§ 871.27.Offsets and Calculations For Damages and Penalties In Restitution Cases

This section, like § 871.26, only applies to actions covered by § 871.20, and it works out the arithmetic of a restitution or replacement award. The manufacturer gets an offset for the actual price the consumer paid for optional equipment, service contracts, or GAP financing bought from third parties during the purchase or lease -- but not for dealer-supplied optional items, which remain recoverable as damages without triggering that offset. The manufacturer also gets an offset for negative equity carried over from a prior vehicle, though a manufacturer's rebate used as down-payment assistance doesn't count toward the price paid and can't be used to shrink that negative-equity offset.

Leases get their own rules for calculating damages and civil penalties: payments to extend a lease term and payments toward the residual value both count as damages, with the defendant paying any remaining residual value directly to a lienholder if the consumer financed it, but amounts tied to lease extensions or residual value only count toward civil penalties if paid or activated within 30 days of pre-suit notice or filing, whichever comes first. And whatever the calculation, the manufacturer isn't on the hook for unpaid interest or financing costs on the retail installment contract that the consumer would never have owed once the lien is paid off.

Subdivision (g) governs how the money moves once restitution or replacement is agreed: it has to happen within 30 days of receiving a signed release under § 871.25, with a mandatory $50-per-day penalty for the manufacturer's delay -- unless the consumer's own lack of good-faith cooperation caused the delay. At the time the vehicle is returned, the consumer gets the restitution funds, and the payoff to the lienholder and any attorney's fees or civil penalties get expedited within one business day.