Lemon law · for new car owners with a defect that keeps coming back
LemonLedger is a repair log for owners of a new car with a defect that keeps coming back, built for the paperwork side of a state lemon law claim. Every dealer visit becomes a record with the repair order number, dates in and out, mileage, the symptom and the work done, filed under the defect it belongs to. Pick your state and a gauge fills as same-defect repair attempts and days out of service add up against that state's reference numbers, each shown with the statute it comes from. The whole history then turns into one PDF you can share or print.
Each repair you save raises a lemon-shaped gauge on the car's page. Under it sit the counts it is built from: same-defect repair attempts, safety-defect repair attempts and days out of service, each next to your state's reference number. It measures how much you have on record, not whether you have a case.
Pick the defect the visit was for, or start a new one and flag it as a safety defect. Then add the RO number, date in and out, mileage, the symptom and what the shop did. One symptom line is enough to save, and photos of the paperwork or a PDF invoice can be attached to the visit.
The claim packet lays out your vehicle, a chronology table for each defect, attempt and day totals, a list of attached evidence and the statute citation for your state. Share it from the phone or print it with AirPrint. The file is built in the phone's cache and cleared after sharing.
State lemon laws are written in counts. California, New York and Texas, for example, each look at how many times the same problem was repaired and how many days the car spent out of service, inside a window that starts at delivery. Those counts live on repair orders, and repair orders scatter: a printout in the glovebox, a PDF in an email thread, a visit you remember but cannot date.
LemonLedger gives each visit one place to land. It does not replace the dealer's paperwork. It keeps a dated, ordered copy of what that paperwork says, next to your own description of the problem, so the history reads the same way six months later as it did the week it happened.
Repeat repairs are the heart of a lemon law record, so the app groups visits by defect. A transmission that jerks, then jerks again after a software update, then shudders in traffic is one issue with three repair records under it, and the issue shows the count. Visits that do not fit a defect yet can stay unfiled until you know where they belong.
Defects that affect safety, such as brakes, steering or stalling, can be flagged when you create them. California and Texas, for example, use a lower repair count for a serious safety defect, so the flag feeds a separate safety-defect line on the gauge.
Days out of service are counted from the date in to the date out, both days included. Overlapping visits are counted once, and a car still at the shop counts up to today and is marked provisional. If a record has no date out, an optional reminder nudges you a week later, worded so a lock screen never mentions lemon law or claims.
Choose a state for the car, from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and the gauge compares your records with that state's reference numbers: repair attempts on the same defect, attempts on defects you flagged as safety-related, and total days out of service. Each line reads like 3 recorded · reference 4, and the gauge fills as the lines do.
The Standards tab shows those numbers with the name of the statute they come from, the date they were checked and a button that opens the official source in your browser. The gauge, the Standards tab and the PDF all remind you to confirm the numbers there, because laws change and coverage windows, notice rules and exceptions differ from state to state.
The gauge never says a car is a lemon, that a claim will succeed or what to do next. It counts what you have on record and leaves the reading of it to the people who review the file.
The PDF opens with a cover page showing the car's name, the date it was generated, the period the records cover, the state, and a line stating that it is an owner-prepared record and not legal advice. Next comes a vehicle page with make, model, year, VIN, delivery date and mileage at delivery.
The chronology is the spine: a table per defect with dates in and out, RO number, mileage, symptom, work done and days at the shop for each visit. A totals section lists each count against its reference number without any verdict, followed by the evidence list and the statute citation with its web address. Blank fields print as Not entered rather than disappearing, so you see the gaps before anyone else does.
Photos and documents are listed by file name, the repair order they belong to and the date they were added; the images themselves are not placed in the PDF. For US states the packet prints on Letter paper with mileage in miles.
The first time you open LemonLedger, the garage holds a demo car from a made-up brand, already carrying two defects, five repair records and a partly filled gauge, so you can see what a finished history looks like before typing anything. You can delete it whenever you like.
Adding your own car takes one field, a nickname. Make, model, year, VIN, delivery date, mileage at delivery and state can come later, and records can be added before a state is chosen.
There is no account, no server and no cloud sync. LemonLedger makes no network requests. The only way a record leaves the phone is a PDF you choose to share or print, and opening an official source hands off to your browser. Delete all data in Settings removes every car, record, attached file and cached PDF from the device.
It also does not give legal advice, judge eligibility, estimate your odds, write letters to the manufacturer or connect you with a lawyer. It is a place to keep the record straight.
LemonLedger is a record-keeping tool, not legal advice. Lemon law rules differ by state and change over time. Check the official source for your state, and talk to a qualified attorney or your state's consumer protection agency about your own situation.
No. It counts repair attempts and days out of service and shows them next to your state's reference numbers. It does not decide eligibility or predict an outcome, and it says so during setup, on the gauge, in Settings and on the PDF cover.
All 50 US states and Washington, D.C., each with the statute name and a link to the official source. South Korea, the United Kingdom and South Africa are listed too. For the UK and South Africa, whose consumer laws do not use repair counts, the gauge switches to a plain chronicle of records and days.
From date in to date out, counting both days, so a car dropped off on the 6th and picked up on the 8th adds three days. Overlapping visits are counted once. A visit without a date out keeps counting up to today and is marked provisional until you fill it in.
No. There is no account and the app makes no network requests. Records stay on the phone until you share or print a PDF, and Delete all data in Settings wipes them, attachments included.
Yes. Add photos from your library, take one with the camera, or pick a PDF or image file. The packet lists each attachment by name, linked repair order and date; the images are not embedded in the PDF.
No. A single symptom line is enough to save a record. Everything else, from the RO number to the cost, can be added later, and empty fields show as Not entered in the PDF.
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