01 · Configured vehicles
High option value makes source documents important
A Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes-Benz G-Class or S-Class, or full-size Range Rover may have extensive factory configuration, dealer-added equipment, and separate protection or finance products. These are nonlegal examples of vehicles whose transaction files may require line-by-line organization. They do not receive different lemon-law eligibility or restitution standards because of their brand, model, or price.
Begin with the Monroney or window sticker and build sheet to identify manufacturer-installed equipment. Then compare the signed purchase or lease agreement, dealer addendum, due bill, aftermarket invoices, service and protection contracts, and finance documents. Do not classify an item from its marketing name alone.
02 · Traditional factory options
Manufacturer-installed options enter actual price
Under Civil Code section 1793.2(d)(2)(B), manufacturer-installed options are included in actual price paid or payable in the traditional restitution framework. Transportation charges are included as well. Preserve the delivered sticker and build record because a current online configurator cannot prove what was installed on the particular vehicle.
The classification concerns who installed or supplied the option under the statutory framework, not whether the owner considers it essential. A premium paint, wheel, seating, driver-assistance, audio, or chassis option should be tied to authentic transaction evidence. This guide does not determine the classification of any specific package.
03 · Traditional exclusion
Nonmanufacturer dealer or buyer items are different
The same traditional statutory language excludes nonmanufacturer items installed by a dealer or buyer from the actual-price component. That means those amounts should not simply be added to manufacturer-installed options because they were financed in the same retail contract.
This is a category-specific statement, not a declaration about every possible procedure or remedy. The opt-in statute changes treatment for certain products and dealer additions. Preserve installer identity, supplier, invoice, date, price, and contract rather than assuming every dealer-installed item is lost or every financed item is included.
04 · Service contracts
Valdovinos must be stated narrowly
Valdovinos held that the third-party optional service contract at issue there was not recoverable as actual price, collateral charges, or incidental damages under its facts and the traditional statutory analysis. That approved holding explains why a service contract should be separated from the vehicle’s manufacturer warranty and factory-option price.
Do not generalize the case into “no service contract is ever recoverable under any California lemon-law procedure.” Code of Civil Procedure section 871.27 changes treatment for specified products in applicable opt-in actions. Keep the complete service contract, provider identity, selling entity, price, cancellation information, and financing record.
Contextual review
The legal category organizes the question. The authentic warranty, transaction, and repair record answers it.
05 · Opt-in third parties
Section 871.27 lists specified product offsets
Only in an action subject to section 871.20, section 871.27 gives the defendant an offset for specified optional equipment or products purchased from third parties, subject to the statute. Enumerated categories include optional equipment or accessories, theft-deterrent devices, surface-protection products, service contracts, extended warranties, debt-cancellation agreements, and GAP financing.
The approved third-party category applies where the product was supplied by a third party that is not the selling or leasing dealership or an authorized OEM retail facility. Supplier identity therefore matters. Do not infer it from a logo or the fact that a charge appears in dealership paperwork.
06 · Opt-in dealer additions
Qualifying dealer-supplied additions receive different treatment
Section 871.27 specifically provides different treatment where listed products or services constitute dealer additions supplied by the selling or leasing dealership or an authorized retail facility for the manufacturer. Those qualifying dealer additions are recoverable under section 871.27 and do not qualify for that statutory offset.
Do not collapse “dealer sold,” “dealer installed,” and “third-party supplied” into one label. The contract chain and supplier can matter. Preserve the dealer addendum, due bill, itemized invoice, installation record, product agreement, and any separate provider name so the statutory categories can be applied accurately.
07 · Negative equity
Discuss prior-vehicle debt only in the opt-in context
For an action subject to section 871.20, section 871.27 provides a defendant offset for negative equity incorporated into the transaction from prior vehicles. This guide does not publish a separate traditional-track negative-equity rule because no such proposition was approved for Phase 7.
Preserve the trade-in agreement, prior payoff, credit, amount rolled into financing, and retail installment contract. Do not treat the cash price, amount financed, and negative equity as synonyms. The section also contains a specific rule for noncash manufacturer down-payment-assistance rebates; this page does not expand beyond that approved statement.
08 · Financing boundary
Unpaid future financing cost is addressed in section 871.27
In the opt-in track, section 871.27 provides that the defendant is not responsible for unpaid interest or financing costs that will not be owed or paid by the consumer when the lien is paid off. Current payoff and payment history are therefore different documents from the original total-of-payments disclosure.
Traditional authority recognizes qualifying finance charges in the statutory calculation, but this page does not promise every financing amount. The buyback-calculation guide addresses the broader categories. Obtain a current lender statement and preserve all payments rather than estimating future interest or assuming the contract’s full scheduled finance charge will be paid.
09 · Classification file
Preserve the documents that identify who supplied what
Keep the Monroney sticker, build sheet, purchase or lease contract, dealer addendum, due bill, itemized aftermarket invoices, service contracts, extended-warranty documents, protection-product contracts, GAP or debt-cancellation agreement, and finance disclosures. Add photographs only to identify the item; they do not prove supplier or statutory classification.
Do not assume every upgrade is reimbursable or every aftermarket item is excluded from every calculation. Traditional actual price and opt-in section 871.27 use distinct rules. The correct classification can depend on manufacturer installation, dealer-addition status, third-party supplier identity, and the applicable procedure.
10 · Build the record
Turn the options-and-add-ons file into a dated chronology
A useful chronology begins with the delivery documents and follows every service event in order. For each event, retain the appointment request, drop-off and release dates, mileage in and out, the complaint as actually reported, the facility’s findings, work performed, and the first known recurrence. Keep the final repair order rather than only an estimate or text-message summary. Where dates or wording conflict, preserve both records and identify the discrepancy instead of silently correcting it.
Keep manufacturer case numbers, emails, text threads, towing records, loaner or rental documents, photographs, videos, and parts-delay communications with the corresponding visit. Original files and complete threads are more useful than edited montages or recollections created later. A chronology should distinguish what the consumer observed from what a technician diagnosed. It should also include visits that ended without a repair, while leaving the legal significance of each event for an individualized review.
11 · Accuracy first
Document facts without improving the story
Before signing a repair order, read the complaint line and ask that factual omissions or errors be corrected. State the exact warning, behavior, frequency, operating circumstances, and practical effect. Do not supply a technical diagnosis unless a qualified source made it, and do not adopt stronger wording merely because it sounds legally important. An accurate description that can be compared across visits is more useful than an exaggerated label that the underlying evidence does not support.
At pickup, compare the complaint, cause, correction, dates, and mileage. Preserve any original evidence given to the service adviser and the message showing when it was sent. Do not alter an issued invoice; retain a separate note of questions. If the condition returns, record the date, mileage, circumstances, and whether the reported behavior is genuinely the same. This discipline helps counsel evaluate the complete history without treating a consumer allegation, dealer notation, or repair choice as conclusive by itself.
12 · Individual review
Keep eligibility, procedure, and remedy separate
The core refund-or-replace framework concerns a qualifying new motor vehicle that the manufacturer or its representative could not conform to the applicable express warranties after a reasonable number of attempts, where the nonconformity substantially impairs use, value, or safety to the buyer or lessee. The buyer may elect restitution instead of replacement. No single repair notation, number, expense, or delay should be presented as an automatic buyback.
Procedure can also depend on whether the manufacturer elected into Code of Civil Procedure sections 871.20–871.30 for the relevant vehicle-sale year. That election is not universal or permanent. Current election information should be checked through the California Department of Consumer Affairs for the particular manufacturer and year. State-certified manufacturer arbitration is a separate overlay and should not be conflated with the opt-in procedure. These guides provide general information, not a deadline or outcome for one file.
13 · Review sequence
Ask the questions in a disciplined order
First identify the vehicle, acquisition, delivery date, sale year, written warranty, and the manufacturer-authorized facilities involved. Next identify the precise nonconformity or transaction item addressed by the guide. Then place each presentation, response, unavailable period, notice, and recurrence in chronological order. Only after those facts are organized should the reviewer select the traditional Song-Beverly framework or determine whether a manufacturer election makes Code of Civil Procedure sections 871.20–871.30 applicable to the action.
That order prevents a conclusion from driving the evidence. A consumer should not choose a mileage because it produces a preferred offset, merge complaints because it produces a preferred visit count, or assign days to a legal category before identifying which rule is being considered. The same discipline applies to favorable and unfavorable documents. Include repairs that appeared successful, periods of ordinary operation, manufacturer responses, and records that do not use the consumer’s preferred language. Completeness allows the approved rules to be applied rather than presumed.
14 · Source boundaries
Know what each document can and cannot establish
A purchase or lease agreement establishes transaction terms; a warranty booklet supplies written coverage language; a repair order records a presentation and facility response; original media may capture an event; and manufacturer correspondence records what was communicated. None necessarily proves every other point. A repair order naming a replaced part does not by itself establish substantial impairment. A photograph of a warning does not establish its cause. A payment schedule does not establish which amount is recoverable. Keep each source in its proper evidentiary lane.
Public statutes and approved cases supply the legal framework, while the California Department of Consumer Affairs supplies current manufacturer-election information. Neither replaces VIN-specific documents or an attorney’s application of law to facts. Do not rely on anecdotes, model reputation, a dealership’s legal opinion, or an online calculator as the final answer. These pages intentionally stop where the approved propositions stop: they organize the issue, identify the controlling distinctions, and show which authentic records are needed for a prompt individualized review.