Alabama lemon law: when your car is a lemon and how to claim

Your next 4 steps in Alabama

1. Keep every repair order

   Get a written repair order at every visit, with the date, mileage and days in the shop. In Alabama, a car is presumed a lemon after 3 repairs for the same problem or 30 calendar days in the shop.

2. Send the manufacturer a written notice

   Before you sue, send the manufacturer a written notice by certified U.S. mail. Write your notice letter ↓

3. Let the manufacturer make its final repair attempt

   After your certified-mail notice, the manufacturer has 7 calendar days to name a repair shop and then up to 14 calendar days to fix the car.

4. Ask for a refund or replacement, use arbitration, or call a lawyer

   If your manufacturer has a dispute program that meets the state’s rules (check your warranty booklet), you may have to use it first. See the Arbitration section below. If you win, the court can make the manufacturer pay your lawyer (see What you can get), so many lemon law lawyers charge nothing up front.

When a car is a lemon in Alabama

Within 24 months or 24,000 miles of delivery (whichever comes first), your car is presumed a lemon if: (1) the same defect was repaired 3 or more times (at least once in the first 1 year/12,000 miles), plus a final repair attempt by the manufacturer, and it still is not fixed; or (2) the car was in the shop for a total of 30 calendar days for repairs (including the final attempt), with at least one repair in the first 1 year/12,000 miles. The defect must significantly impair the car's use, value, or safety. After your certified-mail notice, the manufacturer has 7 calendar days to name a repair shop and then up to 14 calendar days to fix the car.

Period: The 'lemon law rights period' is 1 year or 12,000 miles from original delivery, whichever comes first. The defect must first show up and be reported in that period. Repair attempts counted for the presumption run to 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Is your car a lemon in Alabama? A quick check

Notice to the manufacturer

Before you sue, send the manufacturer a written notice by certified U.S. mail. It must describe the car, the defect, and every earlier repair attempt (who did it and when), and demand repair. If the car already meets the lemon presumption, this notice starts the manufacturer's final repair attempt.

Write your notice letter below.

Arbitration

Maybe — check your warranty booklet for an arbitration program (e.g. BBB AUTO LINE). Alabama has no state-run lemon law arbitration. If the manufacturer has an informal dispute program that meets federal rules, you must use it first before you can sue under the lemon law.

Deadline to sue or file in Alabama

You must file suit within 3 years after the car was first delivered to you (Ala. Code § 8-20A-6).

What you can get

Your choice of a comparable new replacement car or a refund. A refund covers the full contract price (including undercoating, dealer prep, transportation charges, installed options, and the nonrefundable part of extended warranties and service contracts), sales tax, license and registration fees, finance charges you paid after you first reported the defect, and reasonable alternative transportation costs while the car was out of service. The manufacturer may subtract a use allowance: full purchase price × (miles driven before you first reported the defect ÷ 100,000).

Attorney fees: If the manufacturer broke the lemon law, you can also recover reasonable attorney fees.

Free lemon law notice letter

Most states require you to tell the manufacturer in writing and give it a last chance to fix the car. Fill this in, download the letter, sign it and mail it to the manufacturer. Keep a copy.

Alabama law says to send this notice by certified mail, return receipt requested. Keep the receipt.

Who to contact

Office

Alabama Attorney General, Consumer Interest Division

Phone

800-392-5658

Official page

Forms

• Alabama Consumer Complaint Form (Attorney General)

Questions about Alabama's lemon law

Other states