Rhode Island Lemon Law Refund Calculator

How the Rhode Island buyback is calculated

Under the Rhode Island Lemon Law.

• If the manufacturer cannot conform your vehicle to the warranty after a reasonable number of attempts, it must accept the vehicle back and, at your option, refund the full contract price (including credits and allowances for a trade-in), less a reasonable allowance for use, or replace it with a comparable new vehicle.
• The allowance for use is set by the statute: the total contract price (or lessee cost) multiplied by a fraction. The denominator is 100,000. The numerator is the miles the vehicle traveled before your first report of the nonconformity, plus the miles it traveled afterwards while it was not out of service for repair.
• The refund also includes incidental costs: sales tax, registration fee, finance charges and any cost of nonremovable options added by an authorized dealer or lessor. Towing and reasonable rental costs that were a direct result of the nonconformity are reimbursed too, where a tow and a comparable rental were not provided at no cost. The refund is paid to you and the lienholder, if any, as your interests may appear.
• If you lease, the lessee receives the lessee cost (the deposit and rental payments already paid), the lessor receives the lease price less those payments, and the lease ends with no penalty for early termination.
• The lemon law has no multiplier of its own. A manufacturer’s failure to comply is a deceptive trade practice with the remedies of chapter 6-13.1, and for a personal, family or household purchase or lease the court may award damages equal to three times actual damages. That is a separate, discretionary claim.

Rhode Island lemon law: frequently asked questions

How is the allowance for use calculated in Rhode Island?

The statute multiplies the total contract price (or lessee cost) by a fraction with 100,000 as the denominator. The numerator is the miles the vehicle traveled before your first report of the nonconformity, plus the miles it traveled afterwards while it was not out of service for repair. On a $30,000 vehicle with 10,000 miles counted, the allowance would be $30,000 x 10,000 / 100,000 = $3,000. Our calculator uses your odometer as the miles driven, so treat the result as an estimate.

What can I recover under the Rhode Island lemon law?

At your option, a refund of the full contract price less the allowance for use, or a comparable new replacement vehicle. A refund adds sales tax, registration fee, finance charges and the cost of nonremovable options added by an authorized dealer or lessor, plus towing and reasonable rental costs caused by the nonconformity where a tow and a comparable rental were not provided at no cost. On a replacement, the manufacturer reimburses the registration transfer fees and sales tax caused by the replacement.

Who pays the attorney?

Under the new-vehicle law the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff (§ 31-5.2-11). If a manufacturer appeals a state arbitration board decision, any prevailing consumer is awarded reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. Under the used-vehicle law the court may award reasonable attorneys’ fees to a prevailing plaintiff (§ 31-5.4-5(c)).

Can the manufacturer be made to pay more than the refund?

A manufacturer’s failure to comply with the lemon law is a deceptive trade practice under chapter 6-13.1, whose private action allows actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, and the court may award three times actual damages. If a manufacturer appeals a board decision and loses, the consumer also recovers $25 per day in continuing damages when no comparable vehicle was provided free, and the court doubles the total award if the appeal had no reasonable basis or was frivolous.

Does the calculator work for a used vehicle?

Not on this page, which applies the new-vehicle formula. Rhode Island’s used-vehicle law (chapter 31-5.4) has no mileage formula: the dealer refunds the full purchase price including sales or compensating use tax, less a reasonable allowance for any damage not attributable to normal wear or usage and an adjustment for modifications. The estimate in the eligibility checker prices a result under that chapter with that formula, without the trade-in guide value or the modification adjustment.

Do I have to keep driving the vehicle until the refund?

You have the option of retaining the use of the vehicle until you are tendered a full refund or an acceptable replacement. If a refund is tendered, the use after the return is reflected in the allowance for use.