Bethesda Lemon Law

Bethesda residents file in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County at the Judge Paul A. McGuckian Courthouse, 50 Maryland Avenue in Rockville — approximately 6 miles north of downtown Bethesda. Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1502 permits filing in either the county where you reside or where you bought or leased the vehicle. If you purchased at a DC, Virginia, or other Maryland dealer, you may file in that jurisdiction. Most lemon law cases exceed the District Court's $30,000 limit.

Yes, with one important limit: Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1501(d) covers motor vehicles under 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. Virtually all Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Lexus, and Tesla passenger vehicles sold in Bethesda qualify. There is no purchase-price cap, so a $150,000 luxury vehicle has the same refund-or-replacement rights as a $25,000 economy car under the statute, plus attorney's fees from the manufacturer.

Yes. Maryland's lemon law covers all qualifying new motor vehicles under 10,000 lbs GVWR, including Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq, and similar EVs popular in Bethesda. Common EV nonconformities — battery thermal management failures, charging-port faults, persistent software bugs that affect drivability — qualify under Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1502 if the same defect persists through four or more repair attempts (or one for a safety-related brake/steering failure). Tesla service-center visits count as repair attempts.

Yes. Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1501(c) expressly covers leased motor vehicles. Bethesda lessees receive the same 24-month / 18,000-mile coverage window and may demand either a comparable replacement vehicle or a full refund. The manufacturer refunds your down payment, taxes, registration fees, and lease payments through the buyback date, and separately settles the residual value with the lessor so you are released from further lease obligations. This applies to all major luxury lease programs operating in Bethesda.

Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1502(d) sets a three-year statute of limitations measured from the date of original delivery of the vehicle. You must have first reported the defect to the dealer or manufacturer within the 24-month / 18,000-mile rights period to invoke the statutory repair-attempt presumption. Federal Magnuson-Moss claims and UCC § 2-725 breach-of-warranty claims carry a separate four-year limitations period from delivery, all filable in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Rockville.

Yes. Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1502(b)(1) provides that one repair attempt is enough if the defect is a failure of the braking or steering systems that causes the vehicle to fail Maryland's state safety inspection, regardless of vehicle brand or price. Critically, no use offset may be deducted from your refund in this scenario, meaning you recover the full purchase price regardless of miles driven on the Beltway, MD-355, or local Bethesda streets — even on a high-value luxury vehicle.

Yes. Under Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-1502(g), the manufacturer must pay all reasonable attorney's fees, filing fees, and reasonable engineering expert witness fees of a prevailing consumer — regardless of vehicle brand or price. This fee-shifting provision means most Montgomery County lemon law attorneys take qualifying cases on contingency with no out-of-pocket cost. The fees are paid by the manufacturer in addition to your refund or replacement vehicle, not deducted from it.