Arizona Used Car Lemon Law (§44-1267)

Arizona’s new-vehicle lemon law is not the only rule in the article. A.R.S. § 44-1267 — the section the Attorney General calls the “Arizona Used Car Lemon Law” — is a separate, dealer-facing rule for used cars: for a short window after delivery, a dealer cannot disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability that Arizona law (§ 47-2314) attaches to the sale. It is a warranty-protection rule, not a buyback process, and the difference matters — this page keeps the two apart. For the new-vehicle law, see the Arizona filing guide. Last reviewed: October 2026.

§ 44-1267 at a glance

Who and what is covered

The section works with two definitions from § 44-1261. A “used motor vehicle” is a motor vehicle that “has been sold, bargained, exchanged or given away or the title to which has been transferred from the person who first acquired the vehicle from the manufacturer, importer or dealer or agent of the manufacturer or importer and that has been placed in bona fide consumer use.” A “used motor vehicle dealer” is a person or business that sells or offers for sale a used motor vehicle after selling or offering for sale four or more used motor vehicles in the previous twelve months. That dealer definition leaves out banks and financial institutions, insurance companies, a business selling a used vehicle to its own employee, a lessor selling a leased vehicle to its lessee (or the lessee’s employee), and people who deal in classic or historic vehicles.

One more duty sits in front of the sale itself: before the seller attempts to sell a used motor vehicle, the seller shall possess the title to it, and the title shall be in the seller’s name.

The warranty window: 15 days / 500 miles

The core rule is a ban on disclaimers. Except for the narrow waiver in subsection I (below), a used motor vehicle dealer “shall not exclude, modify or disclaim the implied warranty of merchantability prescribed in section 47-2314 or limit the remedies for a breach of that warranty … before midnight of the fifteenth calendar day after delivery of a used motor vehicle or until a used motor vehicle is driven five hundred miles after delivery, whichever is earlier.” In plain terms: inside that window, the car cannot be sold stripped of the implied warranty, whatever the paperwork tries to say.

The counting rules soften both edges of the window:

• Days: a day on which the warranty is breached is excluded from the 15-day count — and so is every subsequent day on which the vehicle fails to conform to the implied warranty.
• Miles: miles driven to obtain, or in connection with, the repair, servicing, or testing of the nonconforming vehicle are excluded from the 500-mile count.

And a disclaimer that breaks the rule has consequences of its own: an attempt to exclude, modify, or disclaim the warranty, or to limit the remedies for its breach, in violation of the ban “renders a purchase agreement voidable at the option of the purchaser.”

What the warranty requires

Section 44-1267(C) defines when the implied warranty is satisfied: “the implied warranty of merchantability is met if the motor vehicle functions in a safe condition as provided in title 28, chapter 3, article 16 and is substantially free of any defect that significantly limits the use of the motor vehicle for the ordinary purpose of transportation on any public highway.” That is the whole standard — safety as Title 28 provides, plus substantial freedom from defects that significantly limit ordinary highway use. The warranty expires at midnight of the fifteenth calendar day after delivery or at 500 miles after delivery, whichever is earlier.

The warranty does not extend to damage that occurs after the sale and results from abuse, misuse, or neglect; from a failure to perform regular maintenance or to maintain adequate oil, coolant, or another required fluid or lubricant; or from off-road use, racing, or towing.

If the warranty is breached, step by step

1. Check the window first. Find your delivery date and count forward using the exclusions above — breach days and nonconforming days don’t count toward the 15 days, and repair-trip miles don’t count toward the 500. The window is short; do this before anything else.
2. Give the seller reasonable notice of the breach. The statute requires it, and writing is how you prove it — keep a dated copy.
3. Give the seller a reasonable opportunity to repair. Before you exercise any other remedy under Title 47, Chapter 2, the seller gets that chance. Log every visit in the free repair log: dates, miles, what was attempted, what it cost.
4. Pay your share — and no more. You pay one-half of the cost of each of the first two repairs necessary to bring the vehicle into compliance with the warranty, and your payment is capped at a maximum of $25 for each repair.
5. If it still isn’t resolved, the remedies live in Title 47, Chapter 2 — see the remedies section below. Because that path is general UCC law rather than a process this section spells out, it is the point to talk to a licensed Arizona attorney.

Check your contract: the bold statement

Section 44-1267(G) polices the paperwork. An agreement for the sale of a used motor vehicle by a used motor vehicle dealer is voidable at the purchaser’s option unless it contains, on its face, the following statement — conspicuous, printed in bold-faced type of ten points or larger, and set off from the body of the agreement:

“The seller hereby warrants that this vehicle will be fit for the ordinary purposes for which the vehicle is used for 15 days or 500 miles after delivery, whichever is earlier, except with regard to particular defects disclosed on the first page of this agreement. You (the purchaser) will have to pay up to $25.00 for each of the first two repairs if the warranty is violated.”

Two cautions about that statement. First, subsection H adds that including it in the agreement does not create an express warranty — the protection described on this page is the implied warranty the statement describes, not a separate written promise. Second, note the exception built into the statement itself: particular defects disclosed on the first page of the agreement. That connects to the waiver rules next.

Waivers: one defect at a time, in writing

A purchaser may waive the implied warranty only for a particular defect, and only if all three of subsection I’s conditions are satisfied:

1. the dealer fully and accurately discloses to the purchaser that, because of circumstances unusual to the dealer’s business, the vehicle has that particular defect;
2. the purchaser agrees to buy the vehicle after that disclosure; and
3. before the sale, the purchaser signs and dates the prescribed “Attention purchaser” statement — printed on the first page of the sales agreement, in bold-faced type of ten points or larger, in the language in which the presentation was made (“Attention purchaser: sign here only if the dealer told you that this vehicle has the following problem(s) and that you agree to buy the vehicle on those terms…”).

If a waiver is disputed, the burden is on the dealer: “The dealer has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the dealer complied with subsection I of this section.” The Attorney General’s summary of the same point is that a specific defect may be excepted if it is spelled out in writing — read that as the AG’s plain-language version of the three statutory conditions above, not a substitute for them.

Remedies — and what the section does not say

Section 44-1267(K) routes everything to general commercial law: “Any purchaser or seller who is aggrieved by a transaction pursuant to this section and who seeks a legal remedy shall pursue any appropriate remedy prescribed in title 47, chapter 2 and shall comply with the requirements prescribed in title 47, chapter 2.” The one hard number the section itself sets is the ceiling: “The maximum liability of the seller under this section is limited to the purchase price paid for the used motor vehicle.”

Be clear about what is not in § 44-1267, because much of what circulates about “lemon laws” assumes it is: the section states no repair-count refund trigger (no “after N failed repairs, the dealer must buy the car back”), no replacement right, no fee-shifting rule, and no deadline for bringing a claim. Anyone who tells you Arizona’s used-car law guarantees a refund after two failed repairs is not quoting this statute.

The Attorney General’s consumer page summarizes the used-car law in friendlier terms: the implied warranty “applies to every used car sale,” the dealer “must be given two opportunities to repair the vehicle, before you can seek a refund,” and “if you are entitled to a recovery under Arizona’s Used Car Lemon Law, you would get the purchase amount you paid for the car.” The AG also describes coverage as turning on whether “a major component” of the car breaks inside the window. Treat all of that as what it is — the AG’s plain-language guidance. The statute itself requires reasonable notice and a reasonable opportunity to repair (not a counted two chances), routes remedies through Title 47, Chapter 2, caps the seller’s liability at the purchase price, and measures defects by the safe-condition / significantly-limits-highway-use standard in § 44-1267(C), not by the phrase “major component.”

Why there is no packet for this law

LemonLawPath’s $29 packet exists for Arizona’s new-vehicle law only, and that is deliberate. Our packets work where a statute defines a process the documents can operate — a warranty, a repair duty, and a refund or replacement endpoint the paperwork can ask for. Section 44-1267 defines none of those packet-shaped elements: no repair-attempt count that triggers a refund, no replacement right, no stated refund entitlement (remedies are whatever Title 47, Chapter 2 prescribes, with the seller’s liability capped at the purchase price), no fee-shifting, and no suit deadline in the section. A demand letter asserting a statutory refund right after failed repairs would overstate Arizona law, so we do not sell one for used cars. What you can do free, right now: keep the repair log current, keep the contract with its first page, and — if you also have a new-vehicle claim in the picture — read the Arizona filing guide.

Sources: A.R.S. § 44-1267 · A.R.S. § 44-1261 (definitions) · Arizona Attorney General — Auto Purchases