Does Michigan Have a Lemon Law? New Car Tests and First Letter

Yes, Michigan has a lemon law, and it covers your new car, SUV, pickup or van when you first reported the defect during the factory warranty or within a year of delivery, whichever ended first. The usual path: after the third failed repair of the same defect, or 25 days in the shop, you send the manufacturer a written notice by return-receipt mail, it gets one final repair, and if that fails it owes you a refund or a comparable replacement. Start today by pulling every repair order and finding the manufacturer's mailing address in your warranty booklet.

Who and what the law covers

• Vehicles. Passenger cars, SUVs, pickups and vans bought or leased in Michigan, or bought or leased anywhere by a Michigan resident, that carried a manufacturer's warranty when you got them. Motor homes, buses, other trucks and anything on fewer than four wheels are excluded.
• Buyers. Anyone who bought or leased for personal, family or household use, plus any business that buys or leases fewer than 10 new vehicles a year.
• Defects. A defect or condition that impairs the vehicle's use or value to you, or that breaks the manufacturer's warranty. Problems caused by a modification the manufacturer did not make, by abuse or neglect, or by an accident after you took delivery fall outside the law.
• Reporting window. Your first report to the manufacturer or a dealer has to fall inside the factory warranty or the first year after delivery to the original buyer, whichever ends first. A defect reported in time stays the manufacturer's to fix after the warranty expires.

The two tests Michigan uses

The law presumes the manufacturer has had enough chances when either of these happened and the defect is still there:

• Four repairs. The same defect, serious enough to substantially impair the vehicle's use or value, went through four or more repair attempts by the manufacturer or a dealer within two years of the first attempt. Repairs done after the warranty ran out still count. Your written notice can go out any time after the third attempt.
• 30 days. Repairs kept the vehicle out of service for 30 or more days for any mix of defects, with partial days counted, inside the reporting window above. Your written notice goes out once it has spent at least 25 days in a repair facility.

How the final repair works

The notice goes to the manufacturer, not the dealer, by a mail service that returns a signed receipt. The manufacturer then has to tell you, as soon as reasonably possible, which reasonably accessible repair facility to use. From the day you deliver the vehicle there, it has 5 business days to fix the defect. If the defect is still there after that, you are owed the remedy below.

What to do today

1. Gather every repair order. Each should show the dates in and out, the mileage and the work done. Ask the dealer's service desk for copies of any you lack, even visits where no fault was found, and keep every letter to or from the manufacturer and dealer.
2. Count against the two tests. Write one line per visit: dates, mileage, the problem you reported and the result. Add up the shop days.
3. Find the address and the dispute program. Look in the warranty booklet for the manufacturer's mailing address or warranty department. Federal rules require the warranty to explain step by step how to get warranty service and, if the manufacturer uses an informal dispute program, to name it on the face of the warranty. If the booklet lists only a phone number, call it for the mailing address.
4. Once your count passes either notice point above, mail the notice letter below with copies of the repair orders. Keep the mailing receipt and a copy of the letter.
5. Deliver the vehicle where the manufacturer sends you and get a dated repair order for the drop-off.
6. Keep every towing and rental receipt the defect caused.

What the manufacturer owes you

When the final repair fails, the manufacturer has 30 days to either replace the vehicle with a comparable replacement currently in production that you accept, or take it back and refund you. The choice of a refund is yours: you can turn down a replacement and demand the money. The refund works like this:

• Paid back: the vehicle price on your buyer's order, including your cash down payment and trade-in allowance; options and other charges made by or for the manufacturer; and sales tax, license and registration fees and similar government charges.
• Also paid: towing and a comparable rental car the defect made necessary, when the manufacturer did not provide them free.
• Left out: manufacturer rebates and incentives that lowered your price, and any old loan balance rolled in from a trade-in.
• Subtracted: appraised damage beyond normal use or the defect, plus a use allowance. The allowance is the price times the miles driven before the first report of the defect plus every mile past 25,000, divided by 100,000. A $40,000 car first reported at 4,000 miles and returned at 27,000 loses 6,000 miles' worth, or $2,400.

If the vehicle stopped being reliable transportation past 25,000 miles, a court or the dispute program can cut the deduction for those later miles. With a loan, the refund is split between you and your lender according to each one's interest. With a lease, you get back the lease price you paid and the leasing company is barred from charging an early-termination fee; a replacement keeps your lease as written except for the new VIN. To check a buyback offer line by line, use our manufacturer buyback guide.

Where it splits

If your warranty booklet names a dispute program, such as BBB AUTO LINE, file there before you sue. Michigan requires that step for a program that follows the federal rules, binds the manufacturer to a decision you accept, lets you reject the decision and sue under the lemon law, and makes the manufacturer start carrying out a settlement within 30 days. Under the federal rules the program is free and has 40 days from receiving your dispute to decide.

If the manufacturer uses no dispute program, a lemon law lawsuit is your next step when it refuses the refund or replacement.

If you bought the vehicle used, the law covers you as long as you can enforce the factory warranty. Our used car lemon law guide covers the rest of a used buyer's options.

If your first report fell outside the reporting window but the warranty still covers the defect, your claim runs under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act for a warranty defect the manufacturer fails to fix; a consumer who wins can recover attorney fees too.

Your leverage

• Fees. A consumer who wins a lemon law lawsuit can recover court costs and attorney fees based on the lawyer's actual hours, unless the judge finds a fee award inappropriate.
• No waiver. Michigan's lemon law bars waiving its rights, whatever your purchase or lease papers say.
• Attorney General complaint. File with the Michigan Attorney General's Consumer Protection Team through its complaint page or at 877-765-8388. The team sends your complaint to the manufacturer, asks for a response, and follows up if none comes within 30 days.

Call a Michigan lemon law attorney when the manufacturer ignores your notice, blames an aftermarket part, abuse or an accident, or offers a buyback with a bigger mileage deduction than the formula gives.

Final repair notice to the manufacturer

[Your name, address, phone, email]

[Date]

Sent by certified mail, return receipt requested

To: [Manufacturer], [mailing address or warranty department from your warranty booklet]

Re: Michigan lemon law notice, MCL 257.1403(5), [year, make, model], VIN [number]

I took delivery of this vehicle new from [dealer name, city] on [delivery date] under a [purchase / lease], and it now shows [current mileage] miles.

It has this defect, which substantially impairs its use and value: [what happens and how often]. I first reported it to [dealer] on [date] at [mileage] miles. Repair history:

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

The vehicle has been out of service for repairs [number] days in total, and the defect continues. This letter is my written notice of the need for repair and gives you your final opportunity to cure the defect. Please tell me which repair facility to deliver the vehicle to.

If the defect remains after that repair, I request [a refund of the purchase price / a refund of the lease price / a comparable replacement vehicle] under MCL 257.1403(1), plus my towing and rental costs.

[Signature]

Enclosures: repair orders, purchase or lease contract, towing and rental receipts

Today

1. Pull your repair orders and count visits and shop days.
2. Find the notice address and dispute program.
3. Mail the notice by certified mail.

Next comes the signed return receipt, then the manufacturer's reply naming the repair facility.