Colorado’s new lemon law provides extra protection for car buyers

DENVER (KDVR) — Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a public advisory alerting consumers and auto dealers about Colorado’s updated lemon law , which went into effect on Aug. 7.

Key components of the measure allow for coverage of more vehicles, increase the timeframe of protections, lower the requirements for a vehicle to be considered a lemon, provide a longer time period for filing claims and outline the amount consumers can receive in a refund. The law also includes protection when purchasing used “lemon buyback” vehicles.

A “lemon” is a vehicle with manufacturing problems that affect safety, the ability to drive the vehicle and the resale value.

Lemons usually require costly advanced repairs

FOX31 talked to auto dealers and mechanics who say the updated law benefits everyone involved.

Matthew Groves, CEO of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association , told FOX31 that car sellers and customers can only benefit from clear guidance on how manufacturer defects are handled.

“We don’t look for single sales, right. We look for long-term relationships where I could sell you five cars over 25 years, where I could sell cars to your kids. That’s the type of relationship we want with our customers, and the first time you have a transaction go wrong, that trust is broken forever,” he said.

Auto expert Nile Crespo of The Import Mechanics in Denver has more than a decade of experience and has discovered automobile defects for customers.

Because most cars feature advanced technology, he said customers with lemons usually end up needing costly electrical and computer system repairs.

“If you have a vehicle that is a lemon, anything you’re faced with as a repair is going to be astronomically more expensive than it used to be a decade ago,” he said.

What’s in Colorado’s updated lemon law?

The updated law extends protection to two years after purchase or within the first 24,000 miles of the vehicle’s operation, whichever is earlier.

The law lowers the lemon classification requirement from four to three failed repair attempts of the same defect or after 24 or more business days of repairs that keep it off the road. A vehicle is considered a lemon after two failed attempted repairs if a significant safety risk is involved.

The law also extends the amount of time consumers can file a lemon law claim to 30 months after the delivery date. Any time a vehicle is under repair and unusable does not count toward the limit.

The law previously limited the allowed time to six months following the expiration date of the manufacturer’s warranty or within one year of delivery to the consumer. The law extends the term of protection to two years after you buy a car or within the first 24,000 miles.

The updated law expands the type of vehicles that can be labeled as lemons, including those used by small businesses for both business and personal tasks.

The measure ensures a fair and predictable refund process by using a formula to calculate an allowance for any use of the vehicle by the consumer.

Another component of the law provides more transparency when it comes to lemon-buyback deals and requires a history report on used cars, the placement of a decal indicating “lemon law buyback” and a notation in the vehicle’s title.

Even with the lemon law, the attorney general advises consumers to get a car checked out before buying and check the warranty for defect coverage.

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