Remedies: What You Can Recover Under Oregon Lemon Law

Oregon’s Lemon Law (§ 646A.400) and the UTPA overlay (§ 646.605) produce a strong remedy package: refund or replacement, UTPA discretionary punitive damages, and mandatory attorney fees under two statutes.

The five primary remedies

1. Refund (buyback) — Full purchase price (NO Oregon sales tax — Oregon is sales-tax-free), registration, finance charges, incidental costs, minus reasonable use deduction.
2. Replacement vehicle — Comparable new vehicle (under § 646A.404(1) the manufacturer elects between refund and replacement; in practice the choice is negotiated).
3. Cash and keep (settlement) — Diminished-value settlement common in pre-IDS negotiations.
4. UTPA damages — Actual damages + discretionary punitive damages under § 646.638(8) + mandatory § 646.638(3) attorney fees.
5. Attorney fees — Mandatory § 646A.404 Lemon Law fees + mandatory UTPA § 646.638(3) fees + Magnuson-Moss § 2310(d)(2) fees.

Refund / replacement math — Oregon’s no-sales-tax wrinkle

Oregon is one of only five states with no sales tax (joins Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire). This means:

• No sales tax component in refund.
• Refund includes purchase price + registration + finance charges + incidental damages.
• LESS: reasonable use offset.

Oregon courts typically use a 120,000-mile life-expectancy denominator (consistent with peer states).

UTPA — the leverage layer (with timing care)

UTPA adds:

• Actual damages for deceptive practices.
• Discretionary punitive damages under § 646.638(8) — strong leverage in egregious cases.
• Mandatory attorney fees under § 646.638(3).
• 1-year SOL under § 646.638(6) — dangerously short, plead early.

Attorney fees — dual mandatory basis

Statute	Standard	Trigger
§ 646A.404	Mandatory	Prevailing on Lemon Law
UTPA § 646.638(3)	Mandatory	Prevailing on UTPA
Magnuson-Moss § 2310(d)(2)	Mandatory	Prevailing under MMWA

This makes Oregon a strong fee-shifting jurisdiction — three independent mandatory bases — partially offsetting the short UTPA SOL.

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The Process: Filing an Oregon Lemon Law Claim

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Qualifying Defects: What Counts as a Lemon in Oregon

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The Law: Oregon Lemon Law, UTPA, and Magnuson-Moss

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Vehicle Types Covered Under Oregon Lemon Law

How Oregon's Lemon Law applies to used vehicles, leases, EVs, motorcycles, RVs, and commercial vehicles.

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