What are the requirements for lemon arbitration?

Under California's lemon law requirements, you may be eligible for a neutral third party official to determine if your car is a lemon. This process can be helpful if you have previously had the vehicle repaired multiple times.

Purchase requirements

Arbitration is a simple process and typically does not cost much to do. The lemon laws cover many vehicles, but you must be sure that you bought or leased your car in California to initially qualify.

After that, distinguish between a personal car and a company vehicle. A vehicle is personal when you are using it to drive yourself or family around in, while a company car gets driven only for work-related purposes. Do not try to pass off a regular car as a company car or vice versa, since each have different requirements.

Vehicle requirements

In addition, your vehicle must weigh under 10,000 pounds total if it is not a personal car. If you use it for business reasons, you must not have more than five total vehicles in use at that time.

If you are looking to trade in a motorhome, it should meet several requirements. It must have the chassis, chassis cab, and the propulsion portions in the vehicle. This ensures it counts as a complete vehicle under the law. In addition, cars used for demonstrations also are eligible for arbitration under the lemon laws.

Arbitration guidelines

After you have determined your car is a lemon, you should seek a professional to examine your vehicle. Having legal proof of your car's status as a lemon can help you sell or return it.