Do the lemon laws cover vehicles purchased for business?

A vehicle purchased for business use, rather than personal use, may be covered by lemon laws. This will depend on the statutes of the particular state in which the vehicle was purchased. While there is a general federal lemon law that protects all consumers, each state has its own particular rules regarding what types of vehicles may be covered by lemon laws, and these rules will dictate coverage in any particular case.

The answer, then, as to whether a business vehicle will be covered by lemon laws will have to be researched via local law. Various state statutes will dictate lemon laws for cars based on vehicle usage. For example, in Massachusetts, vehicles used primarily for business, or owned, purchased, or registered by a business, are not covered by lemon law. Under California lemon laws, a business-use vehicle may be covered provided it was purchased new, and it has a gross volume weight under 10,000 pounds. In addition, the California lemon law rules mandate that the business registering the vehicle must not have more than five total vehicles registered in California in order to be covered under lemon laws. In Minnesota, a vehicle purchased for business use is covered under lemon law if it's used at least 40% of the time for personal reasons.

As you can see, the laws will vary regarding whether your business vehicle is covered or not, and the laws can change, too. California lemon laws, for example, only began including business vehicles in their lemon laws in the year 2001.

Your best bet if you're faced with a lemon vehicle is to consult a local consumer lawyer or lemon law lawyer, or read up on local lemon laws and statutes to see if you may have a potential right to follow through with a lemon law claim.