Extended Warranty Refund Calculator
A vehicle service contract refund is pro rata, and the obligor usually gets to measure the unused share by time or by mileage, whichever pays you less. This tool works both, flags the one you should expect, takes off the cancellation fee where your state caps it, and tells you first whether you are still inside a full-refund window. No federal rule sets any of this. The state row is the whole rule.
29 state statutes verified · no federal floor Refund Calculator
Your contract
Your contract may name a governing state. If it does, use that one.
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The price on the contract or the buyer's order, before any interest the loan added.
Miles added by the contract, not the odometer limit. A 5-year, 60,000-mile contract on a car bought at 40,000 miles runs to 100,000.
Used only to check the free-look window. Leave it blank if you already know you are past it.
Most free-look statutes require no claim. Some states let the provider deduct claims paid from a pro-rata refund.
Used only where your state sets no free-look. Read the cancellation clause; 30 days is common.
Refund to expect
Pick a state
Free-look window
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Fee cap
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Pro rata, both ways
By time
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months unused
By mileage
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miles unused
Select your state
The refund is the unused share of the price, less a fee, unless you are still inside a full-refund window. This tool shows the arithmetic, not a legal opinion.
Pro rata here is straight-line: unused months over total months, unused miles over total miles. Claims already paid are not subtracted, because the tool does not know the amount; where your state or contract permits the deduction, the panel says so. Where a state sets no fee cap, the net figure is before whatever fee your contract names. Day counts are calendar days unless the statute says business days, and holidays are not computed. Treat the figures as what to expect and what to argue from, never as a quote. This is general information, not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because that is what the contract usually says. California's statute lets the obligor choose between elapsed time and an objective measure of use at the time of cancellation, and the sample national contract we read says the refund is the lesser amount produced by months or miles. If you drive more than the contract assumed, mileage has used up more of the term and pays less. If you drive less, time pays less. Expect the lower one and be pleasantly surprised if the check is bigger. Our refund math page works a full example.
The whole price back, with no fee and no pro rata, in most states that set one, provided no claim has been paid. The window runs from purchase or from delivery of the contract and is usually 20 to 60 days. Several states give a longer window when the contract was mailed to you than when it was handed over at the sale; the tool uses the shorter, at-the-sale figure to be conservative and names the longer one. If your state sets no free-look, the tool falls back to the days you enter from your own contract's cancellation clause.
Because we read the state's service contract statute, or looked for one, and did not find a free-look, pro rata or fee rule in it. Some states only declare that a service contract is not insurance. Some regulate providers but leave the refund to the contract. In those states your contract's cancellation clause is the rule, so the tool shows the pro-rata arithmetic both ways and tells you the fee is whatever the contract names. The by-state table says what was read for each state.
If the contract was financed into the car loan, yes, usually. The refund goes to the lienholder and is applied to the loan balance, and your monthly payment does not change. You still get the money, as a shorter loan or a smaller payoff, and you stop paying interest on the canceled product. Our page on who actually owes the refund explains the two-party problem and how to confirm the credit landed.
The obligor or administrator named in the contract, at the cancellation address it gives, with a copy to the selling dealer and, if the contract was financed, to the lender. Send it in writing with proof of delivery. Some contracts also want an odometer statement, so include the mileage and a photo of the odometer. If the dealer tells you to come in twice or transfers you to a retention line, the retention tactics page is for that.