Nebraska Lemon Law (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-2701)

The Nebraska Motor Vehicle Lemon Law is codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-2701 to § 60-2709. It establishes the Rights Period, the 4-attempt / 40-day OOS presumption, the mandatory certified-mail pre-suit notice prerequisite, the refund/replacement remedy with reasonable-allowance-for-use offset, and mandatory attorney fees for prevailing consumers.

Structure of the statute

Section	Subject
§ 60-2701	Definitions; coverage scope; RV exclusion
§ 60-2702	Manufacturer repair obligation
§ 60-2703	Refund/replacement remedy + 4-attempt / 40-day OOS presumption + mandatory certified-mail pre-suit notice
§ 60-2704	Tolling for unavailability of repair facilities
§ 60-2705	Statute of limitations (1-yr-after-warranty OR 2-yr-from-delivery, whichever earlier)
§ 60-2706	DMV-certified IDS prerequisite
§ 60-2707	Reacquired-vehicle resale disclosure
§ 60-2708	MANDATORY attorney fees for prevailing consumer
§ 60-2709	Other rights and remedies

§ 60-2703 — 1-year Rights Period “whichever earlier” with NO mileage cap

The eligibility window:

If a new motor vehicle does not conform to all applicable express warranties, and the consumer reports the nonconformity to the manufacturer, its agents, or its authorized dealers during the term of any express warranties or during the period of one year following the date of original delivery of the motor vehicle to a consumer, whichever is earlier…

The 1-year statutory cap controls almost universally. Notably, the statute does not specify a mileage cap — Nebraska is distinctively consumer-favorable within the short-Rights-Period tier:

Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, Louisiana, Kentucky (12-mo/12K), South Carolina (12-mo/12K), Mississippi, Utah, and Kansas — all have either explicit or implicit mileage caps as part of the warranty term.
Nebraska — pure 1-year time-based with no mileage cap. High-mileage commuters (oil-and-gas industry workers, agricultural drivers, Sandhills ranchers) particularly benefit.

§ 60-2703 — 4-attempt / 40-day OOS presumption

The presumption shall be that a reasonable number of attempts have been undertaken to conform the motor vehicle to the applicable express warranties if: (a) the same nonconformity has been subject to repair four or more times by the manufacturer or its agents or authorized dealers within the express warranty term or during the one-year period following the date of original delivery of the motor vehicle to a consumer, whichever is the earlier date, but such nonconformity continues to exist; OR (b) the motor vehicle is out of service by reason of repair for a cumulative total of forty or more days during the express warranty term or one-year period following the date of original delivery, whichever is earlier.

4-attempt threshold

Joins California / Kentucky / Washington / North Carolina / Arizona / Colorado / Wisconsin / Minnesota / Indiana / Maryland / Missouri / Nevada / Louisiana / Connecticut / Utah / Kansas at the standard 4-attempt tier.

40-day OOS threshold — DISTINCTIVE LEAST-CONSUMER-FAVORABLE

Nebraska’s 40-day OOS threshold is structurally the LONGEST among current cluster states. Comparison:

15 working days (most consumer-favorable): Mississippi § 63-17-159, Massachusetts § 7N½.
20 calendar days: Iowa § 322G.3, New Jersey § 56:12-31.
30 calendar days (most common): CA / TX / FL / TN / PA / KY / CT / LA / NV / AR / Kansas.
30 business days (≈42 cal days): Utah, Colorado, Massachusetts, Indiana, Missouri, Oregon, North Carolina, Oklahoma.
40 calendar days (Nebraska): least consumer-favorable — 33% more OOS time required than 30-day peers; 167% more than MS / MA 15-day floor.

§ 60-2703 — MANDATORY CERTIFIED-MAIL PRE-SUIT NOTICE + cure opportunity

§ 60-2703 imposes a structurally distinctive procedural prerequisite:

The presumption shall not apply against a manufacturer unless the manufacturer has received prior written direct notification by certified mail from or on behalf of the consumer and an opportunity to cure the defect alleged.

The notice + cure prerequisite must occur BEFORE the 4-attempt / 40-day presumption attaches. Joins Arkansas § 4-90-406 at the certified-mail-notice tier (though AR’s 20-day window is more structured than NE’s open-ended cure opportunity).

Procedural details:

Certified mail — green-card delivery confirmation; first-class or email insufficient.
Direct notification — to manufacturer headquarters (not authorized dealer).
Opportunity to cure — manufacturer must have a reasonable window to attempt repair; Nebraska case law treats this flexibly but 10-30 days typical.

Procedurally critical: missing the certified-mail step typically forecloses the § 60-2703 presumption argument, even if the 4-attempt / 40-day numerical thresholds are met. Lemon Law claim dismissed; parallel Magnuson-Moss + NCPA may survive.

§ 60-2703 — manufacturer-option refund or replacement

The manufacturer shall replace the motor vehicle with a comparable motor vehicle OR accept return of the vehicle from the consumer and refund to the consumer the full purchase price including all sales taxes, license fees, and registration fees and any similar governmental charges, less a reasonable allowance for the consumer’s use of the vehicle.

The manufacturer chooses (not the consumer). Joins Oklahoma § 901(C), South Carolina § 56-28-40, Arkansas § 4-90-407, Utah § 13-20-5, Kansas § 50-645(c) at the manufacturer-option tier. (Mississippi § 63-17-159 “gives the consumer the option” — consumer-choice, not manufacturer-option.)

§ 60-2703 — reasonable allowance for use offset

A reasonable allowance for use shall be that amount directly attributable to use by the consumer and any previous owner prior to his or her first report of the nonconformity.

Pre-first-report mileage only — similar to Kansas § 50-645(c) and other consumer-favorable peers; mileage after first nonconformity report is excluded. The statute provides no specific per-mile formula or denominator; the court determines reasonable allowance case-by-case based on:

Vehicle category and market value.
Pre-first-report mileage.
Manufacturer warranty terms.

In practice, Nebraska courts have applied per-mile formulas similar to peer-state methodologies (typically equivalent to ~$0.20-$0.50/mile for mainstream sedans).

§ 60-2706 — DMV-certified IDS exhaustion prerequisite

§ 60-2706 imposes a procedural prerequisite distinct from peer states:

If a manufacturer has established or participates in an informal dispute settlement procedure which is certified by the Director of Motor Vehicles as substantially complying with the substantive requirements of Title 16, Part 703 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the provisions of section 60-2703 concerning refunds or replacement shall not apply to any consumer who has not first resorted to such procedure.

Structurally distinctive: most peer states (Mississippi § 63-17-163, Kansas § 50-645(c)) reference FTC certification directly. Nebraska adds a state-level certification layer via the Director of Motor Vehicles — manufacturer’s IDS must satisfy both FTC § 703 substantive requirements AND be DMV-certified.

In practice:

BBB Auto Line has Nebraska DMV certification for many participating manufacturers — verify current status.
Ford DSB separately certified.
Manufacturers without DMV certification — IDS prerequisite does not apply; consumer can proceed directly to court.

§ 60-2701 — RV exclusion + business-purposes inclusion

§ 60-2701 defines “motor vehicle” to include vehicles “normally used for personal, family, household, or business purposes” — distinctively broader than typical peer-state “personal/family/household” scope.

But § 60-2701 excludes recreational vehicles entirely — distinctive RV exclusion. RV consumers rely on federal Magnuson-Moss + UCC § 2-725 + NCPA framework (with NCPA’s public-interest narrowing).

§ 60-2705 — short SOL “whichever earlier”

Any action brought to enforce the provisions of [the Lemon Law] shall be commenced within (1) one year following the expiration of the express warranty term or (2) two years following the date of original delivery, whichever is earlier.

For typical 3-year / 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranties:

(1) 1 year after warranty = 4 years from delivery.
(2) 2 years from delivery.

The 2-year-from-delivery cap controls. Among the shortest effective Lemon Law SOLs in the country (joins Mississippi § 63-17-159(d)‘s 18-month SOL at the short-SOL tier).

§ 60-2708 — MANDATORY attorney fees

In any action brought under [the Lemon Law], the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party if the prevailing party is the consumer.

MANDATORY for prevailing consumer — joins mandatory-fees tier with California § 1794(d), New Jersey § 56:8-19, Washington § 19.86.090, Illinois § 815 ILCS 380/6.1, New York § 198-a(l), Alabama § 8-20A-3(4), Arkansas § 4-90-410, and Iowa § 322G.6.

Asymmetric — manufacturer prevailing party not entitled to fees from consumer (different from some two-way state UDAP fee provisions).

§ 60-2707 — reacquired-vehicle resale disclosure

§ 60-2707 requires reacquired vehicles to be:

Labeled as Lemon Law buybacks on the title.
Disclosed to subsequent purchasers in writing.

Violation creates additional NCPA § 59-1609 non-disclosure exposure (subject to NCPA’s public-interest requirement).

§ 60-2704 — force-majeure tolling

§ 60-2704 provides tolling during periods when repair facilities are unavailable due to circumstances beyond the manufacturer’s control. Less expressly listed than Kansas § 50-645(d)‘s “war / invasion / strike / fire / flood / natural disaster” enumeration, but functionally similar — relevant for Tornado Alley NE consumers affected by tornado events or extreme weather.

Bottom line

Nebraska’s § 60-2701 provides a standard refund/replacement framework with two structural barriers (mandatory certified-mail notice + DMV-certified IDS) and one structural advantage (mandatory § 60-2708 attorney fees). The 40-day OOS threshold is the least consumer-favorable among current cluster states. The short 2-year-from-delivery SOL is among the shortest in the country. No mileage cap in the Rights Period is a distinctive consumer benefit for high-mileage commuters.

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