Florida Lemon Law Buyback Calculator

Florida's lemon law is the Motor Vehicle Warranty Enforcement Act (Florida Statutes chapter 681). A buyback (repurchase) under it refunds the vehicle's purchase price, adds back reasonably incurred collateral charges such as earned finance charges, sales taxes and title charges, plus incidental charges, meaning reasonable costs directly caused by the defect, and subtracts an offset for your use of the vehicle. Florida Statutes section 681.102(19) sets that offset as a formula: the miles attributable to you up to the date of a settlement agreement or arbitration hearing, whichever comes first, multiplied by the base selling or sale price shown on the purchase invoice, not counting taxes, government fees and dealer fees (on a lease, the agreed-upon value in the lease agreement), and divided by 120,000 (60,000 for a recreational vehicle). Because the count runs to the settlement or hearing date and not to the first repair visit, the offset keeps growing while a claim is pending. Illustration only: 6,000 counted miles on a $35,000 price is an offset of $1,750. Our calculator estimates the offset from the mileage you enter for when the defect first appeared, so treat its figure as an estimate: the statute's own count of miles controls, and a licensed attorney can confirm how it applies to your purchase or lease.

Florida recognizes a "lemon presumption" that shifts the burden to the manufacturer once your repair history crosses set thresholds. If the dealer cannot fix the same substantial, warranty-covered defect after 3 repair attempts, or if the vehicle is out of service for a cumulative 30 days, the vehicle is presumed to be a lemon. This presumption generally applies within the first 24 months of ownership.

Florida's state lemon law generally covers new vehicles purchased with a manufacturer's warranty. If your vehicle is used or falls outside the state statute, you may still have a claim under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which applies to written warranties nationwide. Florida's law also reaches recreational vehicles (RVs), which many states exclude.

Florida Statutes section 681.112(2) requires a lawsuit under the lemon law to be started within 1 year after the Lemon Law rights period expires, or within 1 year after the final action of an informal dispute-settlement procedure or of the state's Department of Legal Affairs or arbitration board if you used one. Section 681.102(9) ends the rights period 24 months after the vehicle's original delivery to a consumer, so without one of those procedures the lawsuit deadline falls 3 years after original delivery. The earlier deadline is the one for arbitration: section 681.109 requires a claim to be filed with a manufacturer's certified procedure, where there is one, no later than 60 days after the rights period expires, and a request for arbitration before the state board no later than 60 days after the rights period expires or 30 days after the certified procedure's final action, whichever is later. Section 681.1095(4) requires the dispute to be submitted to the department before a lawsuit on a refund or replacement claim under section 681.104; recreational vehicle disputes go to a separate mediation and arbitration program with the same 60-day cutoff (section 681.1097). A licensed attorney can confirm which deadline applies to your vehicle. When a vehicle qualifies, Florida requires the manufacturer to repurchase or replace it rather than keep attempting repairs. Florida's lemon law provides for an award of attorney fees to a consumer who wins (Florida Statutes 681.112(1)).