Vehicle Types Covered by NJ Lemon Law

NJ’s Lemon Law (N.J.S.A. § 56:12-29 et seq.) covers new motor vehicles up to 10,000 lbs GVWR sold, leased, or registered in New Jersey for personal, family, or household use. Distinctively, NJ also has a separate Used Car Lemon Law (N.J.S.A. § 56:8-67) providing protection for used-vehicle buyers — a feature only a handful of states have.

Topics in this section

• Used vehicles (including the separate NJ Used Car Lemon Law)
• Leased vehicles
• Electric vehicles
• Motorcycles
• Recreational vehicles (RVs)
• Commercial vehicles

What’s distinctive about NJ

• Separate Used Car Lemon Law under N.J.S.A. § 56:8-67 — distinctive among states.
• Motorcycles and motor homes excluded from the new-car Lemon Law.
• CFA applies broadly to excluded categories — even where the Lemon Law doesn’t reach, CFA’s mandatory treble damages and mandatory fees may still apply.

For excluded vehicles, CFA and Magnuson-Moss provide civil-court remedies.

How to know if your vehicle is covered

For most NJ consumers, the answer is yes within the 24-month / 24,000-mile Rights Period. Exceptions:

• Vehicles past the Rights Period (CFA + Magnuson-Moss only).
• Used vehicles — covered by the separate Used Car Lemon Law with mileage-tiered windows (see used vehicles article).
• Motorcycles (CFA + Magnuson-Moss only).
• Motor homes (CFA + Magnuson-Moss only).
• Vehicles over 10,000 lbs GVWR.
• Primarily commercial use.

The “consumer” definition

N.J.S.A. § 56:12-30 defines “consumer” to include:

• The buyer or lessee of a motor vehicle.
• Any person to whom the motor vehicle is transferred during the warranty period.
• Any other person entitled by the warranty to enforce its obligations.

This means leases qualify and warranty assumptions qualify.

Related

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The NJ Lemon Law Process

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Qualifying Defects Under NJ Lemon Law

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NJ Lemon Law Remedies

What you can recover under New Jersey's lemon-law framework — refund, replacement, cash-and-keep, NJ Consumer Fraud Act mandatory treble damages, and dual mandatory attorney fees under § 56:12-42 and § 56:8-19.

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The Law: NJ Lemon Law and Consumer Fraud Act

The statutes behind a New Jersey lemon-law claim — the NJ Lemon Law (N.J.S.A. § 56:12-29), the powerful NJ Consumer Fraud Act (§ 56:8-1) with mandatory treble damages, Magnuson-Moss, and timing rules.

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