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Lemon Law Vehicles? Ever purchased one?

PokerRun388

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Would you (or have you) ever purchased a newer model Lemon Law vehicle with under 5k miles, at a major dealership like Ford, Chevy etc. & it’s still under a factory warranty & in some cases ‘no issues were found’? Or ‘repairs were made & vehicle is running as designed” & was signed off by a certified tech?

So the vehicle still comes with a full factory warranty & sometimes they even offer an additional 12 month or 12k mile warranty however the title is ‘branded’.

Is it possible in some cases that someone buys a new car & doesn’t like it or is trying to get out of a payment, debt etc., so they take the car in over & over again, for a problem that never existed, in hopes that the manufacturer will just buy it back? I find that hard to believe unless there was actually something wrong with the vehicle? I have no idea.... Would like to get your opinions on it.

Would you buy one & save a substantial amount of money or find one with a clean title & pay 10k+ more?



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Deja_Vu

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Lake Elsinore Ford sold me a new Chevy Crew cab dually 4x4 back in '99.
I noticed right away the alignment was off. At 50 miles I took it back and complained about it.
They aligned it and said they took care of it. After 5000 miles the front right tire wore down to the cords.
I took it back and they said there was an issue and they corrected it... another 5000 miles and this time the left front tire wore down to the cords.
Took the truck back in and they started blaming the general tires it came with. They put in a fresh set of Michelins.
Another 5k and back to the same issue on the left front.

I was done... contacted BBB and started up a Lemon Law case and went to arbitration.
At arbitration the Chevy rep tried to blame it on my Lance camper being over weight, my towing and driving habits, anything to change focus.

I created a timeline showing my scheduled maintenance along the top with dates and mileage and everything was on time and undisputable.
Along the bottom of the timeline I showed the dates and mileage of the unscheduled maintenance and the number of days without the truck.
I won the case and they had to cut me a check for $18k to cover my payments, interest, registration, etc.
The best part was since I had taken the truck in at 50 miles for the first issue, that allowed us to maximize our award since they pro-rate the total miles minus the miles at the first issue.
I had the truck 18 months and it had just under 20k miles.

Having said that, NO way in hell I would buy a lemon buyback. That truck must have had a frame issue.
 

Taboma

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I believe in your case, a primary use of your vehicle is commuting to work. I'd think that owning a dependable means of transportation would be a major criteria.
Of course from your postings, there's a great deal of irony in that previous sentence considering the issues you've been enduring with your Focus. :rolleyes:

In most cases I believe you're going to find there was justification for the original Lemon Law buy-back of that vehicle. I'd want to know what it was, the history and what if anything was done to correct it. If the answer is, "We couldn't find anything wrong", then run like hell.

Then consider, do you have the patience to cope with the possible frustration when you find yourself becoming best buddy's with the dealership service manager ??
I certainly don't.
Might be different if this were some exotic garage queen ---- well OK, in my case maybe a Vette :p Because the odds are, whatever prompted the original Lemon Law, it will return when it's least convenient. :mad:

Honestly, I wouldn't knowingly purchase a Lemon Law Car. I'd prefer to search for a low mileage, well cared for used car, saving $$$ there and if it's the right car and model, you'll have good resale value.

My wife and I just dumped an otherwise perfect Polaris RZR after the 2nd fuel pump quit within 100 miles of it being replaced under warranty, leaving us stranded in the wild.
Sure they promptly stuck in another, but there's something strange going on with this thing so we branded the piece of shit evil and exorcised it from our lives.
By dumped I mean, took a huge beating trading it in on a different brand SXS.

Good Luck !!
 

grumpy88

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In today's world I bet a lot of Lemmon law cases are fraudulent. I hear it's big with Mercedes .
 

DrunkenSailor

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It takes work to get a car lemon lawed and proof. Someone not liking a car won't get that far. You know how people talk about free boats? I think this falls into that same category.
 

Ziggy

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As a dealer I never kept any vehicle that was LL'd to resell. I'm sure some were fine, I just didn't like the situation from a "sellers" point of view.
Same with Buybacks(aka settling prior to LL filing)
 

2Driver

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No, since it stays with the vehicle its whole life, resale on your end is effected so where’s the bargain plus the hassle.

Its like buying used tires at 1/2 off but they still have 50% tread on them! LOL Wheres the value
 

ArizonaKevin

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you may struggle to find insurance on a vehicle that was lemoned, big approval process for our company. I know that some companies won't do it altogether, some will only do it for liability, others don't care.
 

DaveC

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Buying a rental car return or LL return is like trying to find a wife at a house of ill repute.

:p;)
 

ka0tyk

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id rather buy a car thats broken than one thats lemon lawed. theres a difficult process to actually get them to refund a car and whats wrong is usually serious and unfixable. if they couldve just plopped a part on it, it wouldve been done at the dealer. its usually a frame, electrical, etc problem. my buddy had a hyundai and the dash lights would flicker and the car would turn off randomly. they stripped the car to the frame and put in a whole new harness before they were going to give him a dime back.
 

lbhsbz

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I would not buy a lemon law vehicle, regardless of what "certified technician" signed off on anything. Keep in mind, it is likely the same grade of "certified technician" who couldn't fix the damn thing in the first place. Some cars have gremlins for whatever reason. You don't want a car with gremlins.
 

rvrrun

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I had a car that was sold back under the lemon law. I drove it like it was a rental until it was time to return it.
 

DrunkenSailor

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All the above said if it is something cool like a Viper or a Ferrari and the car was lemoned for an internal electrical issue that does not affect drive ability and you can strip it down and use it as a street legal racer then I might consider it.
 

rvrrun

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I would not buy a lemon law vehicle, regardless of what "certified technician" signed off on anything. Keep in mind, it is likely the same grade of "certified technician" who couldn't fix the damn thing in the first place. Some cars have gremlins for whatever reason. You don't want a car with gremlins.
Not all are mechanical issues. Mine was sold back for paint issues. That being said, I agree and still wouldn’t buy one.
 

Yellowboat

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I would buy my friends loaded accord he just sold back. It had interior light issues, they would come on randomly while driving and not always shut off after you parked. Multiple jumps, and a half dozen trips too Honda.

It's a 2016, with about 7k miles on it. If I could pick it up for say 10, I would just pull the damn bulbs and live with out lights.

If it was any thing other than something like that, no way in hell.
 

rivermobster

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There are so many clean lease turn ins I would never consider a lemon lawed car. Keep searching for you want and it will show up.

This. ^^^

There actually is a lot of Lemon Law fraud, it all too simple to pull it off. When I worked for BMW, there were at least 10 cases a month. I'd say a third were legit, and the rest were outright fraud.

But there is no way a consumer can know which is which. No reason to take a chance.
 

Socalx09

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I wouldn’t. I got a Jeep Compass limited 4x4 a few years back. Couldn’t afford a wrangler so thought it was cool. Went to Havasu with it in June, ac on. The car literally stalled on the 15 climbing the grade. No power, on the left side of the freeway. Scary as hell. Took it in; they said it must have been a freak accident or I pushed something. Went to Vegas, same thing. Whenever the ac was on and it was hot outside and it was a grade, the car would lose power. Got a lawyer. Jeep said they tried it, but it worked fine. What they didn’t try was to run it for 3+ hours with the ac in hot temperatures while climbing a grade. The car is less then 500 miles on it. Lawyer finally took it to Vegas and recorded it with a GoPro and showed the proof. Jeep brought it back within months of buying it. I saw it being resold again. My friends nicknamed it the deathbox because it was scary all of sudden losing power like that.

So no I wouldn’t ever buy a lemon law car again. Sometimes the dealer can’t prove it, but the claim is legitimate. Now I’m getting mail for the issue I’m describing from multiple lemon law lawyers thinking I still have the car since jeep determined years later, the transmission was faulty.
 
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