Beverly Hills Lemon Law Basics What Beverly Hills Drivers Should Know
California's Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act puts the upper hand on your side when a dealer can't fix a vehicle that's still under warranty.
If your new or leased vehicle keeps coming back from the shop with the same defect, the manufacturer is on the hook, not you. The Song-Beverly Act requires the maker to either buy the car back or replace it once it has failed a reasonable number of repair attempts for a problem that affects the vehicle's use, value, or safety. A refund covers your down payment, monthly payments, and the payoff on your loan or lease, minus a modest mileage offset for the miles you drove before the first repair visit.
Beverly Hills changes the math in two ways. The cars here skew expensive, so a buyback on a Porsche Cayenne or an S-Class carries a far higher dollar figure than a buyback on an economy sedan. And luxury makers tend to defend these claims hard, leaning on dealer service records and "could not duplicate" notes to argue the defect was never real. Detailed repair documentation is what wins those fights.
The used market works differently after the 2024 Rodriguez v. FCA decision. A used car sold with only the balance of the original factory warranty generally no longer qualifies for a buyback or replacement under California's Lemon Law. A certified pre-owned BMW from a Wilshire Boulevard dealer that comes with its own new warranty can still qualify if a covered defect survives repeated repair attempts. Even where a refund or replacement is off the table, used-car owners can often still recover money damages and attorney fees, so we review each used-car claim to see which remedies apply.