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?
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What happens to Trucks that are returned under lemon laws?
- Thread starter Tyee
- Start date
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.
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.
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.
I totally agree.
BowDown
Spends too much time on here
If Geico totaled your car, Stellantes will usually void your remaining warranty, you may want to check on that
BowDown
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Thats not correct. Dodge usually sends (forces) the cars out to dealers to sell at reduced prices. There is a dealer in AZ (Bill Luke) that Dodge was sending lemon cars to in 2020, I was looking at a hellcat and talked to them why the car was 15K cheaper than similar equipped cars with less than 10k miles and they told me the situation.
They are just one of the dealers that Stellantis sends buyback/lemons to
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Buy back cars are different than lemon law cars.
BowDown
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Cbty2050
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Stellantis doesn't send them to specific dealers, the send the cars to auction(after repairs are made) and the dealers known they are buy backs/Lemons.
I looked at an limited ecodiesel at Henkel in battle creek MI, absolutely stunning and cheap. I couldn't get down there to look at it/put a deposit on it. The dealer has a complete document of why it was bought back and the fix. This truck was from California and it was bought back because of a clunk in suspension and recall.
BowDown
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That's what Luke told me regarding the HC and yes, they knew what the car was, had documents and told me up front. The car I was looking at had some type of fueling issue but other than that, was perfect. They sold it before I could get it.
I was going to put a fuel system in it anyway so it didn't matter.
Luke told me the cars were "sent" to them and other dealers, that they were not auction cars, IDK
HemiDude
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Those vehicles can be repaired and re-sold, or potentially just resold, either retail or wholesale. Lemon Law buybacks should have the title branded as such, and reputable dealers should announce/reveal to potential buyers that the vehicle is a lemon law return. However, title washing still occurs, and it is possible for a lemon law vehicle to go through multiple title swaps and end up retailed to the public with a “clean” title… Florida is notorious in the used car business for clean titles on “dirty” cars.
Looking at the inventory of buy back cars at Bill Luke CDJR I was surprised to see the amount of imports and in one instance a 2019 Warlock with over 50k miles. I guess I don't understand what would trigger a buy back situation on a vehicle that was clearly out of the warranty period.
OCD Solutions
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One of the best trucks I ever owned was a buy back truck. But I knew all the parties involved and knew the complete history of the truck. I got all the service records printed for it that totalled over $23k in work, including rebuilt T-case and axles, manual transmission and eventually a brand new V10 crate engine that had 203 kms on it when I took possession.
My buddy got 24k for it as part of a buy-back deal after fighting the dealership for 3 yrs over poor engine performance. It went to auction 3 times and came back unsold each time. It sat on the lot for almost 2 years and was marked down to $17k when I rolled in and offered them $10K cash with a guarantee that they'd never see it again. The owner of the dealership grabbed my hand and said you had me at "never see it again", lol.
I drove it for 7 years and put over 200,000 Kms on it. Other than the standard maint items, the only thing I ever had to replace was the AC compressor. To this day it's the only truck truck I wish still owned.
My buddy got 24k for it as part of a buy-back deal after fighting the dealership for 3 yrs over poor engine performance. It went to auction 3 times and came back unsold each time. It sat on the lot for almost 2 years and was marked down to $17k when I rolled in and offered them $10K cash with a guarantee that they'd never see it again. The owner of the dealership grabbed my hand and said you had me at "never see it again", lol.
I drove it for 7 years and put over 200,000 Kms on it. Other than the standard maint items, the only thing I ever had to replace was the AC compressor. To this day it's the only truck truck I wish still owned.
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Not a lemon law, but my 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel was a buyback along with many others. They had been fueled with GAS and delivered to dealers. FCA had to buy back deliveries which had been improperly fueled and repair them putting several thousand dollars into the repair. They were then resold to dealers as used vehicles and I ended up with a Diesel Jeep with under 300 miles on it for under $25K. Sometimes there are deals to be had in buybacks, but one must know the history to make a good choice.
