New Jersey Lemon Law for New Cars: Tests, Letter, Refund

Yes: a car bought, leased or registered in New Jersey is covered when you reported the defect within its first 24,000 miles or two years from delivery, whichever ended first. After two failed repairs of the same problem (one for a serious safety defect, or 20 days in the shop), you send the manufacturer a certified letter, it gets one last repair within 10 days, and if the problem remains you file a $50 claim with the state's Lemon Law Unit for a refund. Start today by calling the Unit at 973-504-6226 for the manufacturer's notice address: the letter must arrive before the odometer hits 24,000 miles and before the second anniversary of delivery.

What the law covers

Vehicles. Cars and motorcycles bought or leased in New Jersey or registered here, plus motor homes except the living quarters. Vehicles registered or mainly used for business are excluded.
Later owners. A car you bought used can still qualify while it is under 24,000 miles and two years from its original delivery.
The defect. It substantially impairs the car's use, value or safety, or it is a serious safety defect, one likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the car is driven. Defects from an accident, abuse, neglect or work by an unauthorized shop fall outside the law.

The three tests New Jersey uses

The Lemon Law Unit takes your case when one of these happened inside the 24,000-mile or two-year window and the problem remains. Each count includes the final repair the manufacturer gets within 10 calendar days of receiving your certified letter:

Three repairs. Three attempts on the same defect, the last one being that final repair. Mail the letter after the second.
Two repairs of a serious safety defect. One examination or repair, then the final repair. Mail the letter after the first.
20 days. One or more defects kept the car in the shop 20 or more calendar days in total (45 for a motor home), plus the final repair. Days you take to pick the car up after the shop calls are left out.

Your deadline

The manufacturer must receive your letter while the car is under both 24,000 miles and two years from delivery. If either line is a few weeks away, mail the letter today. Once the final repair fails, apply promptly; the defect has to still exist when you do.

What to do today

Mark your window. From your bill of sale or lease, note the delivery date and mileage, the date two years out, and today's odometer reading.
Collect the repair statements. After every visit, the dealer must give you an itemized statement with the problem you reported, the diagnosis, the work done, and the date and mileage in and out. Request any missing copy from the service desk.
Count. List the visits for the same defect, add up the calendar days the car sat at the shop, and keep every towing and rental receipt.
Get the notice address. Call the Lemon Law Unit at 973-504-6226 or email [email protected] for the manufacturer's regional office address for lemon law notices. The Division has you send the letter only to the address it provides.
Mail the letter below by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep the receipt, since the application asks for its date. Take the car in for the final repair and keep that statement too.

How the Lemon Law Unit handles your claim

If the problem survives the final repair, fill in the state's Application for New Car Lemon Law Dispute Resolution. Attach copies, never originals, of your letter, the return receipt, every repair invoice, the registration, the purchase order, the finance or lease contract and any towing or rental receipts. Mail it to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Lemon Law Unit, P.O. Box 45026, Newark, NJ 07101, and hold the fee until the Unit requests it.

The Unit checks the application for completeness and eligibility. It returns an incomplete one for you to finish and gives the reason for any rejection.
After approval, the Unit requests the $50 fee by certified check or money order. The day the fee arrives, your case is accepted and the manufacturer gets a copy of your application.
An Office of Administrative Law judge hears the case in Newark, Trenton or Atlantic City, whichever suits you, usually within 20 days of acceptance, subject to the OAL calendar. Within 10 days of learning which judge has the case, the manufacturer must mail you a written answer to each statement in your application.
The manufacturer arrives with a lawyer and an expert witness. You can bring your own, plus friends or family who have seen the problem happen.
The judge rules within 20 days of the hearing, and the Director of Consumer Affairs adopts, rejects or changes that decision within 15 days. Either side can appeal that binding final decision to the Appellate Division within 45 days.

Many cases settle with the manufacturer along the way. It can offer a replacement car at any point, and you can refuse it and insist on the refund.

What the refund includes

The full purchase price, including your trade-in allowance and any options the manufacturer or dealer added within 30 days of delivery.
Sales tax, license and registration fees, and finance charges.
Towing, repair bills you paid, and rental of an equivalent car while yours was in the shop for the defect.
The $50 filing fee.
Minus the use allowance: the mileage at your first repair visit for the defect, times the purchase price, divided by 100,000. A $42,000 car first taken in at 5,000 miles loses $2,100.

The money is split between you and your lender as the Motor Vehicle Commission's title records show. A lease ends with no early-termination penalty, and you get back what you paid under it, minus the use allowance figured on the lease price. If you take a replacement instead, the manufacturer moves your loan onto the new car. To check an offer line by line, use the manufacturer buyback guide.

Where it splits

If the manufacturer points you to its own arbitration program, you can skip it and go straight to the state hearing. If you try its program and reject the result without settling, you can still apply to the Lemon Law Unit.
If you would rather sue, you can file in Superior Court directly. Filing that lawsuit closes the state program to you, and a final state decision bars a later lemon law suit, so pick one route.
If the manufacturer never makes the final repair within 10 days, mail the application anyway and explain on question 14.
If the letter arrived after 24,000 miles or two years, the state hearing is closed; the factory warranty and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act still give you a claim while the warranty runs.
If you bought it used from a licensed dealer past 24,000 miles or two years, the New Jersey used car lemon law requires a dealer warranty when the car was seven model years old or newer, cost $3,000 or more and had 100,000 miles or less. Only the buyer of a car over 60,000 miles can waive it, in writing, and factory-warranty repairs still go to the manufacturer.

Your leverage

The manufacturer pays your lawyer. A consumer who wins, in Superior Court or before the Division, is awarded reasonable attorney fees, expert witness fees and costs.
Daily penalties. A manufacturer that unreasonably misses the decision's deadline faces state penalties of $5,000 for each day late, collected by the Division. If the date passes, tell the Lemon Law Unit right away.
Appeals cost the manufacturer. Its appeal needs a bond, payable to you, equal to your award plus $2,500 for legal costs, and a frivolous appeal earns you triple damages.

Call a lemon law attorney when the manufacturer blames abuse, an accident or aftermarket work, or calls the defect minor.

Final repair letter to the manufacturer

[Your name, address, daytime and evening phone]

[Date]

Certified mail, return receipt requested

To: [Manufacturer], [regional office address from the Lemon Law Unit]

Re: New Jersey Lemon Law, N.J.S.A. 56:12-29 to 56:12-49, [year, make, model], VIN [number]

I [bought / leased] this vehicle new from [dealer name, city] on [delivery date] at [delivery mileage] miles. It now has [current mileage] miles.

It has this defect: [what happens and how often]. Your authorized dealer has had it for repair [number] times, and it has been out of service for [number] calendar days in total:

[Date in] to [date out], [mileage], repair order [number]: [problem reported, work done]
[One line per visit]

The defect continues today and substantially impairs the use, value or safety of the vehicle [or: it is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the vehicle is driven].

This letter gives you your final opportunity to repair the vehicle. You have 10 calendar days from receiving this letter to complete that repair. Please contact me to schedule it. If the defect remains after that, I will apply to the Division of Consumer Affairs Lemon Law Unit for a full refund.

[Signature]

Enclosures: copies of repair orders, purchase or lease contract, registration

Today

Count your repair visits and shop days against your delivery date and mileage.
Call 973-504-6226 for the manufacturer's notice address.
Mail the letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy.

Next come the signed return receipt and the manufacturer's call about the final repair. If the defect survives it, mail the application; the Unit's fee request follows.