Under Utah's New Motor Vehicle Warranties Act (Utah Code Title 13, Chapter 20), a new vehicle is presumed to be a "lemon" if the same defect covered by warranty has been subject to repair four or more times, or if the vehicle has been out of service for repairs for a cumulative total of 30 or more business days, and the defect still has not been fixed. Critically, those repair attempts must happen during what Utah calls the "lemon law rights period" — the time ending one year after the vehicle was originally delivered to you, or when the manufacturer's express warranty expires, whichever comes first. If you meet this presumption, the manufacturer must either replace the vehicle or refund your money. Utah's window is shorter than many states', so acting quickly matters.
What Utah's Lemon Law Covers
Utah's law applies to a new motor vehicle that is sold or leased in Utah and that fails to conform to the manufacturer's express warranty because of a defect that substantially impairs the vehicle's use, market value, or safety. The protection runs to the consumer who buys the vehicle for personal, family, or household purposes, and in many cases to a later transferee while the lemon law rights period is still open.
Not every vehicle qualifies. Utah's statute generally excludes vehicles with a gross laden weight over 12,000 pounds, and it excludes the living or housing portion of a motor home (the chassis and drivetrain of a motor home can still be covered, but the cabinets, plumbing, and appliances are not). Off-highway vehicles and certain other specialty equipment also fall outside the act. The defect itself does not count if it was caused by abuse, neglect, unauthorized modifications, or alterations made after the vehicle left the dealer.
The Two Triggers: 4 Repairs or 30 Business Days
Utah law does not require you to prove the manufacturer acted in bad faith. Instead, it creates a legal presumption that the manufacturer has had a "reasonable number of attempts" to fix the vehicle once either of these thresholds is met within the lemon law rights period:
- Four or more repair attempts for the same substantial defect, and that defect continues to exist; or
- 30 or more cumulative business days out of service while in the shop for warranty repair of one or more defects.
"Business days" generally excludes weekends and holidays, so 30 business days is roughly six calendar weeks of downtime. Keep in mind these are the points at which the presumption kicks in. You may still have a claim with fewer attempts if you can otherwise show the defect was not repaired after a reasonable opportunity — the four-times/30-day standard simply shifts the burden in your favor.
You Must Report the Defect in Time
The single most important deadline is the lemon law rights period itself. To preserve your rights, you must report the nonconformity to the manufacturer or its authorized dealer during that one-year-or-warranty-term window. If you wait until after the period closes to first complain about a problem, you can lose the strong statutory remedy even if the defect is real. Because Utah pegs the period to the earlier of one year or the warranty term, a vehicle sold with a short basic warranty can leave you a narrower window than the calendar year suggests.
Document everything. Keep every repair order, note the dates the vehicle went in and came out of the shop, and save written communications. The repair orders are what prove the number of attempts and the days out of service, so insist on a written work order each visit even when the dealer says nothing was found.
What You Can Recover: Refund or Replacement
When the presumption applies and the manufacturer cannot fix the vehicle, Utah law gives the manufacturer the choice of two remedies, but either way you should be made nearly whole:
- Replacement with a comparable new motor vehicle, or
- Refund of the full purchase or lease price, including collateral and incidental charges such as sales tax, license and registration fees, and finance charges.
From that amount, the manufacturer is allowed to subtract a reasonable allowance for your use of the vehicle before the problems began — essentially a deduction tied to the miles you drove before the first repair attempt for the defect. If a third party (such as a lender) holds a lien, the refund is paid out to satisfy that loan and return any equity to you. The manufacturer cannot saddle you with the cost of the defect itself.