North Dakota Lemon Law

N.D. Cent. Code §§ 51-07-16 through 51-07-22 cover new passenger motor vehicles purchased or leased in North Dakota that are still within the manufacturer's express warranty period. 'Passenger motor vehicle' includes vehicles designed principally for transporting persons, trucks with a registered gross weight of 10,000 pounds or less, and vehicles built on a truck chassis with seating for four or more passengers. The statute excludes motorcycles, motor homes, and used vehicles. The defect must substantially impair the use and market value of the vehicle to qualify for the refund or replacement remedy.

§ 51-07-19 presumes a reasonable number of attempts when, within the express warranty term or one year of original delivery (whichever comes first), the same nonconformity has been subject to repair more than three times by the manufacturer or its dealer and continues to exist, or the vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of at least 30 business days during the warranty term or that one-year period (again, whichever is shorter). Each repair attempt must be documented by a written repair order to support the presumption.

No. The statute by its terms applies only to new passenger motor vehicles. Used-car buyers must rely on other consumer protection tools: any written warranty offered by the dealer, the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act for written or service-contract claims, the implied warranty of merchantability under the UCC (which dealers can disclaim only with conspicuous 'as is' language), or N.D.'s consumer fraud statute (§ 51-15) for material misrepresentations. North Dakota does not have a tiered used-car warranty regime like New York or New Jersey.

Yes. § 51-07-19 expressly addresses leases. When a manufacturer is required to refund a leased vehicle, it must pay the lessee the sum of all payments previously made to the lessor, less the use allowance. The lessor is reimbursed separately for its purchase cost. Leases shorter than the manufacturer's warranty term and short-term rentals are not the typical target of the statute, but a long-term consumer lease of a new passenger vehicle that develops a covered nonconformity falls within the statutory definition of 'consumer.'

[unverified] The statute does not contain its own express limitations period. Most North Dakota lemon law claims are governed by the four-year UCC limitations period for breach of warranty under N.D. Cent. Code § 41-02-104 (§ 2-725). Parallel federal Magnuson-Moss claims also follow a four-year clock from original delivery. Practically, you should pursue the manufacturer's informal dispute settlement procedure (or file suit) within four years of vehicle delivery, and ideally as soon as possible after the third repair attempt or 30th day out of service.

Yes, if your manufacturer has a qualifying informal dispute settlement procedure. § 51-07-21 provides that if the manufacturer has established a procedure that substantially complies with FTC regulations under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, the consumer must first resort to that procedure before filing suit for the statutory refund or replacement remedy. BBB AUTO LINE, used by many manufacturers, qualifies. The arbitration decision is not binding on the consumer, who may still file suit in district court if dissatisfied with the outcome.

If you prevail, the manufacturer must either replace the vehicle with a comparable new passenger motor vehicle or refund the full purchase price plus collateral charges (sales tax, registration, license fees, and finance charges), reduced by a use allowance not exceeding ten cents per mile driven before the first report of the defect or 10% of the purchase price, whichever is less. The prevailing consumer is also entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs. The use allowance cap makes North Dakota one of the most consumer-friendly states for refund calculation.