Texas Lemon Law for a New Car: Tests, Letter and Deadline

Yes: if the same defect is still there after four repair visits, two for a serious safety hazard, or 30 days in the shop, all within 24 months or 24,000 miles and inside the warranty, Texas presumes the manufacturer has had its fair chance to fix it. Send the manufacturer a written notice by certified mail today, then file a Lemon Law complaint with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) and pay the $35 fee within six months after the warranty ends or the car reaches 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first. Most complaints TxDMV accepts settle before a hearing, and a case that does not settle goes to a hearings examiner, who can order a buyback, a replacement or a repair.

The Texas lemon tests

Your car qualifies when the manufacturer's written warranty covers the defect, you reported it before the warranty ran out, and the defect substantially impairs the car's use or market value or creates a serious safety hazard. Minor rattles and radio static fall short. The manufacturer must also get written notice and at least one chance to fix the car.

Pass one of these three tests and Texas presumes the manufacturer had enough repair attempts. Each test counts repairs made within 24 months or 24,000 miles of delivery, whichever comes first, and before the warranty expires:

Four-times test: the same defect went in for repair four or more times and is still there.
Safety test: a serious safety hazard went in for repair two or more times and is still there. That means a life-threatening malfunction that substantially impedes your control of the car or creates a substantial risk of fire or explosion.
30-day test: the car spent a total of 30 or more days out of service for repair, added up across visits, and a substantial defect remains. Days you drove a comparable loaner come off the count.

Fewer visits can still qualify: the tests set a presumption, and an examiner can find fewer attempts reasonable. Repairs at any franchised dealer for your brand count. You qualify if you bought or leased the car from a Texas-licensed dealer, or live in Texas and registered it here; never-titled demonstrators count as new.

Your filing deadline

File the TxDMV complaint within six months after the first of these dates: the day your warranty expires, the day the car turns 24 months old from delivery, or the day it reaches 24,000 miles. A car delivered March 1, 2025 with a 3-year warranty and driven 10,000 miles a year reaches 24 months first, so its complaint is due by September 1, 2027. At 20,000 miles a year it hits 24,000 miles around mid-May 2026, and the complaint is due around mid-November 2026.

Your case begins the day TxDMV receives the $35 fee, and that date is measured against the deadline, so pay it with the complaint. The manufacturer pays the $35 back if you win.

What happens after you file

TxDMV sends your complaint to the manufacturer and the selling dealer, and that counts as written notice, so the case goes forward even if your own letter never arrived. A case advisor then mediates by phone or at an inspection of the car at an agreed place such as a dealership, which a manufacturer representative typically attends.

In fiscal 2022, TxDMV closed 476 accepted complaints, and 285 of them settled: 73 with repairs, 56 with buybacks, 52 with cash, 13 with extended service contracts, 7 with replacements and 84 on undisclosed terms. Hearings that year ordered only 11 buybacks or replacements.

The manufacturer also gets its opportunity to cure, inspecting and repairing the car itself or through a dealer it authorizes. Bring the car and get a repair order for that visit. If the manufacturer answers your notice with a settlement offer instead of arranging a repair, it gives up that chance.

If mediation fails, a hearings examiner hears the case. Recent hearings have convened electronically; the hearing notice and the prehearing phone conference tell you how to join, how to send exhibits and whether the car needs an inspection. You present first, under oath, with the sales contract, an odometer statement, the warranty, every repair order and your written notice. The written decision comes within 60 days after the hearing record closes.

What to do today

Line up your repair orders. Put every repair order for the defect in date order, count the visits and add up the days out of service, minus loaner days. At the next visit, check that the order describes the problem in full before you sign.
Find your deadline. Check the delivery date on your purchase contract, the warranty term and the odometer, then add six months to the first date reached.
Mail the notice letter below. Send it to the manufacturer's address in your warranty booklet by certified mail, return receipt requested, with copies of the repair orders, and keep a copy.
File the complaint online. Open the TxDMV online complaint system and choose Lemon Law, then Consumer, then Purchased vehicle new. Have ready to upload the purchase order or sales contract, the repair orders, your notice letter, your lease if you lease, and any photos. The $35 is charged when you submit, and the system has no save-and-return, so gather everything first.
Keep a defect log and receipts. Note the date, time, place and what the car did each time, and save receipts for rentals, towing, and meals or hotels when the car failed on a trip.

TxDMV's Lemon Law Section answers questions at (888) 368-4689.

Where it splits

If the dealer wrote could not duplicate

TxDMV counts a visit where the dealer failed to fix the car as a repair attempt, unless the failure was your fault. Record the problem on video when it happens; hearings accept recordings on a USB drive, CD or DVD when the manufacturer gets a copy at least five days before the hearing.

If the dealer calls it normal operation or a software issue

Repeated repairs and part replacements that never fixed the problem, or a faulty component identified by the manufacturer's own expert, have supported a finding of a materials-or-workmanship defect. Under a materials-or-workmanship warranty, examiners give no buyback for problems that come from the car's design, and they have treated faults resolved by clearing codes or updating software as design issues. A buyback needs a defect that makes your car deviate from the manufacturer's design standards and differ from other vehicles of the same kind; a service bulletin or recall covering the whole model has counted against a buyback, used to show the problem was common to the model rather than a manufacturing defect in the owner's car. Examiners have still ordered warranty repairs for a fault the dealer blamed on software. Keep video of each failure.

If your six-month window has closed

TxDMV can no longer order a buyback or replacement, and repair relief remains: file a warranty performance complaint, with no filing fee, if you reported the defect before the warranty expired. The manufacturer must keep repairing that defect after the warranty ends, and your rights under other laws, such as a warranty lawsuit, remain. A used car still under its original factory warranty uses the same route; see the Texas used car lemon law guide.

If you lease the car

You qualify as the owner, and a buyback ends the lease without penalty. You get back your lease payments and what you paid to start it, including the down payment, trade-in and sales tax, minus the use allowance.

What you can get and your leverage

Buyback: the full purchase price, including tax, title and license fees, minus a use allowance, plus your $35 fee. Interest, finance charges and insurance premiums stay out, and the payment is split between you and your lender by each one's interest.
The use allowance: miles from delivery to your first report of the defect, divided by 120,000 and multiplied by the purchase price, plus half that calculation for miles from the first report to the hearing. On a $45,000 car first reported at 3,000 miles with 15,000 miles on hearing day, the deduction is $1,125 plus $2,250, or $3,375. Reporting early keeps it low; the manufacturer buyback guide shows how to check an offer's math.
Replacement: a comparable vehicle you choose. You pay the use allowance, the taxes and fees on the new sale, and any price difference for a pricier model.
Incidental costs: with a buyback or replacement, the manufacturer repays reasonable, verifiable costs for alternate transportation, towing, calls and mail about the car, meals and lodging when it failed on an out-of-town trip, damaged personal property, and accessories you added, minus use.
Repair order: short of a buyback, the examiner can order the manufacturer to fix the car and repay what you spent on repairs the warranty should have covered.
Court: a refund or replacement lawsuit waits until the TxDMV process ends, or until TxDMV mails the letter it sends when no final order has issued by day 151; then you can sue the manufacturer, including under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Bring in a lemon law lawyer when the manufacturer says it has hired one: if you hire counsel after that notice and win a buyback or replacement, the manufacturer repays your attorney fees. A lawyer also earns the fee when the manufacturer blames abuse, neglect or an unauthorized modification.

Notice letter to the manufacturer

[Your name], [address], [phone], [date]

To: [manufacturer], [address from your warranty booklet]

Certified mail, return receipt requested, [receipt number]

I am notifying you of a defect in my [year, make, model], VIN [number], and request that you correct it within 30 days of receiving this letter. I [bought / leased] the vehicle new from [dealer name and city] on [date], with [number] miles at delivery.

At about [mileage], the vehicle began to [describe the defect: what happens, when and how often]. I took it to [dealer names] for repair on [date and mileage of each visit], and the defect continues. The vehicle has been out of service for repair for [number] days in total. Copies of the repair orders are enclosed.

This defect [substantially impairs the use or market value of my vehicle / creates a serious safety hazard]. If you and your dealers are unable to correct it, I expect you to [repurchase / replace] the vehicle under Chapter 2301, Subchapter M of the Texas Occupations Code.

Please call me at the number above to arrange a date and place for your inspection and repair.

[Your name]

Enclosures: repair orders dated [dates]; purchase contract

Today

Mail the notice letter by certified mail.
File the complaint online with the $35 fee.
Put your six-month deadline on the calendar.

Next comes the signed return receipt, then TxDMV's mediation by phone or at an inspection of your car.