f you have searched Nevada Lemon Law information online, you may have seen four repairs are required to be a lemon.
That can lead to a common misconception:
“My car hasn’t been repaired four times, so I don’t have a Lemon Law case.”
That conclusion may be premature.
Four repairs are an important statutory presumption
Nevada law provides that a reasonable number of repair attempts is presumed when the same nonconformity has been repaired four or more times during the applicable period and the problem continues.
The word presumed is important.
It does not mean that four repairs are the only possible way to establish that a manufacturer has had a reasonable number of opportunities to repair a vehicle.
The statute itself starts with the broader concept of a “reasonable number of attempts.”
What if the problem is extremely serious?
Suppose a brand-new vehicle experiences a catastrophic engine failure.
The manufacturer replaces the engine.
The replacement engine fails.
The manufacturer replaces it again.
The vehicle develops another serious failure involving the same system.
You should not assume that the only relevant question is whether you have accumulated exactly four repair orders.
The nature and seriousness of the defect matter.
What about 30 days?
Nevada law also provides an important presumption when a vehicle is out of service for repairs for 30 or more cumulative calendar days during the applicable period, subject to the statutory exception concerning delays beyond the manufacturer’s or dealer’s control.
This means there are at least two major benchmarks people should understand:
Four repair attempts for the same continuing nonconformity.
Thirty cumulative days out of service for repairs.
Neither should be treated as a magic number.
Why the repair records matter
If you are considering a Lemon Law claim, your repair orders may be the most important
documents in the case.
Look for:
- the date the vehicle was brought in;
- mileage;
- customer’s complaint;
- diagnosis;
- repairs performed;
- parts replaced;
- software updates;
- time the vehicle remained at the dealership;
- whether the problem was duplicated; and
- whether the problem was reported as fixed.
Sometimes the most important information is buried in the repair history.
What if the dealer keeps saying “no problem found”?
That can make a situation especially frustrating.
If the problem keeps occurring, document each occurrence.
If the problem is intermittent, write down exactly what happens.
For example:
“Vehicle lost acceleration while merging onto the freeway. Accelerator was pressed but vehicle would not accelerate normally. Warning message appeared.”
That is much more useful than:
“Car acted weird.”
Don’t wait just because you haven’t reached four repairs
Timing matters.
Nevada law requires written reporting of the nonconformity within the period specified by NRS 597.610, and an action under the Nevada Lemon Law provisions generally must be commenced within 18 months after original delivery.
So if you have a serious problem, it is not necessarily wise to wait for a fourth repair simply because you believe four is a requirement.
Take the 30-Second Nevada New Car Problem Quiz
If your new car has been in the shop repeatedly, you don’t have to figure out
whether it might be a lemon by yourself.
Take our 30-second Nevada New Car Problem Quiz.
We’ll ask about your vehicle, warranty, repair history and time out of service.
Precision Injury Law represents Nevada consumers with qualifying vehicle
warranty and Lemon Law problems.
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