What happens to Trucks that are returned under lemon laws?

[Tyee]

After reading several posts about owners successfully returning their truck under a lemon law. What does the manufacturer do with the returned truck? Are they put back in service? junked? Sent to engineering for evaluation? If they are returned to service after being repaired how does the buyer know about the vehicles history? Will carfax flag it? Same question for flood or hail damaged new vehicles that were on dealers lot, repaired ? sold as new? How does the average buyer protect themselves?

 

[OldMarine]

Vehicles are often resold as " buy back" vehicles. I bought my wife one. Great deal, under warranty, no risk.

 

[mikeru82]

Vehicles are often resold as " buy back" vehicles. I bought my wife one. Great deal, under warranty, no risk.

I wouldn't say no risk. If it was bought back it's probably because they couldn't fix an issue with the truck. Which means you're probably buying a truck with an issue that couldn't be fixed. Potentially going through multiple dealership visits with the truck sitting at the dealership for days, weeks, or months. Even if they eventually find the cause there may be a waiting period for any parts that may be needed to fix the issue. I don't see that as no risk.

 

[wegasque]

Going through this right now with my wife's Pacifica, once Geico totalled it due to hail damage, they offered me the chance to buy it back as long as I change the title to a salvage title. The van is a 2017 with only 59,000 miles on it and has a lifetime MOPAR warranty. If I don't buy it back, they sell it to a salvage yard. I asked them if I could send them back the initial payment they gave me for repair and rescind the claim, and they said Carfax already has the hail damage listed so we couldn't hide it for trade-in or private sale later.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Going through this right now with my wife's Pacifica, once Geico totalled it due to hail damage, they offered me the chance to buy it back as long as I change the title to a salvage title. The van is a 2017 with only 59,000 miles on it and has a lifetime MOPAR warranty. If I don't buy it back, they sell it to a salvage yard. I asked them if I could send them back the initial payment they gave me for repair and rescind the claim, and they said Carfax already has the hail damage listed so we couldn't hide it for trade-in or private sale later.

Insurance buy back is completely different than a lemon law, or manufacturer buy back.

 

[HSKR R/T]

If it has gone through the entire lemon law process, it is returns to manufacturer where they have the engineers diagnose the issue. Usually lemon law vehicles are scrapped and not re-sold. If it was just a "buy back" that didn't go through lemon law process, then it will be repaired and sold as a used vehicle . I had a 2007 Caliber that was bought back by Dodge . Regional manager said it was going to be shipped back to Dodge engineering to diagnose, and if they can find the issue and repair it, it will be put up for dealer auction where it can be resold as abused vehicle. No negative mark on car faxz other than the records of being at dealership for extended time for repairs

 

[mikeru82]

If it has gone through the entire lemon law process, it is returns to manufacturer where they have the engineers diagnose the issue. Usually lemon law vehicles are scrapped and not re-sold. If it was just a "buy back" that didn't go through lemon law process, then it will be repaired and sold as a used vehicle . I had a 2007 Caliber that was bought back by Dodge . Regional manager said it was going to be shipped back to Dodge engineering to diagnose, and if they can find the issue and repair it, it will be put up for dealer auction where it can be resold as abused vehicle. No negative mark on car faxz other than the records of being at dealership for extended time for repairs

That's where the problem lies for me. Too many times people have posted about an issue that the dealership says is fixed, only to have the issue come back later. It's not a gamble I'm willing to take. I don't normally buy used, but if I was in the market I would avoid a buy-back vehicle no matter how good the deal is unless I knew all the details behind it. Since dealerships aren't likely to be forthcoming with this information it's a hard pass.