Understanding Georgia Lemon Law

The Georgia Lemon Law covers consumers who purchase or lease new motor vehicles for personal, family or household purposes. It also covers businesses that purchase or lease no more than ten new vehicles a year for business purposes other than providing limousine rental services.

The lemon law covers “nonconformities:” a serious safety defect or condition that substantially impairs the use, value or safety of a new motor vehicle to the consumer. A manufacturer must repair a nonconformity, unless it was caused by abuse, neglect or unauthorized modification or alteration. The law defines “serious safety defect” as a life-threatening defect or malfunction that impedes the consumer’s ability to control or operate the motor vehicle for ordinary use. Any condition that creates a risk of fire or explosion also counts as a “serious safety defect” under the law.

The lemon law mandates that the manufacturer bring any nonconforming vehicle into conformity with its warranty. The law defines “warranty” as the express warranty or any affirmation of fact or promise made by the manufacturer in connection with the sale of a new motor vehicle to a consumer.

If the consumer reports the nonconformity during this period, the manufacturer must be allowed a “reasonable number of attempts” to fix it. The Georgia Lemon Law defines that as one attempt for a serious safety defect that is unsuccessful or three attempts for a non-serious defect that is unsuccessful. It’s also considered an unreasonable repair effort if the vehicle is out of service by reason of repair for nonconformities for a total of 30 days or more.

If the manufacturer cannot fix the problem after the aforementioned reasonable number of attempts, the consumer must notify the manufacturer for a final opportunity to repair the issue. The manufacturer must notify the consumer of a reasonably accessible repair facility within seven days of receiving the consumer’s notice. The manufacturer then has 28 days after receiving the consumer’s notice to fix the problem.

If the final attempt fails or if the car was out of service for 30 days or more, the consumer can request the manufacturer to either replace or repurchase the vehicle. The consumer must send their request by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. The manufacturer must comply within 20 days of receiving this final request.

A manufacturer repurchasing a vehicle must pay the purchase price of the vehicle, collateral charges such as tax and title charges, and incidental costs. Incidental costs include payments to dealers for attempted repairs of nonconformities, towing charges and costs of obtaining alternative transportation. Manufacturers can subtract a reasonable “offset for use” calculated from the number of miles driven before the consumer first delivered the vehicle to the shop for repair.

Manufacturers replacing a vehicle under the Georgia lemon law must give the consumer a new vehicle that is identical or at least equivalent to the vehicle being replaced. The manufacturer must also pay incidental costs just as they would for repurchasing a vehicle.

If the manufacturer in question participates in an “informal dispute resolution mechanism,” i.e. arbitration, the consumer must go through this process first before submitting it to the Georgia new motor vehicle arbitration panel. The consumer must exhaust the manufacturer’s chosen arbitration mechanism and the Georgia new motor vehicle arbitration panel before taking legal action in the courts.