Madera Lemon Law

Song-Beverly Act cases are filed in the California Superior Court. Madera residents file in the Superior Court of California, County of Madera, with civil unlimited cases heard at the Madera County Courthouse at 200 South G Street in Madera. Venue is also proper in any California county where the manufacturer does business or where the vehicle was purchased, which for major automakers typically gives you choice among Madera, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, and Sacramento counties.

Song-Beverly covers vehicles bought primarily for personal, family, or household use. Cal. Civ. Code 1793.22(e)(2) also covers new motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating under 10,000 pounds bought or used primarily for business by a person or entity with no more than five motor vehicles registered in California. Most half-ton diesel pickups fall under that limit. Three-quarter-ton and one-ton heavy-duty diesels often exceed 10,000 GVWR, which places them outside Song-Beverly's small-business carve-out, but federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claims may still apply.

It can be. Repeated DPF, EGR, and NOx sensor failures producing limp-mode events, forced regenerations, or check-engine warnings are nonconformities under Song-Beverly when they recur despite repair attempts. Under Cal. Civ. Code 1793.22(b), four or more repair attempts for the same emissions defect within 18 months or 18,000 miles triggers the Tanner Act presumption. The 30-cumulative-days-out-of-service test is often hit even faster on diesels, because emissions repairs frequently involve backordered parts and multi-week dealer holds.

Yes, when sold with a written warranty. Cal. Civ. Code 1795.5 extends Song-Beverly's repair-or-replace duty to used vehicles sold by a California distributor or retailer that issues a written warranty, including certified pre-owned vehicles and dealer-issued limited warranties. Used vehicles still inside the original manufacturer's express warranty period remain covered against the manufacturer. As-is sales without any written warranty fall outside Song-Beverly, although California's implied warranty of merchantability may still apply for a limited period after sale.

Yes. Cal. Civ. Code 1791(g) defines 'buyer' to include a lessee under a retail lease of consumer goods, so the full Song-Beverly framework applies to leases. For a qualifying lemon, the remedy generally includes termination of the lease, refund of monthly payments and the capitalized cost reduction, payment of official fees, and the manufacturer's payoff of the residual value to the leasing company. The use offset under Cal. Civ. Code 1793.2(d)(2)(C) still applies based on miles driven before the first repair attempt for the nonconformity.

Under Cal. Civ. Code 1793.2(d), you are entitled to either a replacement vehicle or a refund of the full price including taxes, license, registration, and finance charges, minus a use offset calculated as (price x miles before first repair) / 120,000. If the manufacturer's failure to comply was willful, Cal. Civ. Code 1794(c) authorizes a civil penalty up to two times actual damages on top of the refund. The prevailing consumer also recovers attorney's fees and costs under Cal. Civ. Code 1794(d), which is why most consumer-side lemon law firms work on contingency.

California's general statute of limitations for a Song-Beverly breach-of-warranty action is four years from the date of breach under Cal. Com. Code 2725. The clock typically runs from when the manufacturer fails to repair within a reasonable number of attempts, not from delivery. AB 1755 (effective 2025) added an outer-limit deadline for new claims: actions must be filed within one year after express warranty expiration and no later than six years from original delivery. If your warranty has expired, consult a lemon law attorney quickly to avoid losing your claim to the new outer limits.