Leasing a luxury, exotic, or sports car has become a very popular option these days. Most of the time it is an excellent arrangement and the customer is satisfied. But what do you do when you are locked into a lease and you discover a problem with the vehicle that causes you to be unsatisfied with it? While there are many examples of unscrupulous dealerships knowingly selling or leasing damaged, defective, or unsafe cars, it is not always the case that that the dealership has knowingly given you a lemon.

     While the requirements and your ability to return your defective car to the dealership varies by state, generally all states require that you have taken the car in for service a certain number of times for the same problem and each time the dealership has been unable to correct the problem. Since every car is going to break down, lemon laws are designed only to compensate you for the continued breakdown of your car after repeated attempts to correct the same problem fail.

     States with lemon laws generally permit the return of the car only within a certain time period after the purchase or lease. Additionally, you must notify both the dealership and the manufacturer of your intent to declare a lemon. The manufacturer will send a representative to inspect and evaluate the vehicle and will make recommendations to resolve the problem. If the car is determined to be defective under the terms of the law, the amount you recover, including purchase price, monthly payments, and any other costs associated with the unsuccessful repair and return of the car, varies from state to state.

     In all cases, you should keep every record of each service visit and all receipts related to the repairs. Make sure that the dealership clearly puts the exact nature of the problem on the service records, including the number of times the car has been in for service for the problem. You need to prove that you have a car with a problem.