California Lemon Law Refund Calculator

How the California buyback is calculated

Under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act.

• California's Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act requires the manufacturer to promptly replace a new motor vehicle or make restitution when it cannot service or repair it to conform to the express warranty after a reasonable number of attempts. The buyer is free to elect restitution in lieu of replacement.
• Restitution starts from the actual price paid or payable, including transportation and manufacturer-installed options, but not items a dealer or the buyer installed. It adds collateral charges such as sales or use tax, license fees, registration fees and other official fees, and incidental damages such as reasonable repair, towing and rental car costs. The initial registration fee is a collateral charge; later renewal fees are recoverable only as incidental damages (Kirzhner, 2020).
• The manufacturer may reduce the refund by the amount directly attributable to your use before you first delivered the vehicle for correction of the problem: the price times the miles driven before that first delivery, divided by 120,000. Miles you drive after that first repair attempt do not increase the deduction. The statute names no other deduction in a case under the Civil Code. Where the manufacturer elected the procedure of Code of Civil Procedure § 871.20 et seq., § 871.27 sets different offsets for third-party items and negative equity.
• On a $35,000 car first brought in for the defect at 12,000 miles, the offset is (12,000 / 120,000) x $35,000 = $3,500, leaving roughly $31,500 before tax, fees and incidental damages are added back.
• A court may add a civil penalty of up to two times actual damages if the manufacturer's failure was willful (§ 1794(c)), or, without proof of willfulness, for a violation of the refund-or-replace duty if you served a written notice requesting compliance, the manufacturer did not comply within 30 days and it has no qualified dispute process (§ 1794(e)). A buyer who prevails recovers costs and expenses, including attorney's fees based on actual time expended, as the court determines reasonable (§ 1794(d)).

California lemon law: frequently asked questions

How much can I recover under the California lemon law?

Restitution is the actual price paid or payable, including transportation and manufacturer-installed options, plus sales or use tax, license, registration and other official fees and incidental damages, less the amount directly attributable to your use before the first delivery for correction of the problem. A court may add a civil penalty of up to two times actual damages in the cases § 1794(c) and (e) describe, and a prevailing buyer recovers attorney's fees under § 1794(d). Run your numbers through our calculator for a personalized estimate.

How does the mileage deduction work?

The statute gives a formula: the price paid or payable, including transportation and manufacturer-installed options, times a fraction with 120,000 as the denominator and, as the numerator, the miles traveled by the vehicle before you first delivered it for correction of the problem (§ 1793.2(d)(2)(C)). A car first brought in at 12,000 miles loses 10 percent of its price to the offset. Miles after that first delivery are not counted. The manufacturer "may" reduce the refund by this amount.

Do I have to pay the attorney out of my recovery?

Under § 1794(d), a buyer who prevails in an action recovers a sum equal to the costs and expenses, including attorney's fees based on actual time expended, that the court determines were reasonably incurred. Under § 1794(e)(1), a buyer who establishes a violation of § 1793.2(d)(2) "shall recover damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs". These are recovered in addition to the damages, as part of the judgment.

Are registration renewals and finance charges part of the refund?

The initial registration fee is a collateral charge; registration renewal and nonoperation fees are not collateral charges, but are recoverable as incidental damages if they were incurred as a result of the manufacturer's failure to promptly provide restitution or a replacement (Kirzhner, 2020). Finance charges are not named in § 1793.2(d)(2)(B); the calculator counts them as part of the price paid or payable, which is a reading an attorney can confirm.

Can I keep my car and still recover something?

The statute's remedies are replacement or restitution, which the manufacturer pays when it takes the vehicle back. The Act does not describe a settlement in which you keep the vehicle, so any such arrangement is negotiated, and the calculator does not estimate one.