Plano Lemon Law

Plano residents file with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Enforcement Division in Austin, not in Collin County district court. The complaint goes through the TxDMV Motor Vehicle Dealer Online Complaint System, the $35 filing fee applies (refundable if you prevail), and a TxDMV hearings examiner conducts mediation and any contested hearing. Hearings are most often held by videoconference; in-person hearings are typically scheduled in Austin at the TxDMV Jackson Avenue office. Either side can appeal a final order to a Texas district court within 30 days.

No. Toyota Motor North America's headquarters relocation to Plano in 2017 does not change the Texas Lemon Law standards or procedures that apply to Toyota or Lexus owners. You still file with TxDMV, the four-repair, two-attempts-for-safety, or 30-day-out-of-service tests still apply, and Toyota's obligations as a manufacturer are identical to those of any other automaker. Owners sometimes find that Toyota's regional engineering and customer-service operations can resolve complaints faster simply because escalations may be handled closer to the headquarters, but that is a practical matter, not a legal one.

Hail damage itself is excluded because the Texas Lemon Law targets defects in materials or workmanship, not weather damage. However, manufacturing defects in factory paint, glass adhesion, sunroof seals, or trim that become evident after a hailstorm repair can still qualify if they recur after warranty refinish work has been performed multiple times. TxDMV examiners carefully distinguish weather-caused damage (not covered) from a latent factory defect that hail repair exposed. Keep every repair order and refinish record when documenting a paint or sealing claim.

From the date TxDMV accepts a Plano-area complaint, mediation typically opens within 30 to 60 days and a contested hearing is scheduled within roughly 120 to 150 days of filing. The examiner generally issues a written decision within 60 days of the close of the hearing record. Either party may request reconsideration within 25 days and appeal a final order to a Texas district court within 30 days. Manufacturers routinely settle before the hearing because TxDMV can order repurchase or replacement if the consumer prevails.

A Texas Lemon Law complaint must be filed with TxDMV within six months following the earliest of (a) expiration of the express written warranty, (b) 24 months from the vehicle delivery date, or (c) the date the odometer reaches 24,000 miles. This is one of the shortest deadlines in any state lemon law and applies in Plano identically to elsewhere in Texas. If you miss the TxDMV window, claims under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (generally four years) or the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (two years from discovery) remain available, but those are filed in court.

Yes. The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Chapter 17) allows Plano residents to sue a dealership or manufacturer in Collin County district court for unfair or deceptive practices, breach of warranty, or misrepresentation, with potential treble damages and attorneys' fees. The DTPA does not require you to exhaust the TxDMV Lemon Law process first. Many lawyers file both proceedings — a TxDMV Lemon Law complaint targeting the manufacturer's repurchase obligation, and a parallel DTPA case in Collin County addressing dealer-level conduct or punitive damages.

Yes. The Texas Lemon Law covers any new motor vehicle sold or leased in Texas with a manufacturer's written warranty, including all current Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid models. Common Plano-area EV complaints involve drive-unit replacements, high-voltage battery faults, charge-port issues, persistent driver-assistance malfunctions, and infotainment screen failures. The same statutory tests apply: four or more repair attempts on the same defect, two attempts on a serious safety hazard, or 30 cumulative days out of service, all within the first 24 months or 24,000 miles. Direct-sales manufacturers operate service centers under their own franchise rules in Texas but remain subject to TxDMV jurisdiction.