Yes, Indiana has a lemon law. The Motor Vehicle Protection Act, codified at Indiana Code 24-5-13, covers new vehicles bought or leased from an Indiana dealer that develop a serious defect within the first 18 months or 18,000 miles. If the manufacturer can’t fix the problem after a reasonable number of attempts, you get to choose between a comparable replacement vehicle and a full refund.
Vehicles the Law Covers
The statute applies to self-propelled vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds that are designed for use on public roads and registered in Indiana. Cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles all qualify. The vehicle must have been sold, leased, or transferred by a dealer or manufacturer in Indiana; private-party sales are outside the law.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-1 – Application of Chapter
The defect has to appear during what the statute calls the term of protection: 18 months after delivery or 18,000 miles on the odometer, whichever comes first.2Justia Law. Indiana Code Title 24, Article 5, Chapter 13 – Motor Vehicle Protection A used vehicle can qualify, but only if it had fewer than 18,000 miles at purchase and is still under the manufacturer’s warranty.
Several categories sit outside the law entirely: conversion vans, motor homes, farm tractors, and vehicles designed mainly for off-road use. If your vehicle falls into one of those groups, the state lemon law won’t help you, though the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act discussed below sometimes will.
What Counts as a Lemon
Not every mechanical annoyance qualifies. The defect must be a “nonconformity” — one that substantially impairs the vehicle’s use, market value, or safety, or that causes the vehicle to fail the terms of the manufacturer’s warranty.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-6 – Nonconformity Recurring transmission failure, electrical problems that kill the engine, or unreliable brakes will clear that bar. A rattling cup holder won’t.
Damage caused by abuse, neglect, or unauthorized modifications doesn’t count. The defect has to trace back to the vehicle itself.
When the Manufacturer Has Had Enough Chances
Indiana law presumes the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of repair attempts once either of these triggers is met during the term of protection:
- The manufacturer, its agent, or an authorized dealer has tried at least four separate times to fix the same defect and it still isn’t resolved.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repairs for a cumulative total of at least 30 business days.4IN.gov. Indiana Lemon Law
You only need to hit one trigger. Once either is crossed, the manufacturer effectively bears the burden of showing the vehicle isn’t a lemon.
Choosing Between a Replacement and a Refund
When the vehicle qualifies, the manufacturer must take it back. You pick the remedy: a comparable new replacement vehicle or a refund. The manufacturer then has 30 days to deliver whichever you choose.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-10 – Return of Vehicle
Choose a replacement and the manufacturer also covers the registration transfer fees and sales tax triggered by the swap. Choose a refund and the numbers get more involved.
Refund on a Purchased Vehicle
For a vehicle you bought, the refund equals the full contract price plus any credits or allowances for a trade-in, minus a mileage-based deduction.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-11 – Refund, Computation of Amount Sales tax you paid, unexpended registration and excise taxes, and finance charges you’ve already paid all get added back in.
The mileage deduction is the total contract price multiplied by miles driven, divided by 100,000.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-11 – Refund, Computation of Amount The longer the case drags on, the more that deduction grows.
Refund on a Leased Vehicle
On a lease, you recover all deposit and lease payments made, plus any trade-in credit, minus a mileage deduction. The lease formula uses your total lease obligation at the start of the lease (not just the payments you’ve made), multiplied by miles driven, divided by 100,000.7Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-11.5 – Refund, Leased Motor Vehicle, Computation of Amount Because the total lease obligation is typically larger than the sum of payments made to date, the deduction can be meaningful, and moving the case quickly helps keep it down.
Towing and Rental Reimbursement
Whether you take a replacement or a refund, the manufacturer must reimburse towing and rental car costs you incurred as a direct result of the defect.8Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-13 – Reimbursement for Towing and Rental Costs Keep every receipt.
How to File the Claim
Written Notice to the Manufacturer
The first formal step is written notice to the manufacturer itself, not the dealer. Notice is required whenever the manufacturer has disclosed the requirement in the warranty or owner’s manual, which nearly all of them do.9Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-9 – Notification of Claim The notice should identify the VIN, describe the defect, and lay out every repair attempt in order. Send it by certified mail so you have proof of delivery.
After receiving your notice, the manufacturer gets one final opportunity to fix the vehicle. If that fails, it has 30 days to accept the vehicle back and provide your chosen remedy.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-10 – Return of Vehicle
Manufacturer Arbitration
If the manufacturer operates an informal dispute settlement program that the Indiana Attorney General has certified as complying with federal regulations at 16 CFR Part 703, you have to go through that program before filing suit.10Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13.1-23 – Informal Procedures Established by a Manufacturer Your warranty booklet will tell you whether the manufacturer requires arbitration first. The decision doesn’t bind you, so an unfavorable outcome doesn’t end the case, but the result is admissible in any later lawsuit. Prepare accordingly.
Filing Suit
If the manufacturer won’t resolve the claim voluntarily and arbitration doesn’t produce a satisfactory result, you can file a civil action. Indiana law gives you a two-year window to sue. Waiting rarely helps: witnesses forget details, records get misplaced, and if you took a refund, the mileage deduction keeps climbing.
Attorney Fees
Indiana’s lemon law shifts fees to the manufacturer when you win. The court can order the manufacturer to pay attorney fees based on actual time spent on your case, along with other reasonable costs and expenses.11Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13-22 – Costs and Expenses in Recovery Actions That provision is why many lemon law attorneys will take a strong case on contingency.
The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act carries its own fee-shifting rule for prevailing consumers.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2310 – Remedies in Consumer Disputes Having two independent bases for fee recovery strengthens your position in settlement talks.
When the State Statute Doesn’t Quite Fit
If you’re close to Indiana’s thresholds but not over them, or your vehicle is one of the excluded types, the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act may still give you a remedy. It treats a manufacturer’s failure to honor a written or implied warranty as a violation of federal law and lets you sue in state or federal court. A manufacturer that offers a written warranty cannot disclaim implied warranties, so the basic expectation that a new vehicle will work as a reasonable buyer would expect stays intact regardless of fine print.13Federal Trade Commission. Businessperson’s Guide to Federal Warranty Law The federal law has no four-attempt or 30-day counter, so it sometimes reaches situations the state statute misses.
Buyback Titles If You’re Buying Used
When a manufacturer takes back a lemon and resells it, Indiana requires the title to be stamped “Manufacturer Buyback–Disclosure on File.”14Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 24-5-13.5-12 That branding follows the vehicle. If you’re shopping used, check the title. A brand doesn’t automatically mean the vehicle is still broken, but it should shape what you’re willing to pay.
What Makes or Breaks a Claim
Paperwork wins these cases. Every time the vehicle goes in for repair, get a written repair order that describes the problem in your own words, and keep the completed order showing what was done. Even a repair order that says “could not replicate” counts as a repair attempt, and it belongs in your file.
Track the drop-off and pick-up dates. Days accumulate toward the 30-business-day trigger whether the shop is open or closed on any given day; if your vehicle sits over a weekend, that time still counts against the manufacturer because the vehicle was out of service.
Don’t let the 18-month, 18,000-mile window close on you. The defect has to surface inside that window, and delaying written notice to the manufacturer risks running out the clock on your strongest remedy. After the second or third failed repair, start the formal process.