer can try and rectify the issue once in the first 12 months or 12,000 miles and one more attempt to do the same in the next 12 months or 12,000 miles. If after both opportunities the manufacturer still cannot yield satisfactory results; then the consumer can submit a claim,

The 30 day test:
According to this test, the dealer or manufacturer can only keep the vehicle for up to 30 days in order to rectify a problem; however, these days don’t have to be consecutive. But only 30 days are allowed in the first 24 months or 24,000 miles.