How many repair attempts do you need for the New York lemon law?

4 visits for the same unfixed problem raises the statutory presumption in New York, and there is no reduced count for safety defects — that rule is California’s. 30 cumulative days out of service is an independent path. The problem must first have appeared within 24 months or 18,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Is sales tax refunded in a New York lemon law buyback?

New York does not make the manufacturer refund your sales tax. § 198-a(c)(2) requires it to hand you the application form and a notice instead. You claim it from the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance on Form AU-11 under Tax Law § 1139(f) — prorated to the portion of the purchase price actually refunded, and within three years of the date you received that refund. Real money, different payer, different deadline.

What happens to my car loan in a New York 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 New York buyback?

Usually not out of the refund itself. § 198-a(l) says a court MAY award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff, or to a consumer who prevails in a proceeding arising out of an arbitration. Discretionary and court-only — weaker than the mandatory fee award several other states give — and not part of the buyback computation. That is why the figure above deliberately excludes legal fees.

Free calculator · New York

New York lemon law buyback calculator

Under New York’s New Car Lemon Law, a $45,000 vehicle at 6,000 miles works out to about $25,200 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, New York 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 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 New York handles separately, minus an allowance for the driving you already got out of the car. The first 12,000 miles are free. Under that, the allowance is nothing at all; over it, only the extra miles count against you.

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

Purchase price

Total miles on the odometer

New York measures total miles the car has been driven, not the reading at your first repair visit — and it charges you for nothing below 12,000 of them. The statute does not fix the date this is read, so enter your current or expected surrender mileage and treat the result accordingly.

What you paid

Sales tax paid

Title, license & registration

Down payment

Monthly payment

Payments made so far

Loan balance remaining

Towing, rental & out-of-pocket repairs

Repair history

Repair visits for the same problem

Total days out of service

Months from delivery to first repair

What New York law says you are owed

Vehicle purchase price	$45,000
Sales and use tax paid — not part of the New York refundNew York does not make the manufacturer refund your sales tax. § 198-a(c)(2) requires it to hand you the application form and a notice instead. You claim it from the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance on Form AU-11 under Tax Law § 1139(f) — prorated to the portion of the purchase price actually refunded, and within three years of the date you received that refund. Real money, different payer, different deadline.	$0
Title, license and registration fees	$200
Incidental costs (towing, rental, out-of-pocket repairs) — not part of the New York refund§ 198-a never mentions towing, rental cars or incidental damages in the refund formula, and the Attorney General reads the silence against inclusion. The "not be limited to" language leaves the boundary open on the face of the text, so these are arguable rather than owed — this tool does not put them in the number.	$0
Less: allowance for your use over the free mileage	$0
Manufacturer’s total obligation	$45,200
Less: paid directly to your lender	−$20,000
Cash that reaches you	$25,200

How the deduction was worked out: New York charges nothing for the first 12,000 miles, so at 6,000 miles the deduction is $0 — not a smaller figure, none at all. Calculators that prorate below the threshold invent a deduction the statute does not allow.

Does this meet New York’s repair-attempt presumption?

4 repair attempts at the same problem — 4 of 4 attempts.
30 cumulative 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 New York's New Car Lemon Law as written; they are an estimate of the statutory refund, not an offer and not legal advice.
New York measures total miles the car has been driven, not the reading at your first repair visit — and it charges you for nothing below 12,000 of them. The statute does not fix the date this is read, so enter your current or expected surrender mileage and treat the result accordingly.
Your remaining loan balance of $20,000 is paid directly to the lender out of the same money, so the cash reaching you is $25,200.
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.
The enumerated fee list is a floor, not a schedule: "include but not be limited to" means the named items are certain and anything beyond them is arguable.
§ 198-a(c)(1) also allows the manufacturer "a reasonable allowance for any damage not attributable to normal wear or improvements". That deduction is authorised and completely unquantified — the statute supplies no formula, cap or rate — so it is not in the figure above and cannot be.
The statute never names the date the odometer is read for the mileage deduction. It supplies the quantity ("miles of operation") but not the cutoff instant, so the figure moves with whichever reading is used.
Leases are priced by their own machinery and must not be run through this formula: a lessee recovers the capitalized cost — deposits and rental payments less service fees — and the mileage offset applies to the statutory "lease price", not to what the lessee paid.

Not included in the number above:

Civil penalties, which some states allow where a manufacturer refuses in bad faith
Attorney fees and court costs. § 198-a(l) says a court MAY award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff, or to a consumer who prevails in a proceeding arising out of an arbitration. Discretionary and court-only — weaker than the mandatory fee award several other states give — and not part of the buyback computation.
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 New York deducts (miles at your first repair ÷ 120,000) × the purchase price — the formula in Google’s synthesized answer on this query, worked through there as "(6,000 ÷ 120,000) × $50,000 = $2,500".

What the statute says: The correct answer to that example is $0. § 198-a(a)(4) uses a denominator of 100,000, not California’s 120,000, and charges only "the mileage which is IN EXCESS OF twelve thousand miles" — a car at 6,000 miles is below the threshold entirely. The Attorney General puts it flatly: "No deductions may be made for the first 12,000 miles of use." Page one invents a $2,500 deduction that New York law does not permit.

The short answer

New York refunds what you paid, less an allowance for your use of the vehicle. The first 12,000 miles draw no deduction at all; beyond that it is the purchase price × the excess miles ÷ 100,000. The presumption that the manufacturer has had enough tries kicks in at 4 repair visits for the same problem, or 30 cumulative days out of service.

The first 12,000 miles cost you nothing. Below that the deduction is not small, it is zero — and above it only the excess miles are charged, divided by 100,000.
You do not have to write to the manufacturer yourself in the ordinary case. Reporting the problem to the dealer is enough: § 198-a(b)(1) puts the certified-mail duty on the DEALER, within seven days, and the Attorney General confirms that notice to the dealer counts as notice to the manufacturer.
There is a second route to a buyback that has nothing to do with repair counts. If the dealer refuses to start repairs within seven days of your report, you may send the manufacturer certified mail; if it does not commence repairs within twenty days, the full refund-or-replace remedy is triggered at your option (§ 198-a(b)(2)).
New York has no reduced repair count for serious safety defects. The "two repairs or 21 days" figures that circulate as a safety rule are motor home numbers from § 198-a(n)(6), and even there they trigger a notice requirement rather than a remedy.
Your sales tax is refundable, but not by the manufacturer and not on this timetable — Form AU-11 to the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance, prorated, within three years of receiving the purchase-price refund.
There is no weight limit and no GVWR gate in § 198-a. Coverage turns on the vehicle being used primarily for personal, family or household purposes. A New York calculator that asks your gross vehicle weight is importing another state’s rule.
A miscalculated mileage deduction is an expressly recognised ground for modifying an arbitration award, which is a good reason to check the arithmetic against § 198-a(a)(4) yourself.

What the New York deduction actually comes to

Find the row nearest your price and the column nearest your mileage. These are computed from N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-a by the same code that runs the calculator above — not typed in by hand, which is how published tables drift from the statute they cite.

New York deduction for use — purchase price against total miles on the odometer
Purchase price	3,000 mi	6,000 mi	12,000 mi	20,000 mi	40,000 mi
$25,000	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$2,000	$7,000
$35,000	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$2,800	$9,800
$45,000	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$3,600	$12,600
$60,000	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$0 ◦	$4,800	$16,800

◦ inside New York’s free-mileage allowance, so the deduction is nothing at all rather than a reduced amount. Figures are the allowance for use only. What reaches you is this subtracted from the refund, then your loan settled — use the calculator above for that.

On a $45,000 vehicle in New York, anything up to 12,000 miles means no deduction at all — not a reduced one, none. At 20,000 miles it is $3,600, and at 40,000 miles $12,600.

The number worth putting in front of a New York owner is not a deduction, it is what the refund leaves behind. At the 4.00% state rate, this is the sales tax New York does not return through the manufacturer:

Sales tax excluded from a New York buyback
Purchase price	Tax paid at 4.00%	Returned by the manufacturer
$25,000	$1,000	Nothing
$35,000	$1,400	Nothing
$45,000	$1,800	Nothing
$60,000	$2,400	Nothing

The state rate is the floor; a dealer’s local rate adds to it, so real figures run higher. See the New York tax, title and license calculator for what you actually paid. Two of the three page-one New York sources say this tax is recoverable and attribute that to the statute; the statute says the opposite.

How New York 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 New York leaves something out, the row below says who you get it from instead rather than just saying no.

What goes into a New York buyback
Component	Included?	Why
Vehicle purchase price	Yes	The base of every buyback calculation.
Sales and use tax	No	New York does not make the manufacturer refund your sales tax. § 198-a(c)(2) requires it to hand you the application form and a notice instead. You claim it from the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance on Form AU-11 under Tax Law § 1139(f) — prorated to the portion of the purchase price actually refunded, and within three years of the date you received that refund. Real money, different payer, different deadline.
Title, license and registration	Yes	§ 198-a(c)(1) refunds the full purchase price plus fees and charges, and says those "shall include but not be limited to all license fees, registration fees and any similar governmental charges".
Towing, rental, out-of-pocket repairs	No	§ 198-a never mentions towing, rental cars or incidental damages in the refund formula, and the Attorney General reads the silence against inclusion. The "not be limited to" language leaves the boundary open on the face of the text, so these are arguable rather than owed — this tool does not put them in the number.
Finance charges paid to date	No	The Attorney General is explicit: "Other expenses or charges, such as loss of use, insurance premiums and finance charges, are not included under the law." That is the enforcing agency’s reading of a statute that is silent, and it is the reading the AG-run arbitration programme applies.
Allowance for your use	Deducted	The first 12,000 miles draw no deduction at all; beyond that it is the purchase price × the excess miles ÷ 100,000.
Attorney fees	Separate	§ 198-a(l) says a court MAY award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff, or to a consumer who prevails in a proceeding arising out of an arbitration. Discretionary and court-only — weaker than the mandatory fee award several other states give — and not part of the buyback computation.

When New York 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. New York 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 days out of service, counted across the whole ownership, not per visit.
The problem must first have appeared within 24 months or 18,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Who chooses refund or replacement: The choice is yours: § 198-a(c)(1) requires replacement or refund "at the option of the consumer".

Covered: New cars covered by a manufacturer’s express warranty at delivery, and either bought, leased or transferred in New York within the first 18,000 miles or two years, OR simply registered in New York; Demonstrators; Motorcycles, covered since September 1, 2004; Leased vehicles, where the lease makes the lessee responsible for repairs; Motor homes, on their own repair counts and without their living facilities; Business-titled vehicles used primarily for personal, family or household purposes; Subsequent transferees — the rights follow the vehicle.

Not covered: Off-road vehicles, including snowmobiles; The living facilities of a motor home; Vehicles bought for resale; Used vehicles, which fall under the separate Used Car Lemon Law at GBL § 198-b — three repairs, 15 days out of service, the DEALER as obligor, and no mileage deduction at all; Defects the manufacturer can show came from abuse, neglect or unauthorised modification.

How long you have

Four years, running from the date the vehicle was originally delivered to you (§ 198-a(j)) — not from when you discovered the defect, not from the last repair attempt, and not from the denial of a claim. The separate eligibility window is narrower: the problem must have arisen within the first 18,000 miles of operation or two years of delivery, whichever came earlier.

What you have to do before suing

Only conditionally. § 198-a(g) withholds the refund-or-replace remedy from a consumer who has not first used the MANUFACTURER’s informal dispute settlement mechanism — but only where the manufacturer has actually established one. The Attorney General’s own arbitration programme is different and is not a prerequisite: § 198-a(k) makes it the consumer’s option, while "all manufacturers shall submit" to it once you file and pay the $250 fee, and the arbitrator’s decision binds both sides subject to a limited CPLR article 75 appeal.

Frequently asked questions

How is the lemon law buyback amount calculated in New York?: New York refunds what you paid for the vehicle — though not sales tax, which this state handles separately — less an allowance for your use of it. The first 12,000 miles draw no deduction at all; beyond that it is the purchase price × the excess miles ÷ 100,000. On a $45,000 vehicle in the example above, that leaves about $25,200 in cash once the remaining loan is paid off.
Is the New York lemon law mileage deduction really what other calculators show?: The correct answer to that example is $0. § 198-a(a)(4) uses a denominator of 100,000, not California’s 120,000, and charges only "the mileage which is IN EXCESS OF twelve thousand miles" — a car at 6,000 miles is below the threshold entirely. The Attorney General puts it flatly: "No deductions may be made for the first 12,000 miles of use." Page one invents a $2,500 deduction that New York law does not permit. N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-a is the controlling text.
How many repair attempts do you need for the New York lemon law?: 4 visits for the same unfixed problem raises the statutory presumption in New York, and there is no reduced count for safety defects — that rule is California’s. 30 cumulative days out of service is an independent path. The problem must first have appeared within 24 months or 18,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Which odometer reading does the New York mileage deduction use?: New York measures total miles the car has been driven, not the reading at your first repair visit — and it charges you for nothing below 12,000 of them. The statute does not fix the date this is read, so enter your current or expected surrender mileage and treat the result accordingly.
Is sales tax refunded in a New York lemon law buyback?: New York does not make the manufacturer refund your sales tax. § 198-a(c)(2) requires it to hand you the application form and a notice instead. You claim it from the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance on Form AU-11 under Tax Law § 1139(f) — prorated to the portion of the purchase price actually refunded, and within three years of the date you received that refund. Real money, different payer, different deadline.
What happens to my car loan in a New York 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 New York buyback?: Usually not out of the refund itself. § 198-a(l) says a court MAY award reasonable attorney’s fees to a prevailing plaintiff, or to a consumer who prevails in a proceeding arising out of an arbitration. Discretionary and court-only — weaker than the mandatory fee award several other states give — and not part of the buyback computation. That is why the figure above deliberately excludes legal fees.

Sources

General Business Law § 198-a — Warranties (New Car Lemon Law) — N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 198-a, New York State Senate, NYS Open Legislation. Read 2026-08-10.
New York’s New Car Lemon Law — A Guide for Consumers — N.Y. Off. Att’y Gen., New Car Lemon Law Guide, Q&A 18–23, Office of the New York State Attorney General. Read 2026-08-10.
TSB-M-86(9)S — New Car Lemon Law Sales Tax Refund — TSB-M-86(9)S, construing N.Y. Tax Law § 1139(f), New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. 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.
Illinois lemon law buyback calculator — illinois sets no deduction formula: the statute describes the allowance in words and supplies no number, no denominator and no cap.