The New York lemon law provides that a vehicle that has been out of service by reason of repair for 30 days or more qualifies for a repurchase or replacement. But how are the days counted? Frequently, cars are stuck in dealer lots waiting for parts or just simply sit around waiting to get repaired. So the question often comes up whether these “stuck at the dealer” days count as ‘out-of-service’ days under the lemon law? Or does the clock stop ticking if, say, it cannot repair the vehicle for a few days or the FedEx guy doesn’t deliver a package with parts on time.

This issue was addressed by the New York Civil Court in the case of Nulud v. Mercedes-Benz. During the lemon law period, Mr. Nulud’s car was stuck a number of days at the dealer, but the repairs were actually performed within a short span of time. So the court had to decide whether all out-of-service days, or just those when the work is performed, count under the lemon law.

The decision went in favor of the consumer. The court held that all ‘at the dealer’ days count for purposes of the lemon law, not just the days when the dealer gets around to making vehicle repairs. To me, this makes perfect sense, and if it were not the law, dealers would always take their sweet old time fixing cars rather than at least try to move in a jiffy, as the lemon law requires.