About lemonlawcalc.com

Updated May 2026.

lemonlawcalc.com is a free consumer protection resource maintained by The Click Lab. We help vehicle owners who believe they have purchased a defective vehicle understand how lemon law works, estimate their potential refund or recovery, learn what documentation they need, and understand why they should consult a lemon law attorney before giving up on a vehicle that cannot be fixed.

Why We Built This

Lemon law is one of the most consumer-friendly areas of law in the United States — it includes mandatory attorney fee provisions that make legal representation free to consumers who prevail, it provides specific numerical thresholds that create clear rights once met, and it covers some of the largest consumer purchases most people make. And yet lemon law is also one of the most misunderstood: consumers give up on valid claims because they don’t know the threshold has been met, accept lowball settlements because they don’t know the statutory refund formula, or let manufacturers delay indefinitely because they don’t know that timely repurchase is required by law.

We built this calculator to help consumers quickly understand whether their situation might qualify, what a qualifying refund would look like, and what the different outcome options mean in practice. The goal is not to replace an attorney — we say explicitly throughout this site that consulting a lemon law attorney is the right next step — but to give consumers enough information to have an informed first conversation with one.

What We Cover

This site covers vehicle lemon law under state statutes (with particular depth on California’s Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, which is the most litigated and most detailed lemon law in the country) and under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. We cover the qualification thresholds, the repurchase formula including the mileage offset, the different outcome types (repurchase, replacement, cash settlement), the manufacturer arbitration process, and the attorney fee provisions that make lemon law accessible to consumers.

What We Don’t Do

We do not provide legal advice, and nothing on this site creates an attorney-client relationship. Calculator outputs are educational estimates — they reflect statutory frameworks and common formulas, not predictions for any specific case. Because state laws vary significantly in their thresholds, mileage offset formulas, and coverage periods, consumers should consult a lemon law attorney in their state for advice specific to their situation. Most lemon law attorneys offer free case evaluations and work on fee-shifting arrangements where the manufacturer pays attorney fees in successful cases.

Our Editorial Team

Content is reviewed by our editorial team, which includes consumer protection law specialists with backgrounds in lemon law practice. Every factual legal claim is sourced to a primary statute or case. Pages are updated when relevant state statutes change.

How We Make Money

Display advertising via Google AdSense. We do not sell reader data, do not accept sponsored content, and do not receive referral fees. See our privacy policy.

Contact

Corrections, feedback, or questions: contact us.