Your Rights Under California's Lemon Law

California's Lemon Law — the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act — is one of the strongest consumer-protection laws in the country. If your vehicle qualifies, here's what you're actually entitled to.

A buyback or a replacement — your choice

When a vehicle qualifies, you — not the manufacturer — generally choose between a repurchase (buyback) and a replacement vehicle. A buyback refunds what you've paid into the car: your down payment, monthly payments, and the remaining loan payoff, plus incidental costs like taxes, registration, and finance charges. The main deduction is a mileage offset for your use of the vehicle before the first repair attempt.

How the mileage offset works

The offset is calculated with a fixed formula: the purchase price multiplied by the miles you drove before your first repair visit for the problem, divided by 120,000. Only the miles before that first repair attempt count against you — not the miles you were forced to put on a defective car afterward.

A cash-and-keep settlement

Instead of returning the vehicle, some owners prefer to keep it and receive a cash settlement for the diminished value and the trouble. Whether this makes sense depends on your situation, and it's one of the options an attorney can help you weigh.

The manufacturer pays your attorney fees

This is the provision that levels the playing field. Under the Lemon Law, a manufacturer that loses must pay your reasonable attorney fees and costs on top of your recovery. That's why reputable lemon law attorneys take these cases with no fee to you — and why you should never accept a manufacturer's direct offer without understanding what you're giving up.

A civil penalty of up to two times your damages

Many owners never learn about this. If the manufacturer willfully failed to comply with its obligations — for example, ignoring its own warranty records — you may be entitled to a civil penalty of up to two times your actual damages, on top of the buyback. It's a powerful incentive for manufacturers to do the right thing, and a reason a fair-sounding direct offer may still be leaving money on the table.