Where do I file a Texas lemon law complaint, and what does it cost?
With TxDMV, not a court. The agency directs complaints to its online complaint system (linked in the sidebar), and the filing fee is $35, set by statute (Tex. Occ. Code § 2301.712(a)(1)). If you prevail, the nonprevailing party reimburses that fee (§ 2301.712(b)).
Before the state can order a repurchase or replacement, two statutory prerequisites must be met: the manufacturer received written notice of the defect, and it was given an opportunity to cure (§ 2301.606(c)). The parties must also participate in mediation before a hearing (§ 2301.703(c)). Each step is below with its citation.
Is there anything I have to do before filing?
The statute conditions the strongest relief on notice and cure. No order may require a refund or replacement unless written notice of the defect was provided to the manufacturer, converter, or distributor, by you, someone on your behalf, or the department itself, and the manufacturer was given an opportunity to cure (§ 2301.606(c)). The statute requires the notice to be written and sets no particular form; TxDMV's guidance recommends certified mail, which is the agency's recommendation rather than a statutory requirement. The statute also sets no fixed length for the cure opportunity.
(c) An order issued under this subchapter may not require a manufacturer, converter, or distributor to make a refund or to replace a motor vehicle unless: (1) the owner, a person on behalf of the owner, or the department has provided written notice of the alleged defect or nonconformity to the manufacturer, converter, or distributor; and (2) the manufacturer, converter, or distributor has been given an opportunity to cure the alleged defect or nonconformity.
How do I actually file it?
Through TxDMV's online complaint system, linked in the sidebar, with the $35 fee. The agency names no separate form number for the lemon law complaint on its program page, so this site prints none; the agency's system carries its own current instructions.
Do I have to go through mediation?
Yes, by statute, before the case can reach a hearing. The agency's page describes it as an attempt to resolve the complaint; the statute makes participation mandatory. Being required to participate is not being required to settle: if mediation does not resolve the case, it proceeds to a hearing.
The parties to a contested case under this chapter or Chapter 503, Transportation Code, other than a contested case in an action brought by the department to enforce this chapter or Chapter 503, Transportation Code, must participate in mediation as provided by board rule before the parties may have a hearing in the case.
The statute makes mediation mandatory but leaves the shape of it to rule. The rules supply three details worth having before you walk in. It is nonbinding. You are required to participate in good faith. And the person mediating is a TxDMV staff member, called a case advisor, which raises the obvious question of whether the agency is neutral in its own proceeding. The rules answer it directly: in a lemon law or warranty performance case the case advisor must qualify for appointment as an impartial third party under Civil Practice and Remedies Code ch. 154. This site has not verified what that chapter requires, so it does not describe it; the point here is only that the rules impose the qualification.
A case advisor will attempt to settle or resolve a lemon law or warranty performance complaint through nonbinding mediation before a hearing on the complaint is scheduled. ... The parties must participate in the nonbinding mediation process in good faith. ... In a case filed under Occupations Code, §2301.204 or §§2301.601-2301.613, a case advisor shall qualify for appointment as an impartial third party in accordance with Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 154.
What has to be in the complaint?
The rules set this out item by item, and it is worth reading before you start rather than after, because several entries are things you have to go and find. The complaint must be in writing and signed, and must state enough facts for the department and the manufacturer to know what the complaint is about. Beyond that it must give: your name, address and telephone number; the vehicle's make, model, year and VIN; the type of warranty coverage; the dealer or other seller you bought or leased from, plus the vehicle lessor if there is one; the original delivery date; the mileage at purchase or lease, at the time you first reported the problem, and at filing; who you first reported the problem to; the vehicle's current problems and a history of problems and repairs, with the date and mileage of each repair and a copy of each repair order where possible; the date the manufacturer, distributor, or converter first received written notice of the defect; and the date and results of any inspection.
Two of those tend to be the hard ones. The repair orders are the evidentiary spine of the case, and the date of first written notice is the fact that the notice-and-cure requirement above turns on.
A complaint alleging a violation of Occupations Code, §2301.204 or Subchapter M, must be in writing and signed by the complainant, and: (1) state sufficient facts to enable the department and the party complained against to know the nature of the complaint and the specific problems or circumstances forming the basis of the claim for relief under the lemon law or warranty performance statute
What happens after I file?
As the agency describes its own process: staff review the complaint for completeness and eligibility and attempt mediation; if unresolved, the matter is referred for a hearing before a hearings examiner (the statute places Subchapter M hearings before a hearings examiner, § 2301.704(a-1)); the examiner issues a final written decision. On timing, keep two different clocks apart:
The agency's stated decision timing
TxDMV's page states the hearing examiner will issue a final written decision "within 60 days after the close of the hearing". That is the agency describing its own practice, measured from the hearing's close.
The statute's 150-day trigger
If no final order issues before the 151st day after the complaint was filed, the department must notify both parties that the 150-day period has expired and that the complainant may file a civil action; the period extends for delay the complainant requests or causes. § 2301.607(c)-(d)
One detail the statute does not give you, and the rules do: the rules tie the start of that 150-day period to the date the department receives the filing fee, not to the arrival of the paperwork. If you file without paying, the rules say the start of the period is delayed and the complaint may be dismissed. Pay when you file and the two dates are the same; that is the point of saying so.
Failure to pay the filing fee when submitting a complaint will delay the start of the 150-day period in paragraph (3) of this subsection and may result in dismissal of the complaint. ... A lemon law proceeding commences on the date the filing fee is received by the department.
What if the examiner says no to a buyback?
Losing on repurchase or replacement is not necessarily the end of the proceeding. Where the examiner finds the vehicle does not qualify for either, the rules let the examiner order repair work or other action to bring the manufacturer into compliance with its warranty obligations. Read the verb: it is may, not shall. This is something the examiner is permitted to do, not something you are entitled to as a fallback.
If the hearings examiner finds that a complainant's motor vehicle does not qualify for replacement or repurchase, the hearings examiner may enter an order requiring repair work to be performed or other action taken to obtain compliance with the manufacturer's, converter's, or distributor's warranty obligations.
One thing on this site that may be more useful than any summary: the published decisions pages carry every decision TxDMV publishes, each linked to its source document, so you can see what the agency's own written orders actually look like.
Either party can seek rehearing: the motion is filed with the chief hearings examiner (§ 2301.713(c)), and under the state's Administrative Procedure Act the ordinary deadline is the 25th day after the decision is signed (Tex. Gov't Code § 2001.146(a)), with extension mechanisms in that section. Beyond that lies judicial review under the substantial evidence rule: Subchapter M's own provision names a Travis County district court (§ 2301.609), and the chapter's general judicial-review provision, amended in 2023, alternatively permits the Fifteenth Court of Appeals (§ 2301.751(a)). The petition deadline is the 30th day after the order becomes final and appealable, and "final" itself depends on the rehearing posture. If a decision has issued in your case, these clocks are short and interlocking: this is the point to talk to a licensed attorney rather than a website. The deadlines page lays the clocks out separately.