The Utah lemon law covers new vehicles purchased in the state of Utah that are less than one year old and still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. In this regard, the law is similar to the Nevada defective vehicle law. All in all, due to the short duration, it is a fairly weak statute.

In order to qualify as a lemon under the Utah lemon law, a vehicle must meet the following requirements:

• It must be a new vehicle which is still under warranty, purchased within the state.
• The vehicle must weigh less than 12,000 pounds.
• The vehicle must have a defect or nonconformity which substantially affects the use, safety, or market value of the vehicle.
• The manufacturer must have been permitted to repair the problem, and the problem must still exist after the manufacturer has had a “reasonable” number of attempts to fix it. The state defines “reasonable” as four or more attempts to fix the problem.
• A vehicle will also qualify if it has been out of service for a total of 30 days due to repairs. This period may be extended if the repairs cannot be made due to circumstances beyond the control of the manufacturer, such as fire, flood, invasion, war, etc.
• The defect must not be the result of abuse, neglect, or unauthorized modification to the vehicle by the owner.

Should the vehicle meet the above qualifications, the owner should file a complaint with the Utah Department of Consumer Protections. At this point, the owner should be entitled to a replacement vehicle or a refund of the purchase price. A refund would include taxes, licensing fees and warranty fees.

The option to accept a replacement vehicle or a refund appears to rest with the owner of the vehicle.

Any refund would be adjusted for use of the vehicle prior to its being reported as a lemon. This compensation will consist of dividing the number of miles driven into 100,000. The resulting number will be multiplied times the purchase price to determine the amount of compensation for wear and tear. This figure must, by law, fall between 10¢ and 21¢ per mile.

If the manufacturer refuses or declines to offer compensation, the owner may seek redress through the lemon law. The first step would be to submit to arbitration, should the manufacturer offer an informal dispute resolution program within the state. The state requires that the vehicle owner submit to arbitration, otherwise the lemon law provisions are void. Arbitration is generally binding upon the manufacturer but not upon the vehicle owner. If the owner fails to prevail as a result of the arbitration hearing, he or she retains the right to sue in court. The process is intended to expedite the resolution of defective vehicle claims. In general, it is faster than a lawsuit, which can take months to schedule.

All in all, Utah’s lemon law is fairly weak as state lemon laws go. Utah, despite its reputation as “family friendly”, isn’t really very consumer friendly. Caveat emptor.

A complete guide to the Utah Lemon Law can be found in this PDF document.

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