It’s best to know what the Michigan lemon lay says before you buy your car, but how many people are that cautious and detail oriented? The sooner you know what the details of Michigan’s lemon law are, the better you’ll be able to avoid a lot of frustration and hassle and protect your interests. Whether you think you’ve got a lemon or are being preemptive, we have the main points of Michigan’s lemon law plus advice on how to act if company who built your car isn’t giving you any relief.

We want to make clear right out of the gate that we aren’t attorneys. We don’t even play an attorney on tv; please don’t mistake this for legal advice.

Michigan’s lemon law applies to all new and leased cars. It’s one of the more consumer-friendly laws in the country: you have two years from the time the first problem shows up to have it qualify for a lemon. Most states only allow 12 months from the day they buy the car. Your car can also qualify as a lemon if it’s at the repair shop for 30+ days or if it’s got a problem that you consider makes it a lemon. We don’t know o f another state’s lemon law that’s more consumer friendly.

So that’s the good news. Every time your car breaks down, get an itemized statement of everything the dealer did to fix it. Keep this handy. Make sure the statement includes the date of the repair was done and the mileage. At the same time, make notes of what happened to you as a result of the break down (were you left stranded? did you have to take time off work?) Record any conversations you have about the problem, and the names of the people you have them with.

Please read your owners manual and do whatever it tells you. To make your case as strong as possible, do what the manufacturer tells you to do, but don’t stop there. You’ll probably either have to take your car to a dealer to get fixed or, if you live too far away, you must given written notice to the car maker of the problem. They’ll either arrange to get the car transported to a certified repair facility or tell you what to do.

The main thing you can do to protect yourself with a lemon is to document every problem your car has, when it had the problem, what you did and what the dealer and manufacturer did. The more records you have, the stronger a case you’ll generally have. The Michigan lemon law gives you more protection than a lot of other state’s. Good luck.