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Cars & Auto

PA Lemon Law: New and Used Car Rights for Berks Buyers

What Pennsylvania's lemon law covers (new cars, one year or 12,000 miles, three repairs or 30 days), what the owner gets, the route from the dealer to arbitration, what protects used-car buyers instead, and where a Berks complaint goes.

Berks Connect Blog|Published October 31, 2026
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The PA lemon law covers a car bought or leased new, registered in Pennsylvania primarily for personal, family or household use, with a defect that substantially impairs its use, value or safety and appears within one year following delivery, within the first 12,000 miles of use or during the term of the warranty, whichever comes first. Once the same defect has been repaired three times and still exists, or the car has been out of service 30 or more calendar days, the law presumes the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts; if the defect still isn't fixed, it must, at your option, replace the car or refund the price less a use allowance.

A used car isn't covered; a buyer at any of the car dealerships in Berks County has four other rules behind the sale, explained below. Complaints about a new car or a used one go to the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

What does the PA lemon law cover?

The law covers a vehicle that is "new and unused," designed to carry not more than 15 people, leaving out motor homes, off-road vehicles and dual sport motorcycles driven off road. So what kind of problem counts? The defect has to substantially impair the car's use, value or safety and break the manufacturer's express warranty; the law calls that a nonconformity, and I'll call it a covered defect. The manufacturer has to repair it at no cost when it appears within one year following delivery, within the first 12,000 miles of use or during the term of the warranty, whichever comes first. The numbers are gathered below.

What the law sets The number
The window for a covered defect One year after delivery, the first 12,000 miles, or the warranty, whichever comes first (a motorcycle: one year or the warranty).
When a reasonable number of attempts is presumed The same defect repaired three times and still there, or 30 or more calendar days out of service in total for any covered defect.
The use allowance (the deduction for miles you drove) taken off a refund No more than 10 cents a mile or 10% of the purchase or lease price, whichever is less, counted only to your first report of the defect.
When a refund is paid Within 30 days of your choosing a refund over a replacement.
A bought-back car resold in Pennsylvania The same warranty again for at least 12,000 miles or 12 months after the resale, whichever is earlier; a capital-letter statement with a signed receipt; a branded title.
The manufacturer's arbitration program, where it runs one A decision within 40 days of being notified, not binding on you.

From the Automobile Lemon Law (Act 28 of 1984, as amended) and the federal rule for manufacturers' dispute programs.

How many repair attempts before it's a lemon?

The law presumes a reasonable number of attempts once the same covered defect has been subject to repair three times by the manufacturer, its agents or authorized dealers and still exists, or once the car has been out of service for a cumulative total of 30 or more calendar days. The act doesn't define out of service beyond "by reason of any nonconformity."

Those 30 days can stretch: by not more than 30 additional calendar days when the repair can't be finished for war, act of terrorism, civil unrest, fire, flood or natural disaster, and by not more than 90 additional calendar days when the manufacturer files a sworn affidavit with the Attorney General swearing to one of those reasons. Either extension counts only while the manufacturer or dealer lends you a car at no charge.

Every time the car comes back, the manufacturer or dealer has to hand you a fully itemized statement of all work performed, including parts and labor.

Do you get a replacement or a refund?

After a reasonable number of attempts without a fix, you choose: a comparable car of equal value, or a refund of the full purchase price or lease price, including all collateral charges, in the law's phrase, less a reasonable allowance for your use of the car, capped and counted only on miles driven before your first report of the defect. Neither applies when the defect isn't a covered one, or is the result of abuse, neglect or modification or alteration by you.

How do you make a lemon law claim in Pennsylvania?

Your part is to deliver the car to the manufacturer's authorized service and repair facility within Pennsylvania; if it can't get there, written notice to the manufacturer or its authorized shop counts as returning it, and the manufacturer pays the transport. The Attorney General's booklet says to start with the zone representative, the manufacturer's regional representative listed in your owner's manual.

What if that doesn't settle it? Your manufacturer may run what the law calls an informal dispute settlement procedure, its arbitration program. If it meets the federal rules for these programs, you have to go through it before suing under the lemon law, but its decision isn't binding on you; you can still sue. BBB AUTO LINE runs warranty and lemon law dispute resolution for participating manufacturers, some nationally and some state by state (its participant list says which), free of charge to car owners whose manufacturer participates, at 1-800-955-5100 or online.

If the manufacturer fails to comply with the act and you suffer a loss, you may bring a civil action in a court of common pleas, and the act says such a purchaser "shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and all court costs."

Does the lemon law cover used cars in Pennsylvania?

Not a car that was already used when you bought it. The act covers a car that was new and unused when it was first bought and registered here. Where applicable, its rights "shall extend to a subsequent purchaser, lessee or transferee" of that same car, so what the first owner had can carry to the next owner; what doesn't exist is a lemon law for the used-car sale itself.

The act's main reach onto a used-car lot is a car bought back under it or another state's lemon law. It can't be resold, transferred or leased in Pennsylvania without these conditions. The manufacturer gives the same express warranty it gave the first buyer, running at least 12,000 miles or 12 months after the date of resale, whichever is earlier.

You get a page in capital letters beginning "IMPORTANT: THIS VEHICLE WAS REPURCHASED BY THE MANUFACTURER ...", disclosed before the sale, with your signed receipt. And PennDOT marks the title to show the repurchase (a branded title). A car returned for a complete failure of the braking or steering system likely to cause death or serious bodily injury may not be resold in this Commonwealth.

When you shop the car dealerships in Berks County for a used car, check the title for a brand and ask about a repurchase statement.

What rules protect used-car buyers instead?

Four rules outside the lemon law stand behind a used car. The first is the Federal Trade Commission's Buyers Guide, the window form a dealer has to display before offering a used car for sale, marked "As Is - No Dealer Warranty," with an implied-warranties-only box, or with the dealer's warranty terms. Information on that form overrides any contrary provision in the contract; a private seller, someone who sells fewer than five used cars a year, owes no Buyers Guide.

The second is Pennsylvania's dealer rules. A dealer may sell AS IS only with a window notice in at least 20-point bold type, large print, that "This vehicle is sold without any warranty" and a separate AS IS block in capitals on the face of the contract. Before the sale it has to disclose in writing, if it knows or should know of them, a frame bent, cracked or twisted; an engine block or head cracked; a vehicle unable to pass State inspection; a transmission damaged, defective or so deteriorated as to require replacement; flood damage; or a differential damaged, defective or so deteriorated as to require replacement.

Since August 19, 2024 a certified inspection mechanic must have checked for those conditions not more than 30 days after the car entered the dealer's inventory. Signing AS IS doesn't excuse those disclosures. For a car that isn't roadworthy, the regulation says using the term AS-IS does not satisfy the written disclosure requirement, and the contract must list the conditions.

The third is the implied warranty, the promise the law reads into every sale by a dealer that the car is fit for its ordinary use, though, in the code's own words, unless the circumstances indicate otherwise, all implied warranties are excluded by expressions like "as is" or "with all faults." The fourth is the federal warranty act: a seller that gives a written warranty, or sells a service contract at the time of sale or within 90 days after it, may not disclaim the implied warranties. Title, tags and sales tax are covered in our post on buying a used car in Pennsylvania, and the fee lines in our post on Pennsylvania dealer documentary fees.

Common questions about Pennsylvania's lemon law.

Does the lemon law cover motorcycles?

Yes, since a 2024 amendment took effect in 2025, with a window of one year after delivery or the warranty, whichever comes first, and no mileage line. The repair presumption carries extra conditions for motorcycles.

Can a dealer or manufacturer make me sign away lemon law rights?

No. Any agreement that waives, limits or disclaims the rights under the act is void.

Where do I file a lemon law complaint in Pennsylvania?

With the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection: online, by mail to 15th Floor, Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120, or at 1-800-441-2555. The bureau mediates; it doesn't act as a judge or order any payment or action, and it can't give legal advice.

If your new car keeps going back, keep the repair orders; they're your record of the visits and the days. A question about your own car goes to a lawyer or to the Attorney General's office. The Pennsylvania Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service is at 800-692-7375, the Berks County Bar Association's at 610-375-4591, and see how to find a lawyer in Berks County. MidPenn Legal Services' Reading office is where to ask about free civil legal help for eligible residents (its consumer practice lists bankruptcy, debt collection and utility termination), at 800-326-9177. See free legal help in Berks County, and start calling from the lawyers in Berks County.

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