Most American workers still get to the job the same way. According to a Census Bureau release on travel to work, 68.7% of U.S. workers drove alone to work in 2022, and the average one-way trip for those who traveled to a workplace took 26.4 minutes. For a driver whose car is back at the dealer for the same failed repair, those minutes become a loaner car, a rideshare bill or a missed shift.
George Mkrtchyan, Esq., Managing Attorney of Court House Lawyers in Glendale, California, argues that commuters are counting the wrong thing. Owners tend to tally repair visits. In his experience with California lemon law claims, the figure that most reliably moves a manufacturer is total days out of service, and the days a car sits waiting for parts generally count toward it. A daily driver is the owner who feels that number most and is often well placed to document it.
Why California Lemon Law Counts Days, Not Only Repairs
California lemon law gives owners more than one way to show that a car can be treated as a lemon. Under § 1793.22, a new vehicle can be presumed a lemon after 2 repair attempts for a defect likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, 4 attempts for the same defect, or 30 or more cumulative days out of service for repairs, all within 18 months or 18,000 miles of delivery. The presumption is not the only path, but it shapes how many claims are evaluated.
The days test is the one commuters reach without noticing. A transmission that needs 3 visits may fall short of the repair-count threshold. If each visit stretches across 2 weeks while a part is backordered, the cumulative days can pass 30 well before the repair count does. The days add up across visits. They do not need to come from a single long stay at the dealer, and they generally do not reset when the car comes home for a week between repairs.
Parts Delays and the Lemon Law Calendar
A parts wait can feel like dead time, with the car neither on the road nor in a technician’s hands. For lemon law purposes, Mkrtchyan’s view is that this time generally belongs on the same ledger as the hours a technician spends under the hood. The car is out of service either way.
“Owners tend to count how many times they went in,” Mkrtchyan says. “Manufacturers tend to can pay closer attention to how long the car was out of service. sat. Every day it waits at the dealer for a part is a day on the record, and a commuter usually feels each one of them.”
That is why the dates on each repair order carry weight. The day the car was dropped off and the day it was ready for pickup are often the two most useful numbers on the page.
How a Lemon Law Demand Is Built Around Downtime
When Mkrtchyan prepares a repurchase demand, he structures it around two things: repair attempts grouped by concern, and total days out of service. Grouping helps because a single defect can show up on paperwork under different descriptions, such as a warning light on one visit and a stalling complaint on the next. Read together, those visits can tell one story. Read separately, they can look like unrelated minor issues.
“For a lot of commuters, the evidence is already sitting in a stack of repair orders,” Mkrtchyan explains. “Nobody has added up the days yet.”
For owners in the eastern San Fernando Valley, the firm’s Burbank overview on courthouselawyers.com lays out the same repair and days-out-of-service thresholds within the 18-month or 18,000-mile window.
What Commuters Can Do to Keep the Lemon Law Record Accurate
A commuter’s schedule can push owners to delay a repair visit until a weekend or a slow week. Mkrtchyan’s general advice runs the other way. Taking the car in early gets the defect documented sooner, and the first documented visit can affect how a later buyback is calculated.
His other practical points concern the service counter and the paperwork that follows. Some of them are simply good record-keeping:
Describe the specific symptom at the service counter, such as when it happens, at what speed and under what conditions, rather than a general complaint. Keep every repair order, including those that say no problem was found. Check that the drop-off and pickup dates on each order are correct before leaving the counter, and keep a simple log of those dates alongside any rental or rideshare receipts. A commuter’s calendar app can serve as a useful cross-check. Look up whether the manufacturer has issued Technical Service Bulletins for the model, since a bulletin can show a known repair approach for a recurring issue. A recall notice alone does not make a car a lemon.
Mkrtchyan, a member of the Glendale Bar Association, reviews lemon law claims for drivers across Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and the wider Los Angeles area. Each claim depends on its own repair history and warranty terms, and no count of days by itself decides an outcome.
For a driver who spends close to half an hour each way behind the wheel, the calendar of a failing car is already being kept. The question is whether anyone reads it as evidence.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Lemon law rights, eligibility requirements, deadlines, remedies, and applicable standards can vary depending on the vehicle, warranty, repair history, purchase or lease terms, and other facts of an individual case. The information presented here should not be relied upon as a determination that any particular vehicle qualifies as a lemon or that any specific legal remedy is available. Readers with questions about a potential lemon law claim should consult a qualified attorney for advice based on their individual circumstances.
