Arlington, TX Lemon Law Attorney

Start with the license in the State Bar of Texas directory, then test what you can: does the firm do lemon law as its main work, and can it tell you which date starts your six months?

Start with the license, because a badge on a website can be bought and a license cannot. The State Bar of Texas Find-A-Lawyer directory shows whether a lawyer is eligible to practice in Texas and lists any public discipline. After that, look for things you can test. Does the firm handle lemon law as its main work, or as a sideline? Can the lawyer explain the four-repair, two-repair and 30-day tests without looking them up? Will they tell you which date starts your six months? Reviews help too, as long as you read what people actually say rather than the star average. RockPoint Law has no Arlington office and no Arlington review listing, so the reviews shown here are firm-wide, not local.

Texas law applies if you are in Arlington, Texas, in Tarrant County. Arlington, Virginia falls under Virginia's own statute, and none of the Texas rules carry over.

It depends on which Arlington you live in. Arlington, Texas sits in Tarrant County, between Dallas and Fort Worth, and a car bought or registered here falls under Chapter 2301, Subchapter M of the Texas Occupations Code. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles runs those claims. Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C., is governed by Virginia's own lemon law, a different statute written by a different legislature. None of the Texas rules below carry over. If your car was sold, registered or repaired in Virginia, our Virginia lemon law guide is the one to read. If the dealer's address on your purchase contract is in Texas and you drive on I-20 or SH 360, this is the right place to start, and the Texas tests below apply.

Six months from the earliest of warranty expiry, 24 months or 24,000 miles after delivery. The case only begins when TxDMV receives the $35 fee, so pay it when you file.

Six months from whichever of three dates arrives first: the end of the express warranty, 24 months after original delivery, or 24,000 miles after original delivery. That is section 2301.606(d) of the Occupations Code. One detail catches people. TxDMV's rules say a lemon law proceeding begins on the date the department receives the $35 filing fee, so a complaint typed up but not paid for has not started anything. Pay the fee when you file. Commuters should watch the odometer as closely as the calendar. A driver covering 16,000 miles a year hits 24,000 miles at about eighteen months, which pulls the whole deadline forward by half a year. TxDMV's own advice is to file as soon as you see the dealer struggling to fix the problem.

Yes, if they're days out of service for repair inside the window. Separate stays add up. Only days in a comparable loaner from the manufacturer or distributor come off.

Yes, if they are days out of service for repair inside the warranty window. Section 2301.605(a)(3) looks for a cumulative total of 30 or more days, so three separate stays of ten days each can get there. A defect that substantially impairs the car has to still be present. One kind of day is taken off the count. If the manufacturer or distributor lent you a comparable vehicle while a franchised dealer had yours, those days do not count. A rental you arranged yourself, or rides you paid for, are different: those days stay on the count. Keep every repair order showing the date the car went in and the date it came out, because the examiner counts from paper, not from memory.

Often, if the case ends in a buyback or replacement. Rentals, rideshares and tows are incidental costs under 43 TAC 224.262 when they're reasonable and verifiable.

Often, yes, if the case ends in a buyback or a replacement. TxDMV's rule on incidental costs, 43 TAC 224.262, says a winning complainant is reimbursed for costs from loss of use of the vehicle, provided they are reasonable and verifiable. Alternate transportation is first on the rule's list, followed by towing, calls and mail to the manufacturer or dealer, meals and lodging when the car fails on an out-of-town trip, and damaged personal property. In Arlington that usually means rental agreements, Arlington On-Demand trips or other rideshare fares, and tow bills. Verifiable is the word to remember. A receipt with a date beats a bank statement line, and a bank statement line beats a guess. Start a folder the first time the car goes back.

The lender is paid from the refund in proportion to its interest. The refund leaves out interest and finance charges, so get a payoff letter early.

The lender gets paid out of the refund. Section 2301.604(b) splits the money between the owner and the lienholder in proportion to each one's interest in the vehicle, and TxDMV's rule makes the refund payable to both. The refund itself is calculated from the total purchase price, but the rule leaves out interest, finance charges and insurance premiums. So on a financed first car, a common situation for a student at UT Arlington, the interest you have already paid is not part of the buyback figure. Ask for a payoff letter from the lender early, because the numbers only make sense side by side. If you are leasing rather than financing, a separate formula applies and the order can end the lease without a penalty to you.

Not for a buyback. Only new vehicles qualify for a refund or replacement. A used car still under the original warranty can use the free warranty performance route for repairs.

Not for a buyback or replacement. TxDMV says only new vehicles can qualify for a refund or replacement, and the statute defines a new motor vehicle as one that has not been sold at retail before, whatever its mileage. A demonstrator that was never titled counts as new. A used car still has one route. Texas's warranty performance law can order repairs if the car is still under the manufacturer's original warranty, or if the defect was reported to the dealer while that warranty was running and it is still there. An extended service contract does not count. TxDMV charges no filing fee for a warranty performance complaint. It is a repair remedy only, but on a car with a stubborn fault it can be the push the dealer needed.

TxDMV sets it. Arlington isn't a hearing site; the two Metroplex sites among TxDMV's seven are Fort Worth and Carrollton. Hearings run four hours, and you can bring the car.

TxDMV does not fix that in advance, and Arlington is not one of the places it names. Its Office of Administrative Hearings lists seven main locations, and two are in the Metroplex: Fort Worth, at a TxDOT facility, and Carrollton, at a TxDMV facility. OAH says it tries to set each hearing near the complainant's home but that some travel may be required. The hearings examiner comes in from Austin, the hearing is set for four hours, and at an in-person hearing TxDMV's rules let you bring the car so the manufacturer can inspect and drive it. The hearing notice gives the address. If the date does not work, either side can ask for a continuance by motion, and the examiner decides whether to grant it.

Both hear about it, but the letter that matters goes to the manufacturer. Section 2301.606(c) requires written notice to the manufacturer, converter or distributor.

Both, but the letter that matters legally goes to the manufacturer. The dealer hears about the problem every time you take the car in, and each repair order is your proof of that. Section 2301.606(c) is different. It says no refund or replacement can be ordered unless the manufacturer, converter or distributor received written notice of the defect and had a chance to fix it. The service manager at the dealership is not the manufacturer. Look in your warranty booklet or owner's manual for the manufacturer's customer relations address. TxDMV prefers certified mail and publishes a sample letter on its website. Keep a copy of what you sent and the delivery receipt, because the complaint form asks for the date the manufacturer first got written notice.

No. Where the vehicle was built, including GM's Arlington Assembly plant, has no bearing on a claim. Every make goes through the same tests and the same TxDMV process.

No. GM's Arlington Assembly plant has built vehicles since 1954 and today builds the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and the Cadillac Escalade. The plant sits at 2625 East Abram Street, on the east side of the city. Where a vehicle came off the line has no bearing on a Texas lemon law claim, and neither does which franchised dealer sold it to you. The questions are the same for every make: is the defect covered by the written warranty, does it substantially impair use or value or create a serious safety hazard, and does your repair record meet one of the three tests in section 2301.605. A Tahoe from Arlington and a sedan from overseas go through the same TxDMV process.

Price without interest or finance charges, less full-rate miles to the first report and half-rate miles after, plus the $35 fee, with the lender paid its share.

Start with the total purchase price, leaving out interest, finance charges and insurance premiums. Then TxDMV's rule subtracts an allowance for your use of the car, based on a presumed life of 120,000 miles. Miles driven before you first reported the defect are charged at the full rate. Miles from that first report to the hearing date are charged at half rate. Take a $31,500 sedan first written up at 6,000 miles and heard at 18,000 miles. The first 6,000 miles cost $1,575, and the next 12,000 cost another $1,575 at half rate. That leaves $28,350, and the $35 filing fee goes back on top. Any lender is paid its share. That is arithmetic on invented numbers, not a forecast for your car.

No. The complaint, mediation and prehearing call happen online or by phone. The hearing is the one day you're normally needed in person, and TxDMV sets where.

No. RockPoint Law has no office in Arlington. Our Texas office is in downtown Dallas, about 20 miles east, and most clients from Arlington never set foot in it. The complaint is filed with TxDMV online. TxDMV's case advisor handles mediation by phone and in writing. The prehearing conference is a phone call. We can take your repair orders, purchase contract and receipts by upload and go through them with you on a video or phone call at a time that fits around work or classes. The one day that normally needs you in person is the hearing, and that is set by TxDMV, not by us. If you would rather meet face to face, tell us and we arrange it.