Lemon Law

How Does The South Carolina Lemon Law Define A Lemon?

The law defines a lemon as a new motor vehicle (passenger car, van or truck) that:

  1. was bought on or after October 3, 1989;
  2. has a defect that impairs its use or will lower its market value substantially; and
  3. which the manufacturer cannot repair within a reasonable time.

The following table summarizes what is covered, how many times the vehicle has to be repaired for the same defect and the warranty period.

Vehicles Covered Repair Interval and Coverage Period
Passenger motor vehicles including cars, vans, and small trucks. 3 repair attempts or 30 calendar days out of service
1 year or 12,000 miles.
Note: Generally, the term Repair Attempts, as it relates to Lemon Law, refers to one or more attempts to fix the same defect although some states consider a vehicle to be a lemon if it required the specified number of repairs within the coverage period.

A car is out of service while being repaired or waiting for parts.

Warranty Period refers to the Manufacturer`s Express Warranty. Where the Coverage Period lists more than 1 option, the period applies to that option which occurs first.

This is only a summary, to get the complete Lemon Law Statute select your state from the combo box menu on the right side of this page, and click Get Statute.
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