What is Kentucky’s Lemon Law?

Kentucky’s lemon law provides refunds or replacements to consumers whose new vehicles suffer from serious defects.

What Is a “Lemon?”

If you purchased a new or used vehicle, only to discover a serious safety defect shortly after purchasing, you may have purchased a “lemon”. 

Lemons are vehicles plagued by persistent defects which impair the vehicle’s use or safety despite repeated repair attempts.

Luckily, many states protect consumers from lemons through lemon laws.

Is There a Lemon Law in Kentucky?

Kentucky does have a lemon law which covers certain new vehicles plagued by defects. Although some state lemon laws cover used vehicles in addition to new vehicles, Kentucky’s lemon law does not.

Motor homes, motorcycles, mopeds, farming tractors, and other vehicles with more than two axles are not covered by the law.

Various defects are covered under Kentucky’s lemon law. Possible defects would be too numerous to list, though eligible defects must satisfy the following requirements:

• Substantially impairs the use, value, and/or safety of the vehicle
• Is covered under the vehicle’s express warranty
• Was not caused by abuse, neglect, or alterations to the vehicle by the owner

Vehicles in Kentucky are eligible for the lemon law if drivers have to bring their vehicle in for defect repairs at least four times or if the vehicle is out of commission for a total of 30 days due to defect repairs.

These conditions must occur within the first 12 months or 12,000 miles of owning a vehicle in order to be eligible for lemon law relief.

Consumers who purchased a defective vehicle can recover either a replacement vehicle or refund under Kentucky’s lemon law.

Replacement vehicles need to be comparable. Lemon law refunds may include reasonable deductions of a vehicle’s purchase price for usage.

How Do I Take Action Under Kentucky’s Lemon Law?

In order to take action under the Kentucky lemon law, drivers must report the defect to their vehicle’s manufacturer and provide written notice.

If a vehicle cannot be repaired within the lemon law’s requirements, drivers can file a lemon law complaint within two years of purchasing the vehicle.

Lemon law complaints will pass through a manufacturer’s dispute resolution system governed by Kentucky’s lemon law.

All manufacturers should have such a system in place. Although these systems aim to resolve disputes with less time and expense than going to court, consumers may still file a lawsuit if they are dissatisfied with the result of their dispute.

An experienced lemon law lawyer can help you take your case to court and recover the compensation you are owed.