Federal MMWA — the 'reasonable time' standard
Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (15 U.S.C. § 2304(a)) requires the warrantor to remedy a defect 'within a reasonable time and without charge.' What counts as reasonable depends on the facts: the complexity of the repair, the availability of parts, the nature of the defect.
Federal courts have generally agreed that 30 days for a routine repair is a soft outer limit. Beyond that, the consumer can argue the manufacturer has failed to perform under the warranty — even if the dealer is technically 'still working on it.'
State lemon-law days-out-of-service thresholds
Most state lemon laws have a separate presumption based on cumulative days out of service. If your vehicle has been at the dealership for repairs for more than X cumulative days in the warranty period, the manufacturer is presumed to have failed under the warranty.
Common thresholds: 30 days (Florida, California, Texas, most others), 90 days (Louisiana), 15 business days (Maine, Massachusetts), 20 days (New Jersey, Iowa). Check your state's threshold.
'Cumulative' means across all visits — not consecutive. Three visits of 11 days each = 33 days = exceeds Florida's 30-day threshold even though no single visit was over 30 days.
What counts as 'out of service'
'Out of service' generally means the vehicle is at the dealership for warranty repairs. It typically does NOT include: routine scheduled maintenance, customer-pay (non-warranty) work, time you chose to leave the vehicle there for convenience.
Document carefully: the date the vehicle was dropped off, the date it was picked up, and the warranty work performed. If the dealer kept it for 5 extra days because parts were on backorder, those 5 days count.
What to do when the dealer is dragging it out
Day 14: Ask in writing for an updated repair timeline. Get the service advisor to email you (not just say it on the phone) — paper trail matters.
Day 21: Call the manufacturer's customer-service line. Open a case file. This creates a manufacturer-level record beyond the dealership.
Day 28: Document any safety concerns. If the vehicle is at the dealership for a safety defect, every additional day strengthens your case.
Day 30: You've likely hit your state's days-out-of-service threshold. Send a Final Repair Attempt notice via our FRA generator demanding a final repair attempt within a specific timeframe.
When repairs themselves become evidence
Multiple unsuccessful repair attempts for the same defect are themselves evidence of a lemon. The state presumption framework (3-4 attempts) and MMWA's 'reasonable opportunity' standard both turn the dealership's failure to fix into the consumer's strongest argument.
Document everything. Save every repair order. Note when the same defect comes back. Use the repair-attempt log to track it systematically.
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