Lemon Law Lawyers in Texas

Yes. Chapter 2301, Subchapter M of the Occupations Code covers new vehicles, and TxDMV runs it, not a court. A defect that survives a reasonable number of repairs can lead to a repurchase, a replacement or a repair, plus incidental costs.

Yes. It is Chapter 2301, Subchapter M of the Texas Occupations Code, and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles administers it rather than a court. If a warranty defect substantially impairs a new vehicle's use or market value, or creates a serious safety hazard, and survives a reasonable number of repair attempts, section 2301.604 makes the manufacturer, converter or distributor repurchase the vehicle, replace it, or repair it, and reimburse your reasonable incidental costs from loss of use. The complaint is filed online with TxDMV, mediation is attempted first, and a department hearings examiner who must be a licensed Texas lawyer holds the hearing and issues a final order. The filing fee is thirty-five dollars under section 2301.712, and the losing side reimburses it.

Four repairs of the same defect, two for a serious safety hazard, or 30 cumulative days out of service, all before the earlier of the warranty expiring or 24 months or 24,000 miles from delivery.

Texas presumes a reasonable number of attempts under any one of three tests in section 2301.605. The same defect repaired four or more times and still unfixed. A defect amounting to a serious safety hazard repaired two or more times and still unfixed. Or the vehicle out of service for repair for a cumulative thirty days or more. All three require the attempts to fall before the earlier of your express warranty expiring, or twenty-four months or twenty-four thousand miles from original delivery. Note the thirty-day route carefully: the statute counts a "cumulative total of 30 or more days," so separate repair stays add up, and only days the manufacturer or distributor lent you a comparable vehicle are excluded. All three are rebuttable presumptions, so a driver can still succeed on fewer attempts.

No. Chapter 2301 has no 18,000-mile figure. The window is the earlier of the warranty expiring or 24 months or 24,000 miles from original delivery. The 18,000 number is California's.

No. That figure circulates widely and it appears nowhere in Chapter 2301. Section 2301.605 sets the same outer limit for all three of its tests: the earlier of the date your express warranty expires, or twenty-four months or twenty-four thousand miles from original delivery. Two reasons likely account for the error. California's presumption genuinely runs eighteen months or eighteen thousand miles, and writers conflate the states. And Texas itself used to carry a split sub-limit inside the four-times test, which House Bill 2070 removed with effect from September 2017. Any reference to a twelve-thousand-mile sub-limit describes pre-2017 Texas law. The current text is a flat four attempts, or two for a serious safety hazard, inside one window. Check the statute rather than a summary.

Six months after the earliest of three dates: the express warranty expiring, 24 months from original delivery, or 24,000 miles. Whichever comes first starts the count.

Two clocks, and the second is the one that closes the door. The rights period is twenty-four months or twenty-four thousand miles from original delivery, whichever comes first, and your repair attempts have to fall inside it. Then section 2301.606(d) requires the proceeding to be commenced not later than six months after the earliest of three events: your express warranty expiring, twenty-four months passing since original delivery, or twenty-four thousand miles passing. Whichever lands first starts the six months, so a warranty that expired early can start it sooner than you expect. TxDMV's website says "24 months after purchase," but the statute says original delivery, which is usually later and better for you. Note also that section 2301.605(b) extends both the days and the miles for time lost to fire, flood or natural disaster.

Yes. Section 2301.606(c) bars a refund or replacement order unless written notice reached the manufacturer, converter or distributor and it had an opportunity to cure. A copy of the letter is a required upload.

Yes, and it is a precondition rather than a formality. Section 2301.606(c) says TxDMV may not order a refund or replacement unless written notice of the alleged defect reached the manufacturer, converter or distributor, and that party was given an opportunity to cure. The notice goes to the manufacturer, not the selling dealership, and on an upfitted or specialty vehicle the right recipient may be the converter that fitted the body. TxDMV publishes a sample letter, headed certified mail with return receipt, which cites Subchapter M and asks the manufacturer to correct the problem within thirty days of receiving it. A copy of that letter is a required upload when you file online, so send it by a method that gives you a receipt and keep the receipt with your repair orders.

A TxDMV hearings examiner, who must be a licensed Texas lawyer, and the order is final. Subchapter M cases don't go to the State Office of Administrative Hearings.

A TxDMV hearings examiner, and the order is final. This surprises people who expect the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Section 2301.704(a) does send most Chapter 2301 hearings to a SOAH administrative law judge, but subsection (a-1) carves out Subchapter M and requires a hearings examiner instead, and subsection (c) says that examiner shall issue a final order rather than a recommendation. A hearings examiner is employed by TxDMV and must be licensed to practice law in Texas. The examiner can administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and compel documents. TxDMV's Office of Administrative Hearings was created by House Bill 1692 and has heard these cases since January 2014. Before any hearing, TxDMV staff review the complaint and attempt to settle it through mediation between you and the manufacturer.

Thirty-five dollars, taken when you file online, and the non-prevailing party reimburses it. Subchapter M has no attorney-fee provision of its own.

Thirty-five dollars. Section 2301.712(a) sets the filing fee at thirty-five dollars for a Subchapter M complaint, against two hundred for any other complaint or protest, and section 2301.712(b) makes the non-prevailing party reimburse it if the consumer prevails. TxDMV implements that by adding the thirty-five dollars back into the repurchase total on its own worksheet. The fee is taken at submission of the online complaint, and the application cannot be saved and resumed, so have your documents and payment ready. Attorney fees are a separate question: Subchapter M has no fee-shifting provision of its own. TxDMV's rule, 43 TAC section 224.262(a)(6), counts attorney fees as an incidental cost only if you hire a lawyer after being told the manufacturer is represented by counsel. Otherwise, fees come through the Deceptive Trade Practices Act after exhaustion, or under the federal Magnuson-Moss Act. At RockPoint Law the consultation is free and qualifying cases run on contingency.

In two tiers off a presumed 120,000-mile life: full rate for miles before you first reported the defect, half rate for miles after it, with the $35 fee added back.

In two tiers, which is the part most summaries miss. TxDMV's own worksheet starts from the purchase price including tax, title, license and registration, and works off a useful life the rule presumes at 120,000 miles. Your mileage is split at the reading on the day you first reported the defect. Miles before that point are charged at the full rate: unimpaired miles divided by 120,000, times the purchase price. Miles after it, through to the hearing date, are charged at half that rate. The two are added, deducted, and then the thirty-five dollar filing fee is added back. Interest you paid on the loan is not refunded, though the purchase price does include tax, title, license and registration. A towable recreational vehicle is calculated in days against a fifteen-year useful life instead.

Yes to all three. Texas sets no weight ceiling on a self-propelled vehicle, covers anything with two or more wheels, and names towable RVs. Boats and non-travel trailers are out.

All three, and Texas is the broadest state in the region here. Section 2301.002(23) reaches any self-propelled vehicle with two or more wheels, so motorcycles are covered, where Florida and Georgia both exclude them by name. There is no gross-weight ceiling on a self-propelled vehicle, so a heavy-duty pickup is inside Subchapter M where Florida stops at ten thousand pounds. Towable recreational vehicles are named expressly, though the mileage tests generally do not apply and their buyback runs in days against a fifteen-year life. And uniquely, an engine, transmission or rear axle built for a vehicle over sixteen thousand pounds is itself a motor vehicle under the statute, so a heavy truck's powertrain can be the subject of its own claim. Boats, non-travel trailers and farm equipment are not covered.

Only in a limited way. Texas has no used-car lemon law. A used vehicle still under the original manufacturer warranty can use the warranty performance route, where the remedy is repair.

Only in a limited way, and the remedy is different. Texas has no used-vehicle lemon law, and TxDMV states plainly that only new vehicles can qualify for a refund or replacement. What does reach a used vehicle is the warranty performance route: TxDMV says a used vehicle may be covered if it is still under the manufacturer's original warranty, not an extended service contract, or if the defect began and was reported to the dealer during that original warranty and still exists. The remedy there is repair, plus reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs that should have been warranty-covered. Beyond that, a used vehicle runs on the written warranty and the federal Magnuson-Moss Act. Worth knowing when buying: a Texas buyback carries a disclosure statement through its next retail sale under section 2301.610.

Staff review the complaint and attempt mediation. If that fails, an examiner holds a hearing and issues a final order, with rehearing due by day 25 and review in Travis County after that.

Lemon Law Section staff and an assigned case advisor review the complaint for completeness and eligibility, and an attempt is made to resolve it through mediation between the parties. Many complaints end there, and section 2301.160 tolls the chapter's time limits while required mediation is pending. If mediation does not resolve it, a hearings examiner holds a hearing and issues a final order. Either side may then seek a rehearing from the chief hearings examiner under section 2301.713, due by the twenty-fifth day after the order is signed, and judicial review in a Travis County district court by the thirtieth day after the order becomes final, on the substantial evidence standard rather than a fresh trial.

If no final order has issued by the 151st day after filing, TxDMV must send certified notice that you may file a civil action, and you can then sue anyone named in the complaint.

Texas anticipated that, and the answer is useful. Section 2301.607(c) says that if no final order has issued before the hundred and fifty-first day after your complaint was filed, the department shall send written notice by certified mail to you and to the manufacturer, converter or distributor, stating that the hundred and fifty day period has expired and that you have the right to file a civil action. Section 2301.607(d) then lets you sue any person named in the complaint, despite the general rule that you must exhaust administrative remedies first. A failure to send that notice does not cost you the right. The department must extend the period if the delay was caused by you.

In or near the city where you live, when possible. TxDMV names seven main hearing locations: Austin, Carrollton, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Pharr and San Antonio. A hearing can also be held by phone or video.

TxDMV's Office of Administrative Hearings holds Lemon Law hearings around the state rather than only in Austin. It names seven main hearing locations: Austin, Carrollton, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, Pharr and San Antonio, and it says it attempts to set each hearing in a location near the complainant's city of residence. Under 43 TAC section 224.252, a hearing may also be held by telephone or videoconference. Most of the case is built before anyone sits down in a hearing room: the repair orders, the notice letter, the online complaint and the mediation all come first, and plenty of claims settle at mediation. If yours goes to a hearing, an in-person one is usually a short drive for most Texans, not a trip to the capital.