The Arkansas lemon law, formally the New Motor Vehicle Quality Assurance Act, gives you a refund or a replacement when the manufacturer of a new vehicle cannot fix a serious defect after a reasonable number of tries. The protection runs for 24 months from delivery or 24,000 miles, whichever comes last, and applies to new cars, trucks, and SUVs purchased or leased in Arkansas for personal, family, or household use.1Justia. Arkansas Code 4-90-401 – Title2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
Vehicles the Law Covers
To qualify, the vehicle must still be within the manufacturer’s original warranty when you first report the defect, and the problem must appear during the 24-month or 24,000-mile quality assurance period.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law Leased vehicles count if they meet the same criteria. If you report a defect inside that window, the manufacturer must complete the repairs even if the work stretches past the warranty’s end date.3Justia. Arkansas Code 4-90-405 – Required Warranty Repairs
Vehicles sold “as-is” without a manufacturer’s warranty do not qualify. Used vehicles are outside the state lemon law entirely, though a used car still under the original factory warranty may have a claim under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
What Counts as a Lemon
Not every flaw qualifies. The defect must substantially impair the vehicle’s use, value, or safety. A transmission that drops into neutral at highway speed clears the bar easily. A slow infotainment screen almost certainly does not. Vague complaints about minor annoyances are where most claims stall.
Once you report a qualifying defect, the manufacturer gets a reasonable number of attempts to fix it. For defects likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, that number is three.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law If the problem survives those attempts, the vehicle may qualify, and the manufacturer then has 40 days to repurchase or replace it.
Documenting Every Repair Attempt
Claims are won or lost on paperwork. Arbitrators and judges rely on written records, not your recollection of what a service advisor said. Every visit should produce a written work order and repair invoice, even when the shop reports “no problem found.” That note is still evidence of a repair attempt.
Keep the following:
- Repair orders and invoices showing the date, your reported complaint, and what the dealer did.
- Emails, letters, and texts with the dealer or manufacturer about the defect.
- Photos and short videos of warning lights, noises, or leaks. Intermittent problems are the hardest to prove, and a 15-second clip can outweigh a page of testimony.
- A written opinion from an independent mechanic, which adds credibility if the dealer keeps insisting nothing is wrong. A thorough diagnostic inspection typically runs $120 to $320.
Without this record, you are asking a decision-maker to take your word against the manufacturer’s file.
Notifying the Manufacturer in Writing
Before you can demand a refund or replacement, you must send a written notice to the manufacturer by certified mail with return receipt. The notice should describe the defect, list every repair attempt with dates, and state that the problem is unresolved. Certified mail with a return receipt through USPS runs roughly $9 to $11.
Once the manufacturer receives the notice, it has 10 days to contact you and arrange one final repair attempt at a reasonably accessible facility. That repair must be completed within 10 days of you delivering the vehicle.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law If the manufacturer misses either deadline, the final-attempt requirement is voided and you move directly to the remedy stage.
Send the notice to the manufacturer’s corporate address, not the local dealership, unless the warranty booklet says otherwise. Sending it to the wrong place can undo an otherwise strong case.
Arbitration Before Court
Arkansas requires manufacturers doing business in the state to run or participate in an informal dispute settlement procedure, and you generally have to use it before filing suit.4FindLaw. Arkansas Code 4-90-414 – Informal Dispute Settlement Procedure Several major manufacturers use BBB AUTO LINE, where an independent arbitrator reviews evidence and issues a decision, targeted within 40 days of filing. If a decision is accepted, the manufacturer has 30 days to complete a repurchase or 45 days to deliver a replacement.
Two exceptions let you skip arbitration. The first is when the manufacturer expressly allows you to go straight to court. The second is when the manufacturer, its dealer, or its agent failed to give you the written statement of lemon law rights prepared by the Consumer Protection Division of the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office at the time of purchase or lease. Missing that disclosure strips the manufacturer of the ability to force arbitration first.4FindLaw. Arkansas Code 4-90-414 – Informal Dispute Settlement Procedure
Arbitration cannot resolve claims for punitive damages, fraud, or personal injury. For those, you need court.
Refund or Replacement
When a vehicle qualifies, the manufacturer must either buy it back or replace it, and you have an unconditional right to pick the refund. The manufacturer cannot push you into a vehicle you do not want.
A refund covers the full purchase price plus collateral charges: sales tax, title fees, manufacturer-installed options, earned finance charges, and any extended warranty bought from the manufacturer or its agent.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law Reasonably incurred incidental costs like towing and rental cars are also included.
The manufacturer can subtract two things: a reasonable offset for your use of the vehicle and a reasonable offset for any physical damage you caused. The use offset uses a fixed formula:
Use offset = (miles driven before you first brought the vehicle in for the defect ÷ 120,000) × purchase price.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
If you paid $36,000 and drove 6,000 miles before the first repair visit, the offset is (6,000 ÷ 120,000) × $36,000 = $1,800. Miles driven after you report the defect do not increase the offset, which rewards early reporting.
If you financed the vehicle, the manufacturer pays the remaining loan balance directly to your lender, and you receive whatever is left after the payoff and the offset. If you took a replacement, the same mileage and damage deductions apply, and the vehicle must be comparable and acceptable to you.
Filing a Lawsuit
If arbitration fails or does not apply, you can file a civil action in an Arkansas circuit court. The statute of limitations is two years from the date you first reported the defect to the manufacturer, its agent, or an authorized dealer. If you used the informal dispute process, the two-year clock runs from when you began arbitration, not when it ended.
A consumer who wins is entitled to costs and expenses, including attorney’s fees based on the actual time the attorney spent on the case. Where the manufacturer’s failure to comply was willful, a court can award up to double the actual damages. These provisions are a large part of why manufacturers often settle before trial.
You may also have a separate claim under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which allows courts to award reasonable attorney’s fees in consumer protection cases.5Justia. Arkansas Code 4-88-113 – Civil Enforcement and Remedies If the manufacturer engaged in misleading conduct beyond just failing to repair, that claim can broaden the remedies available.
Key Deadlines at a Glance
- Quality assurance period: 24 months from original delivery or 24,000 miles, whichever comes last.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
- Manufacturer’s response to your certified-mail notice: 10 days to contact you and arrange a final repair.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
- Final repair completion: 10 days after you deliver the vehicle.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
- Manufacturer buyback or replacement: within 40 days of failing to correct the defect after a reasonable number of attempts.2Department of Finance and Administration. New Car Lemon Law
- Statute of limitations: two years from the date you first reported the defect.
The two-year statute is the most unforgiving. Once it passes, no court or arbitrator will hear the case, even if the vehicle is plainly defective.
Where the State Law Stops
A federal safety recall is a separate track. Under a recall, the manufacturer must repair the vehicle at no charge, replace it, or refund the purchase price minus depreciation, and the vehicle must be less than 15 years old to qualify for a free recall remedy. Recall remedies exist “in addition to other available legal remedies,”6NHTSA. Motor Vehicle Safety Defects and Recalls – What Every Vehicle Owner Should Know so a recall on your vehicle does not bar a lemon law claim, and a recall notice can help prove the defect substantially impairs safety.
The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act adds another layer. If a manufacturer offers a written warranty, the Act prevents it from disclaiming implied warranties, even on a used car sold “as-is” by a dealer. A prevailing consumer can recover actual damages and attorney’s fees, which makes cases viable that would otherwise cost more in fees than the vehicle is worth. Before suing under the Act, you have to give the manufacturer a chance to fix the problem, and if the manufacturer runs an informal dispute mechanism meeting FTC standards, the warranty may require you to use it first. That federal option is especially useful for used-car buyers and for vehicles that fall outside the state’s 24-month or 24,000-mile window.