Minnesota has no separate "used car lemon law," but it does have something close: Minn. Stat. 325F.662 makes every covered dealer sale carry a written warranty. A car under 36,000 miles gets at least 60 days or 2,500 miles, a car from 36,000 to under 75,000 miles gets 30 days or 1,000 miles, and a car from 75,000 to under 200,000 miles gets 15 days or 500 miles unless a new car dealer sold it. The dealer has to repair or replace a failed covered part, or, if the dealer chooses, take the car back and refund you. The new car lemon law, 325F.665, only reaches a used car that is still inside the factory warranty and the two-year window.
I read both sections on the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes site on Saturday morning, October 17, 2026. The compiled text is the 2025 edition, last amended in 2023, so any 2026 change would not show yet. This is general information, not legal advice.
The 2023 change most guides still miss
Until 2023, a Minnesota dealer owed nothing on a car with 75,000 miles or more. You can see that in the 2022 version, which had only two mileage bands. Laws 2023, chapter 57, article 4, sections 13 and 14, added the 15-day/500-mile band and moved the cutoff to 200,000 miles. It also wrote that band out of two exclusions, the under-$3,000 price floor and the eight-model-year age limit. Read literally, a 12-year-old car with 140,000 miles from an independent lot for $2,500 still gets the short warranty, while the same car from a franchised new car dealer gets none. Plenty of older guides still say 75,000 miles is the cap, which has been wrong since 2023.
Cars the warranty does not cover
Subdivision 3 lists the exclusions. A dealer does not owe the warranty on a car with a diesel engine, a gross weight over 9,000 pounds, a custom or race build, 200,000 miles or more, a salvage-branded title, or a maker that never built more than 10,000 vehicles in a year. Outside the high-mileage band, sales under $3,000 (trade-in value counts toward the price) and cars eight or more years old, counted from January 1 of the model year, are also out. The buyer must be using the car mainly for personal or household purposes, and "dealer" includes unlicensed sellers but not banks or lease buyouts. If you buy from a real private party, none of this applies; our Minnesota private sale title transfer guide covers that route.
One thing that surprised me: the state AG's Used Car Shopping page sums up the gaps as cars over 200,000 miles or bought for less than $3,000, "among others." That is a fair shorthand, but it skips the high-mileage carve-out above. In that corner, read subdivision 3 yourself.
What the dealer has to fix, and how "as is" works
The covered parts list is long. Under 36,000 miles it covers engine internals, block and heads, the transmission and torque converter, drive axles, the main brake hydraulics, steering gear and rack, water pump, mechanical fuel pump, radiator, alternator and starter. From 36,000 miles up, radiator, alternator and starter drop off the minimum list. The terms must be printed on the front of the FTC Buyers Guide, the window form under 16 CFR Part 455.
A dealer cannot just stamp "as is" on a covered car. Subdivision 4 only lets you waive coverage of a specific part, and only if the dealer prints on the Buyers Guide that the part has a known defect and you circle that statement and sign next to it. If the dealer hands you no warranty at all, subdivision 5 says you have one anyway. Our explainer on what "as is" means on a used car covers the federal side.
Making a claim
Tell the dealer about the problem in writing inside the warranty period and get the car to them within a reasonable time. If you do that, the dealer still owes the repair after the clock runs out. Once a covered part is fixed, the dealer stays on the hook for that part for one more full warranty period. If the dealer picks a refund instead of a repair, it covers the price, taxes, fees, towing and the trade-in value stated on your deal, minus a use charge capped at 10 cents a mile or 10 percent of the price, whichever is less. You have one year after the warranty ends to sue, and the remedies section points to Minn. Stat. 8.31, which allows a private lawsuit. The AG's consumer line is (800) 657-3787.
Honestly, the weak spot is that the dealer chooses between repair and refund. New Jersey works differently: three failed repairs can force a refund there, as our New Jersey used car lemon law post explains. In Minnesota the pressure point is the factory warranty. Under 325F.665, a used buyer counts as a consumer while the manufacturer's warranty runs, and four failed repairs or 30 business days out of service inside the warranty or two years from first delivery, whichever ends first, presumes a lemon.
Check the car before the warranty matters
The salvage exclusion is the one that bites people. A car with a salvage-branded title gets no warranty at all, and a seller has every reason to leave that brand out of the ad. Our Minnesota salvage and rebuilt title rules post explains the brands. Run the VIN through the free NMVTIS title check, then pull a history report you ordered yourself, since a seller's PDF can be edited in a few minutes. If a report shows a manufacturer buyback, read our lemon law buyback title brand post before you sign. CarVins is a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller, not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, Experian or the State of Minnesota. In mid October 2026 one report through us ran about $5.50 as a guest or $4.50 as a member, around $6.75 for both brands, compared with roughly $39.99 to $44.99 direct. Prices move, so check the total at checkout.
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