Free calculator · Illinois
Illinois lemon law buyback calculator
Under Illinois’s New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act, a $45,000 vehicle at 8,000 miles works out to about $25,000 in cash after the lender is paid. Put your own numbers in below — every line is itemized and cited to the statute, and the deduction shows its working.
In plain English
If a serious fault keeps coming back, Illinois law can force the manufacturer to buy the car back from you. The usual trigger is 4 tries at the same problem, or the car being off the road for 30 business days — counted across the whole time you have owned it, not per visit.
What you get is not what the car is worth today. It is what you PAID — though not the sales tax, which Illinois handles separately, minus an allowance for the driving you already got out of the car. Illinois never says how to work that allowance out, so unlike most states there is no formula to apply — it gets negotiated. Anyone showing you an Illinois deduction figure is quoting a rule their legislature did not write.
Anything still owing on your loan is paid off out of that money first, and the rest reaches you. If you owe more than the refund comes to, the loan clears and no cash arrives — which is worth knowing before you start.
That is the whole shape of it. Everything below is the arithmetic, the statute it comes from, and the parts nobody can promise you.
Your vehicle
Illinois measures "wear and tear", not miles, and supplies no arithmetic to turn one into the other — so this reading does not drive a deduction here the way it would in California or Pennsylvania. What § 380/3(c) does fix is the period: use before you first reported the problem, plus any later period the car was not sitting at the dealer for repair.
Illinois states no deduction formula, so nothing is deducted unless you enter a figure above — and whatever you enter is yours, not the statute’s. We will not print a number here and call it Illinois law.
What you paid
Repair history
What Illinois law says you are owed
| Vehicle purchase price | $45,000 |
| Sales and use tax paid — not part of the Illinois refundIllinois excludes it by name, in the same sentence that creates the refund: "'collateral charges' does not include taxes paid by the purchaser on the initial purchase of the new vehicle" (§ 380/3(a)). Two of the three page-1 Illinois sources say the opposite and attribute it to the statute. The tax goes back through the RETAILER rather than through you: the dealer who sold the vehicle may file a claim for credit under the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act. Note the asymmetry — § 380/2(g) defines a LEASE cost as including taxes, so on the text a lessee’s refund includes tax where a purchaser’s does not, and whether the § 380/3(a) carve-out overrides that for leases is unsettled. | $0 |
| Title, license and registration fees — not part of the Illinois refundNot established either way. Illinois refunds "all collateral charges" but never defines the phrase — it appears once, is defined only by what it excludes, and is absent from the Act’s definitions section. Title, registration and doc fees cannot be confirmed in or out from the text, so this estimate leaves them out rather than claiming them. They are worth raising, not worth assuming. | $0 |
| Incidental costs (towing, rental, out-of-pocket repairs) — not part of the Illinois refundNo textual basis. The Act returns zero hits for "incidental", "rental" or "damages" across all eight sections. | $0 |
| Less: allowance for your use (no statutory formula) | $0 |
| Manufacturer’s total obligation | $45,000 |
| Less: paid directly to your lender | −$20,000 |
| Cash that reaches you | $25,000 |
How the deduction was worked out: Illinois creates an allowance for your use but supplies no arithmetic for it — no denominator, no cents-per-mile rate and no cap appear anywhere in the Act, which describes the allowance only as the wear and tear from use before you first reported the problem. So this estimate deducts nothing. Whatever an Illinois manufacturer, arbitrator or court applies is negotiated or decided case by case — the ÷120,000 formula other calculators show for Illinois is California's, and is not in Illinois law.
Does this meet Illinois’s repair-attempt presumption?
- 4 repair attempts at the same problem — 4 of 4 attempts.
- 30 cumulative business days out of service — 20 of 30 days.
Meeting a statutory path is not the same as having a case. The defect must also substantially impair the vehicle’s use, value or safety — a judgment no calculator can make for you. This tool is information, not legal advice.
What this figure assumes, and what it leaves out
- Figures follow Illinois's New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act as written; they are an estimate of the statutory refund, not an offer and not legal advice.
- Illinois measures "wear and tear", not miles, and supplies no arithmetic to turn one into the other — so this reading does not drive a deduction here the way it would in California or Pennsylvania. What § 380/3(c) does fix is the period: use before you first reported the problem, plus any later period the car was not sitting at the dealer for repair.
- In Illinois the manufacturer picks, not you: § 380/3(a) says "the manufacturer shall either provide the consumer with a new vehicle … or accept the return of the vehicle … and refund". The phrase "at the option of the consumer" appears nowhere in the Act, so read the figure above as what a refund would come to if the manufacturer elects one — a replacement is an equally lawful outcome.
- Your remaining loan balance of $20,000 is paid directly to the lender out of the same money, so the cash reaching you is $25,000.
- You have paid roughly $24,200 out of pocket so far (down payment plus payments made). That figure is shown for context — the statutory refund is built from the price and the charges above, not from payments to date.
- Illinois is a genuinely narrow lemon law and this figure reflects that rather than a gap in our research: the refund base is the price or lease cost you actually paid, sales tax is carved out by name, and everything else rides on the undefined phrase "all collateral charges".
- The manufacturer chooses between a replacement vehicle and a refund. Treat the number above as what a refund would look like if it elects one, not as cash you are entitled to demand.
- A refund is paid "to the consumer, and lien holder if any exists, as their respective interests appear" (§ 380/3(f)) — a distribution rule, not a formula for the amount. Nothing in the Act supports deriving the refund from sticker price minus loan payoff.
- Settling under this Act bars a separate cause of action under the Uniform Commercial Code (§ 380/5). That is a one-way door and worth advice before you walk through it.
Not included in the number above:
- Civil penalties, which some states allow where a manufacturer refuses in bad faith
- Attorney fees and court costs. Illinois is the exception to the usual reassurance: the New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act provides NO attorney fees, no civil penalty and no multiple damages — zero textual hits for "attorney", "penalty" or "damages" across all eight sections. Illinois lemon cases do get taken on fee-shifting terms, but that comes from some other statute, not from 815 ILCS 380, and this tool does not price it.
- Any amount a manufacturer, arbitrator or court may actually agree to, which depends on facts and advocacy this tool cannot see
- The value of choosing a replacement vehicle instead of a refund
Figures verified against primary law on 2026-08-10. This is information, not legal advice, and it is not an offer from any manufacturer.
A correction worth knowing
What you will read elsewhere: That Illinois deducts (miles driven to your first service visit × the purchase price) ÷ 120,000 — or ÷ 100,000, "depending on the court’s approach", as one page-1 result hedges it. The generic national calculators simply apply ÷120,000 to Illinois without saying so.
What the statute says: Illinois has no offset formula at all. A whole-text search over all eight sections of 815 ILCS 380 returns no denominator, no cents-per-mile rate, no percentage and no cap — § 380/3(c) defines the allowance qualitatively as the "wear and tear" from use before you first reported the problem, and stops there. The ÷120,000 figure is California’s statutory denominator. Applying it to Illinois is not an approximation, it is inventing a statute — and the hedge between two denominators is the tell that neither is in the law.
What the Illinois deduction actually comes to
Every competing page has a grid of Illinois deduction figures here. This one does not, because 815 ILCS 380/1–380/8 contains no formula to compute one from — and that absence is the single most useful thing to know about Illinois.
Illinois publishes no deduction formula, so there is no table to compute. On a $45,000 vehicle the statutory refund starts at the full $45,000 you paid, and whatever allowance a manufacturer or arbitrator applies for your use is negotiated case by case rather than calculated.
The number worth putting in front of an Illinois owner is not a deduction, it is what the refund leaves behind. At the 6.25% state rate, this is the sales tax Illinois does not return through the manufacturer:
| Purchase price | Tax paid at 6.25% | Returned by the manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $1,563 | Nothing |
| $35,000 | $2,188 | Nothing |
| $45,000 | $2,813 | Nothing |
| $60,000 | $3,750 | Nothing |
The state rate is the floor; a dealer’s local rate adds to it, so real figures run higher. See the Illinois tax, title and license calculator for what you actually paid. Two of the three page-one Illinois sources say this tax is recoverable and attribute that to the statute; the statute says the opposite.
How Illinois builds the refund
A buyback is not a used-car offer. It is a statutory refund, assembled from specific components the law names, less one deduction. Most calculators skip the components and model only the deduction — which is why their numbers come in low. Where Illinois leaves something out, the row below says who you get it from instead rather than just saying no.
| Component | Included? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle purchase price | Yes | The base of every buyback calculation. |
| Sales and use tax | No | Illinois excludes it by name, in the same sentence that creates the refund: "'collateral charges' does not include taxes paid by the purchaser on the initial purchase of the new vehicle" (§ 380/3(a)). Two of the three page-1 Illinois sources say the opposite and attribute it to the statute. The tax goes back through the RETAILER rather than through you: the dealer who sold the vehicle may file a claim for credit under the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act. Note the asymmetry — § 380/2(g) defines a LEASE cost as including taxes, so on the text a lessee’s refund includes tax where a purchaser’s does not, and whether the § 380/3(a) carve-out overrides that for leases is unsettled. |
| Title, license and registration | No | Not established either way. Illinois refunds "all collateral charges" but never defines the phrase — it appears once, is defined only by what it excludes, and is absent from the Act’s definitions section. Title, registration and doc fees cannot be confirmed in or out from the text, so this estimate leaves them out rather than claiming them. They are worth raising, not worth assuming. |
| Towing, rental, out-of-pocket repairs | No | No textual basis. The Act returns zero hits for "incidental", "rental" or "damages" across all eight sections. |
| Finance charges paid to date | No | No textual basis. The Act returns zero hits for "finance" or "interest", and whether they fall inside the undefined "collateral charges" cannot be settled from the text. |
| Allowance for your use | No formula | Illinois sets no deduction formula: the statute describes the allowance in words and supplies no number, no denominator and no cap. |
| Attorney fees | Not in the Act | Illinois is the exception to the usual reassurance: the New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act provides NO attorney fees, no civil penalty and no multiple damages — zero textual hits for "attorney", "penalty" or "damages" across all eight sections. Illinois lemon cases do get taken on fee-shifting terms, but that comes from some other statute, not from 815 ILCS 380, and this tool does not price it. |
When Illinois presumes the manufacturer has had enough tries
Every state sets a point past which the law stops giving the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt. Reaching it does not decide your case — the defect must still substantially impair the vehicle’s use, value or safety — but it shifts the argument.
- 4 repair visits for the same unfixed problem.
- No reduced count for safety defects. Illinois sets the same bar whatever the problem is — safety bears on whether the defect is serious enough to count at all, not on how many attempts are required.
- 30 cumulative business days out of service, counted across the whole ownership, not per visit — and business days, not calendar days, which is roughly six extra weeks of shop time.
- The problem must first have appeared within 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.
- You must have notified the manufacturer directly at least once, not only the dealer. Keep proof.
Who chooses refund or replacement: In Illinois the manufacturer picks, not you: § 380/3(a) says "the manufacturer shall either provide the consumer with a new vehicle … or accept the return of the vehicle … and refund". The phrase "at the option of the consumer" appears nowhere in the Act, so read the figure above as what a refund would come to if the manufacturer elects one — a replacement is an equally lawful outcome.
Covered: New passenger cars — First Division vehicles designed to carry no more than 10 people, which carry no weight test at all; New Second Division vehicles such as pickups and cargo vans, under 8,000 pounds; Leases of at least one year; Motor homes and other recreational vehicles used primarily for recreation and not owned or used commercially; Vehicles purchased by a fire department, fire protection district or township fire department.
Not covered: Used vehicles — they fall under 815 ILCS 505/2L instead: 15 calendar days or 500 miles, powertrain components only, with you paying up to $100 of each of the first two repairs; Second Division vehicles of 8,000 pounds or more; Camping trailers and travel trailers; Commercially owned or commercially used recreational vehicles; Vehicles not used primarily for personal, household or family purposes, and leases shorter than a year; Motorcycles and boats, per the Attorney General’s published position — the Act’s own text is silent on motorcycles; Vehicles whose defects the manufacturer can attribute to abuse, neglect or unauthorised modification.
How long you have
Eighteen months from original delivery (§ 380/6) — not from discovery of the defect, not from the last repair attempt. Since the coverage window itself closes at 12 months or 12,000 miles, a defect that surfaces at month 11 leaves roughly seven months to act. The period is extended by the number of days the dispute was pending in the informal settlement procedure (§ 380/4(b)). Separately, the Attorney General’s consumer sheet warns of a 12-month deadline "from the purchase date"; that figure appears nowhere in the Act and most plausibly describes the manufacturer’s own programme deadline rather than the limitations period — so treat 12 months as the earlier practical deadline and 18 months as the statutory one.
What you have to do before suing
Conditionally required. § 380/4(a) withholds the § 380/3(a) remedy unless you first use the manufacturer’s informal settlement procedure — but only where all three conditions hold: the manufacturer established one, it substantially conforms to 16 C.F.R. Part 703, and you received adequate written notice of it (incorporation into the warranty booklet counts). If you are dissatisfied with the outcome you may still sue (§ 380/4(b)) — though note the decision is then admissible against you as well as for you.
Frequently asked questions
- How is the lemon law buyback amount calculated in Illinois?
- Illinois refunds what you paid for the vehicle — though not sales tax, which this state handles separately — less an allowance for your use of it. Illinois sets no deduction formula: the statute describes the allowance in words and supplies no number, no denominator and no cap. On a $45,000 vehicle in the example above, that leaves about $25,000 in cash once the remaining loan is paid off.
- Is the Illinois lemon law mileage deduction really what other calculators show?
- Illinois has no offset formula at all. A whole-text search over all eight sections of 815 ILCS 380 returns no denominator, no cents-per-mile rate, no percentage and no cap — § 380/3(c) defines the allowance qualitatively as the "wear and tear" from use before you first reported the problem, and stops there. The ÷120,000 figure is California’s statutory denominator. Applying it to Illinois is not an approximation, it is inventing a statute — and the hedge between two denominators is the tell that neither is in the law. 815 ILCS 380/1–380/8 is the controlling text.
- How many repair attempts do you need for the Illinois lemon law?
- 4 visits for the same unfixed problem raises the statutory presumption in Illinois, and there is no reduced count for safety defects — that rule is California’s. 30 cumulative business days out of service is an independent path. The problem must first have appeared within 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first.
- Which odometer reading does the Illinois mileage deduction use?
- Illinois measures "wear and tear", not miles, and supplies no arithmetic to turn one into the other — so this reading does not drive a deduction here the way it would in California or Pennsylvania. What § 380/3(c) does fix is the period: use before you first reported the problem, plus any later period the car was not sitting at the dealer for repair.
- Is sales tax refunded in a Illinois lemon law buyback?
- Illinois excludes it by name, in the same sentence that creates the refund: "'collateral charges' does not include taxes paid by the purchaser on the initial purchase of the new vehicle" (§ 380/3(a)). Two of the three page-1 Illinois sources say the opposite and attribute it to the statute. The tax goes back through the RETAILER rather than through you: the dealer who sold the vehicle may file a claim for credit under the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act. Note the asymmetry — § 380/2(g) defines a LEASE cost as including taxes, so on the text a lessee’s refund includes tax where a purchaser’s does not, and whether the § 380/3(a) carve-out overrides that for leases is unsettled.
- What happens to my car loan in a Illinois buyback?
- The manufacturer pays your lender the outstanding balance directly out of the same money, and you receive the remainder. If your loan balance is larger than the refund, the loan is settled and no cash reaches you — which is a real outcome on an upside-down loan and worth checking before you start.
- Do I pay a lawyer out of my Illinois buyback?
- Be careful here, because the usual answer does not hold in Illinois. Illinois is the exception to the usual reassurance: the New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act provides NO attorney fees, no civil penalty and no multiple damages — zero textual hits for "attorney", "penalty" or "damages" across all eight sections. Illinois lemon cases do get taken on fee-shifting terms, but that comes from some other statute, not from 815 ILCS 380, and this tool does not price it.
- Can I insist on a refund instead of a replacement in Illinois?
- In Illinois the manufacturer picks, not you: § 380/3(a) says "the manufacturer shall either provide the consumer with a new vehicle … or accept the return of the vehicle … and refund". The phrase "at the option of the consumer" appears nowhere in the Act, so read the figure above as what a refund would come to if the manufacturer elects one — a replacement is an equally lawful outcome.
Sources
- New Vehicle Buyer Protection Act — 815 ILCS 380/1–380/8, Illinois General Assembly. Read 2026-08-10.
- Used motor vehicles; limited implied warranty of merchantability — 815 ILCS 505/2L, Illinois General Assembly. Read 2026-08-10.
- Things You Should Know About… Lemon Law — Ill. Off. Att’y Gen., Lemon Law consumer sheet (rev. 12/23), Office of the Illinois Attorney General. Read 2026-08-10.
Other states we model
Each state runs a different formula, so these are separate calculators rather than one tool with a dropdown:
- California lemon law buyback calculator — the deduction is the purchase price × miles ÷ 120,000, with no ceiling.
- Pennsylvania lemon law buyback calculator — the deduction is capped at 10¢ a mile or 10% of the purchase price, whichever is less.
- Florida lemon law buyback calculator — the deduction is the base price before tax and fees × miles ÷ 120,000, with no ceiling.
- New York lemon law buyback calculator — the first 12,000 miles draw no deduction at all; beyond that it is the purchase price × the excess miles ÷ 100,000.