Hammond Lemon Law

Lake Superior Court handles civil cases for Hammond and sits at the Lake County Government Center at 2293 N Main Street in Crown Point. Indiana lemon law claims under Ind. Code 24-5-13 are filed as civil complaints in the superior court's civil division. Before filing, you must complete any qualifying informal dispute settlement procedure (typically BBB AUTO LINE), and the two-year statute of limitations is tolled during arbitration. Lake County also operates a satellite court facility in Hammond, but lemon law civil filings are generally handled at the Crown Point Government Center.

Generally, the state where the vehicle is registered and primarily used controls. If you registered the vehicle in Indiana and drive it primarily in Lake County, Indiana's Motor Vehicle Protection Act applies even if you purchased the vehicle in Lansing or Calumet City, Illinois. Conversely, if you registered the vehicle in Illinois, Illinois's lemon law (which has different repair-attempt thresholds and a 12-month/12,000-mile coverage period) likely governs. A consumer attorney will evaluate the purchase contract, registration, and warranty paperwork to determine which state's lemon law applies.

Corrosion damage alone is generally not a covered nonconformity under Indiana lemon law, but corrosion-driven failures of brake lines, fuel lines, wiring harnesses, or safety sensors can qualify if they substantially impair use, value, or safety and arise within the 18-month/18,000-mile coverage window. Lake County's heavy salt and brine application produces recurring ABS, traction-control, and check-engine warnings on near-new vehicles that often trace to sensor connector corrosion. Document each repair visit, because each documented attempt counts toward the four-repair presumption.

Parts availability delays count toward Indiana's 30-business-day out-of-service threshold under Ind. Code 24-5-13-15. If your vehicle sits at a Hammond or Crown Point dealer waiting weeks for a back-ordered transmission, ABS module, or HVAC component, every business day of that wait counts. The statute also extends the count for periods when service is unavailable due to natural disasters, strikes, or other listed events. Keep documentation from the dealer (text messages, emails, written status reports) showing when your vehicle was received, when parts were ordered, and when service was completed.

Yes. Indiana's Motor Vehicle Protection Act extends to consumers who lease a new motor vehicle for personal, family, or household use, provided the vehicle is registered in Indiana. Lessees have the same rights to demand replacement or refund as buyers, with the refund mechanics adjusted to reimburse capitalized cost reduction, monthly payments made, and any payoff owed to the leasing company. The leasing company is required to cooperate in unwinding the lease once the manufacturer commits to a buyback. Many Hammond lessees use this remedy to exit problematic lease contracts without penalty.

BBB AUTO LINE is administered nationally by the Council of Better Business Bureaus and handles arbitrations regardless of consumer location. Hammond owners can file BBB AUTO LINE cases remotely, with hearings conducted by phone or video. The arbitration is free to the consumer, typically resolves in about 40 days from acceptance to decision, and the manufacturer is bound by the decision if the consumer accepts. If the manufacturer does not participate in BBB AUTO LINE (Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and a handful of others), Hammond owners can proceed directly to Lake Superior Court without first completing arbitration.

Indiana imposes a two-year statute of limitations from the date the vehicle was originally delivered, under Ind. Code 24-5-13-19. The two-year period is tolled while you participate in a qualifying informal dispute settlement procedure (such as BBB AUTO LINE), so invoking arbitration does not jeopardize your filing window. Separately, the underlying defects and repair attempts must have occurred within the 18-month/18,000-mile term of protection. Federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claims carry a longer four-year limitations period and are commonly pleaded alongside Indiana lemon law claims to preserve options if state-law deadlines become an issue.