In my efforts to shop for a new family ride, I came across a model I like that is listed as a buyback.
I'm assuming that buying one isn't a good idea, but just how bad of an idea is it?
Really just curious what you all think, as there are other options available that are relatively just as inexpensive that aren't buybacks.
As long as they disclose the reason for buyback... Many Explorer ST's have been buybacks for not being able to get parts and sitting for the 30 days inop or for the same concern not fixed after 3 attempts...
Buyback = Lemon Law which caused the buyback.
As stated, get a truthful (and verifiable) answer as to WHY?
If you are the person to drive your car into the ground...maybe.
If you are the person to trade it out every 2-3 years...never.
Reason being that it will always be harder to sell and have less value - especially on mainline dealership trade-in - comparable to an unbranded title vehicle.
Ranger50 said:As long as they disclose the reason for buyback... Many Explorer ST's have been buybacks for not being able to get parts and sitting for the 30 days inop or for the same concern not fixed after 3 attempts...
I have no problem with most of the reasons for a buyback as vehicles have approached monthly house payment levels making people overly retentive aholes over trivial BS and I can empathize. If the infotainment system is the issue, I don't care as long as it plays the music media I choose. Should be unlimited warranty repairs or updates towards it. Brake concerns? Depends on the problem, but I can put on different parts then the dealer can to fix the problem. Trans went kaput? Is it tech rebuilt or reman? And what's the warranty on it?
There is a couple of ways this cat can be skinned....
Buybacks are like salvage titles. Dealers get them for 60 cents on the dollar so that's what you'll want to pay. If it's not a huge price difference, no need to buy it over a non buy back.
My concern would be if the buyback happened because an issue couldn't be fixed by the manufacturer previously, what makes you think it's fixed now, or even can be fixed. I imagine many of these are statistical anomaly cars.
I had a car that had an impossible to solve issues a few years back. A tech at the dealership told me they had a different NEW car on the lot that wouldn't start. The wiring harness was stripped at the factory and shorting out. The build date was 6 months prior. By dumb luck the factory eventually got it started and were able to drive it onto a truck so it became the dealers problem. Would the dealer actually fix this, or would they do a half ass fix funded by the penny-pincher manufacturer so they could pass the buck down the line? Poop rolls downhill, do you want to be at the very bottom?
Based on all of your feedback, my biggest takeaways are:
Steve_Jones said:Buybacks are like salvage titles. Dealers get them for 60 cents on the dollar so that's what you'll want to pay. If it's not a huge price difference, no need to buy it over a non buy back.
Like salvage titles I mind it a lot less 20-30k down the road as it probably means it's fixed. Unfortunately they rarely are cheap enough relatively new.
Just to riterate:
Salvage title purple lambo with 1500HP UGR kit for $60k: Yeah ill bite.
Salvage title appliance: Hard pass. Enough fish in the sea where buying someone else's nightmare is never a good idea regardless of savings.
Based on my experience having a manufacturer buyback one of my cars, I wouldn't; however, I wouldn't apply that across the board. As long as you can find the reasoning behind it, it might be worth looking into.
Based on my experience of being a tech and having to do repairs and prepping a buyback for resale, I would refer to my first comment. I feel like in some instances the manufactuer keeps sending defective parts from the same batches out for the repair and the problem persist to the point of a Lemon Law case.
In reply to Colin Wood :
The problem with most "drive it into the ground" types is the inability to forecast major life events 10-20 years away.
Your kid entering/leaving college. Your spouse or parents requiring extensive medical care. Injuries that prevent you driving stick shift or sitting for long periods of time. Moving to a completely different climate. Drastically lengthening or shortening your commute.
I consider myself a "drive it into the ground" guy, but when I look at the 60+ cars I've owned, I've only actually worn out 1 truck.
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