A lemon law buyback is usually the price you paid for a defective new vehicle, plus the fees and charges your state counts, minus a mileage offset for the miles you drove. This lemon law buyback calculator applies the published formulas for California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Virginia and Washington, plus a custom formula for other states. Enter your purchase figures and three odometer readings (at delivery, at the first repair visit for the defect, and today or at the hearing) to see the repurchase amount, the offset, and what is left for you after the lender is paid.
The offset is where most of the money moves. Five of the seven states divide by 120,000 miles for a passenger vehicle, but they count different miles: California, Georgia and Washington stop counting at the first repair visit, Florida counts up to the settlement or arbitration hearing, Texas charges half rate for miles driven after the first report, and New York deducts nothing for the first 12,000 miles. The sections below show each rule with its official source, three worked examples, and what each state adds back to the refund.
Cash price with destination and factory options, after any rebate, including trade-in credit.
Every state on this page follows the same basic structure, even though the details differ:
Repurchase amount = price paid + charges your state counts - mileage offset
Mileage offset = miles counted x purchase price / divisor
Paid to you = repurchase amount - loan or lease payoff
The price paid is the cash price of the vehicle, and each state defines it a little differently. Florida's offset uses the base selling price on the purchase invoice, without taxes, government fees and dealer fees. California's jury instruction multiplies the purchase price including charges for transportation and manufacturer-installed options, and tells jurors not to include charges for items supplied by someone other than the manufacturer. Texas multiplies the purchase price including tax, title, license and registration.
The charges your state counts are the extra costs that come back to you: sales tax and government fees such as title or registration in every state here, finance charges in some states, and incidental costs such as towing or a rental car in others. The mileage offset charges you for the use you got from the vehicle. The divisor works like an assumed vehicle life in miles (the Texas worksheet labels it the useful life): 120,000 miles for a passenger vehicle in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Washington, and 100,000 miles in New York. Virginia works differently and caps the allowance per mile using the IRS business mileage rate.
For most states the single most important input is the odometer reading at your first repair visit for the defect. It is printed on the repair order, which is one reason the Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division calls repair orders a critical piece of evidence for proving a lemon law claim.
| State | Miles counted | Offset formula | Also added to the refund |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Delivery to first delivery for repair of the defect | Miles x purchase price (with transportation and manufacturer-installed options) / 120,000 | Finance charges; sales or use tax, license, registration and other official fees; incidental damages |
| Texas | Delivery to first report at full rate, first report to hearing at half rate | Unimpaired miles / 120,000 x price + impaired miles / 120,000 x price x 0.5 | Price already includes tax, title, license and registration; $35 filing fee refunded; interest not included |
| Florida | Miles attributable to you up to the settlement agreement or arbitration hearing | Miles x base selling price / 120,000 (recreational vehicle: 60,000) | Collateral charges such as earned finance charges, sales taxes, title charges and installed items; incidental charges |
| Georgia | Up to the first repair visit for the defect | Purchase price x miles / 120,000 (motor home: 90,000) | Sales tax and government charges, dealer charges, dealer-installed items, extended warranty, interest paid; incidental expenses |
| New York | Mileage in excess of the first 12,000 miles | Miles over 12,000 x purchase (or lease) price / 100,000 | Title and registration fees and other governmental charges; loss of use, insurance and finance charges not included |
| Virginia | Up to the first notice of nonconformity | Not more than one-half of the IRS business mileage rate per mile, plus damage beyond normal wear | Sales tax, license, registration, title, finance charges and interest, transportation, service contracts, installed options; incidental damages |
| Washington | Purchase or in-service date to the first attempt to diagnose or repair | Miles x purchase price / 120,000 (motor home: 90,000; motorcycle: 25,000) | Sales and use tax, unused license and registration fees, finance charges, service contracts; incidental costs |
For Virginia, the IRS standard mileage rate for business use is 76 cents per mile for July 1 through December 31, 2026 (72.5 cents for January 1 through June 30), so the ceiling works out to 38 cents per mile for the second half of 2026. If your state is not listed, choose "Other state" in the calculator and enter the divisor and mileage rule from your state's lemon law.
A buyer pays a $48,000 cash price including destination and factory options, $4,400 in sales tax and registration, $1,500 for a dealer-installed package, and $2,100 in interest so far. The defect first went to the dealer at 6,012 miles on a car delivered with 12 miles, and the buyer spent $650 on towing and a rental car. The loan payoff is $30,000.
Suppose the purchase price including tax, title, license and registration is $38,000. The owner drove 12,000 miles before first reporting the defect and another 12,000 miles between the first report and the hearing.
The New York Attorney General's lemon law guide gives its own example: a defective car with 15,000 miles on its odometer that cost $20,000 has a deduction for use of $600, because only the 3,000 miles over 12,000 count (3,000 x $20,000 / 100,000). Enter those numbers with New York selected and the calculator shows the same $600.
Finance charges. California's instruction covers the amount paid for the vehicle including finance charges. Florida counts earned finance charges as collateral charges, Georgia's refund includes all interest you paid on a loan from a lending institution, Virginia lists finance charges and interest, and Washington lists finance charges. Texas is different: TxDMV says its refund does not include any interest paid on the vehicle. The New York guide says finance charges are not included under that law.
Dealer add-ons. California excludes charges for items supplied by someone other than the manufacturer. Georgia includes dealer charges, dealer-installed items and extended warranties, Virginia and Washington include service contracts, undercoating, rustproofing and installed options, and Florida counts manufacturer-installed or agent-installed items. The TxDMV sample worksheet adds items such as theft protection to the selling price. The calculator adds or leaves out your add-ons according to the selected state.
Incidental costs. California treats incidental damages as part of restitution. Florida defines incidental charges as reasonable costs directly caused by the defect, Georgia lists towing, alternate transportation and repair charges, Virginia refunds incidental damages, and Washington lists towing charges and the cost of alternative transportation. New York's guide says loss of use is not included. TxDMV mentions reimbursement of out-of-pocket repair costs under its repair remedy, so the Texas refund estimate leaves incidentals out.
If the vehicle is financed, the lender is paid first. The Georgia Consumer Protection Division explains the order: if the purchase was financed, the manufacturer pays the amount you owe on the remaining balance to the lending institution, and that amount is subtracted from the refund to you. Florida law says refunds are made to the consumer and the lienholder of record as their interests may appear. The calculator follows the same order and subtracts your payoff last.
Trade-ins matter too. Florida defines the purchase price as the cash price including any allowance for a trade-in vehicle, but excluding debt from any other transaction. If an old loan balance was rolled into your new loan, the payoff can be larger than the refund the formula produces, and the calculator flags that gap so you can raise it before signing.
California juries can also add a civil penalty. Under CACI 3244, if a jury finds the manufacturer's failure to repurchase or replace was willful, it may impose a civil penalty in any amount it finds appropriate, up to a maximum of two times the buyer's actual damages. A violation is not willful if the manufacturer reasonably and in good faith believed the facts did not require a repurchase. Check the civil penalty box in the calculator to see the ceiling based on your estimate. It is a legal maximum, not a prediction: juries can award less or nothing.
Florida and Virginia give the consumer an unconditional right to choose a refund rather than a replacement, and the offset treatment differs by state. In Florida, a replacement comes in exchange for the consumer paying a reasonable offset for use. Washington also charges the offset when a consumer accepts a replacement, and Virginia applies the allowance for use to either a refund or a replacement. Georgia's Consumer Protection Division says you are not responsible to pay an offset for use on a replacement vehicle. In Texas, TxDMV describes a replacement with a comparable vehicle minus the mileage used.
A buyback starts with what you paid for the vehicle, adds the charges your state counts (such as sales tax, registration and, in several states, finance charges and incidental costs) and subtracts a mileage offset for your use of the vehicle. Five of the seven states covered here (California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Washington) divide by 120,000 miles for a passenger vehicle when they compute the offset. The loan or lease payoff is then paid to the lender, and the rest goes to you.
California jury instruction CACI 3241 tells jurors to multiply the miles driven between delivery and the first delivery to the manufacturer or its repair facility for the defect by the purchase price, including charges for transportation and manufacturer-installed options, and divide by 120,000. The result is deducted from the amounts you paid, which include finance charges, sales tax, license and registration fees. Charges for items supplied by someone other than the manufacturer are not included.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles repurchase worksheet uses a 120,000-mile useful life. Miles from delivery to the first report of the defect are charged at the full rate, and miles from the first report to the hearing date are charged at half rate. The deduction is subtracted from the purchase price including tax, title, license and registration, and the $35 filing fee is refunded. TxDMV says the refund does not include interest paid on the vehicle.
It depends on the state. California, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Washington count finance charges or interest among the recoverable charges. Texas says its refund does not include any interest paid on the vehicle, and the New York Attorney General guide says finance charges are not included under that law.
Yes, but only above 12,000 miles. The New York Attorney General guide says no deduction may be made for the first 12,000 miles of use, and the deduction is the mileage in excess of 12,000 times the purchase or lease price, divided by 100,000. Its example: a $20,000 car with 15,000 miles has a $600 deduction.
The manufacturer pays the lender what you still owe, and that payoff is subtracted from the refund paid to you. The Georgia Consumer Protection Division describes this order, and Florida law says refunds go to the consumer and lienholder as their interests may appear. If your payoff is larger than the refund, the formula does not cover the difference.
No. It is an educational estimate built from the official formulas cited on the page and the numbers you enter. Arbitrators, courts and manufacturers apply the full statute and the facts of your case, so talk with a lemon law attorney or your state program before you accept or reject an offer.