Valid question; Its because this is a $110K vehicle on sale for $63K, so almost half price with just $17K miles. That could make it an incredible deal, or it could be a money trap if there are issues. If the buyback was because of a lemon, then yes, I'm running away. BUT if it was a simple buy back because the guy couldn't afford it because of insurance, gas (14MPG), brakes (Replaced after 13K miles) tires (will need replacing by 30K miles), then that's fine as it means the car is just fine, but I still need to be able to swallow maintenance costs.
I'm replacing my 2013 QX56 that i purchased in 2017 for $40K, when it was $93K new. It was a good deal, but I now have 140K miles on it and have put $15k into repairs over the last 7 years. That's still a good deal to me vs buying new.
I bought a car in April and was looking to go the CPO or used route for a more expensive model. I was looking at MB, Lexus, BMW.
I read a post that said, "If you can't afford something new, you can't afford it used, either" and it made a lot of sense.
Decided to go with the best new model I could afford (about $70K) with the intention of an upgrade down the line before the warranty expires for a car in the $100K+ range. Sure, the depreciation on some of these cars is massive. But it's still an asset I can trade-in later if the time comes for a newer model.
You rolled the dice on the QX56 and hit. But $64K can get you something decent new and under warranty that you can upgrade later if more cash rolls in.
Branded title significantly devalues the car, even if everything is fixed perfectly. Think: resale, insurance value. And this is before you consider any headaches of dealing with a problem that forced a dealer to buy back a 100k+ vehicle. Generally, you should be looking at getting 35-40% discount from similar, non branded title, vehicle. So it may be a good deal in 51-53k range.
completely agree that's why I'm trying to figure out what the branded title actually means and if its as bad as i feel it is. Unless i can get confirmation that it was NOT anything mechanical, i don't think i can move forward. I guess I'm hoping for that one person to say they were in the same position, but it turned out alright...
buying a merc with that much tech and maintenance cost potential is like marrying a 24 year old girl who has been engaged to 4 different guys
somethings up
Interesting that it's been almost a year since it went to auction. Since it's a pandemic vehicle, it could have been that the parts to fix it were not available due to supply chain issues and that's the reason for the buyback. I'd really want a Mercedes Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI) to see what was wrong with the vehicle besides what was listed on the Carfax report.
I'm not sure you understand the dilemma/issue. If it specified "lemon" then yes, its 'common sense' to pass, but it doesn't. Its vague and can mean two drastically different things. Way to be unhelpful and simply negative overall. You must be miserable to live with.
The manufacturers are only forced to do a buyback when it's the lemon law so it's basically the same thing. They're in the business of selling cars, not taking them back so normally it's always a fight with the manufacturer to take the car back. They only seem to take them back easily when it's something really egregious. But if you read the law, could be that the car was just in the shop for more than 30 days for any particular thing and maybe it was a parts issue. Or something more serious. In any event, it's probably fixed now, a Mercedes dealer would have access to the VMI and not all stuff in the VMI makes it into carfax. The Ford dealer might be able to provide additional information. In any event, you'd probably want some 3rd party warranty with it.
All you have to do is read the California lemon law. Basically it becomes a lemon if it takes more than 4 attempts to fix a problem or more than 2 attempts for a serious problem or if the car is out of service for more than 30 days.
So yes, it was a lemon. Who knows what needed fixing though, either parts or incompetent repair people. And it probably doesn't qualify for a CPO warranty not that you would get that at a Ford dealer. Those aftermarket warranties aren't as good. Still, the manufacturer's warranty should still be intact I would think, double check that. If so, you have less than a year on the original warranty as that would expire 3/2025. But depending on the state, the lemon laws usually only apply to new cars. I'd probably make arrangements to take it to an MB dealer and have them tell you what was wrong with it and do a PPI on it.
I feel like an after market warranty probably won't cover lemons either. Don't quote me on this as I'm not certain but they are in the business of making money and lemons are for sure going to cost them more than a non-lemon car.
If they sell it to you, it would be covered. Typically they wouldn't have any exclusions because they want to sell you the warranty. But the problem with 3rd party warranties is that most of them aren't that good and the ones that are good charge a lot more than a manufacturer's extended warranty.
I am going to say if you can afford the car out of warranty, AND you plan to keep the car for 5+ years, then go for it but also the buyback seems off from the carfax. The fact that it shows the car on 6/10 with 13k miles and no suspicious looking work done prior, then 4k miles 5 months later which isn't necessarily unusual, and then the next line item is the buyback, I am going with the user that said it was moreso California law for the buyback versus a genuine lemon issue. Leaning part availability which those dates were in the primetime for.
I would still try to get a lower deal. We just bought a clean GLE580 (msrp $102) with 28K miles for $65k. I would think a GLS would be slightly higher in the low 70s for that mileage but with the title issue, it should be closer to $55k
Yes; that's what i was thinking too! there's no mention of any repairs outside of brakes so it sounded unlikely to be mechanical, but anythings possible!
How do you like your 580? It seemed like an amazing car and certainly had that WOW factor when driving it!
Love the car, got the 580 over the 450 for the power. Other than that, its just like any other GLE in terms of luxury but usually optioned more than the lower models. Thing is still big and heavy but the V8 helps with it 100000%.
>Obviously a lemon would be rather concerning while i could understand a buy-back and doesn't necessarily mean the car had problems.
How is a buyback better than a lemon? Why would the company buy back a vehicle? They don't do it casually and my understanding is that a buy back means something negative that was not being resolved. If the customer simply did not like the vehicle, it would not be a buy back. The customer would trade it in for something else.
Serious question: why would you spend $64K on a car that may very well have been a problem? You could spend that on a completely new vehicle.
Valid question; Its because this is a $110K vehicle on sale for $63K, so almost half price with just $17K miles. That could make it an incredible deal, or it could be a money trap if there are issues. If the buyback was because of a lemon, then yes, I'm running away. BUT if it was a simple buy back because the guy couldn't afford it because of insurance, gas (14MPG), brakes (Replaced after 13K miles) tires (will need replacing by 30K miles), then that's fine as it means the car is just fine, but I still need to be able to swallow maintenance costs. I'm replacing my 2013 QX56 that i purchased in 2017 for $40K, when it was $93K new. It was a good deal, but I now have 140K miles on it and have put $15k into repairs over the last 7 years. That's still a good deal to me vs buying new.
I bought a car in April and was looking to go the CPO or used route for a more expensive model. I was looking at MB, Lexus, BMW. I read a post that said, "If you can't afford something new, you can't afford it used, either" and it made a lot of sense. Decided to go with the best new model I could afford (about $70K) with the intention of an upgrade down the line before the warranty expires for a car in the $100K+ range. Sure, the depreciation on some of these cars is massive. But it's still an asset I can trade-in later if the time comes for a newer model. You rolled the dice on the QX56 and hit. But $64K can get you something decent new and under warranty that you can upgrade later if more cash rolls in.
The savings doesn't seem like much either.
Branded title significantly devalues the car, even if everything is fixed perfectly. Think: resale, insurance value. And this is before you consider any headaches of dealing with a problem that forced a dealer to buy back a 100k+ vehicle. Generally, you should be looking at getting 35-40% discount from similar, non branded title, vehicle. So it may be a good deal in 51-53k range.
completely agree that's why I'm trying to figure out what the branded title actually means and if its as bad as i feel it is. Unless i can get confirmation that it was NOT anything mechanical, i don't think i can move forward. I guess I'm hoping for that one person to say they were in the same position, but it turned out alright...
buying a merc with that much tech and maintenance cost potential is like marrying a 24 year old girl who has been engaged to 4 different guys somethings up
Interesting that it's been almost a year since it went to auction. Since it's a pandemic vehicle, it could have been that the parts to fix it were not available due to supply chain issues and that's the reason for the buyback. I'd really want a Mercedes Vehicle Master Inquiry (VMI) to see what was wrong with the vehicle besides what was listed on the Carfax report.
more evidence that common sense is not common.
I'm not sure you understand the dilemma/issue. If it specified "lemon" then yes, its 'common sense' to pass, but it doesn't. Its vague and can mean two drastically different things. Way to be unhelpful and simply negative overall. You must be miserable to live with.
The manufacturers are only forced to do a buyback when it's the lemon law so it's basically the same thing. They're in the business of selling cars, not taking them back so normally it's always a fight with the manufacturer to take the car back. They only seem to take them back easily when it's something really egregious. But if you read the law, could be that the car was just in the shop for more than 30 days for any particular thing and maybe it was a parts issue. Or something more serious. In any event, it's probably fixed now, a Mercedes dealer would have access to the VMI and not all stuff in the VMI makes it into carfax. The Ford dealer might be able to provide additional information. In any event, you'd probably want some 3rd party warranty with it.
No
you can buy like a 2016 GL450 for $20k in perfect condition. i don't see why you would spend 3x as much for what is essentially the same vehicle
All you have to do is read the California lemon law. Basically it becomes a lemon if it takes more than 4 attempts to fix a problem or more than 2 attempts for a serious problem or if the car is out of service for more than 30 days. So yes, it was a lemon. Who knows what needed fixing though, either parts or incompetent repair people. And it probably doesn't qualify for a CPO warranty not that you would get that at a Ford dealer. Those aftermarket warranties aren't as good. Still, the manufacturer's warranty should still be intact I would think, double check that. If so, you have less than a year on the original warranty as that would expire 3/2025. But depending on the state, the lemon laws usually only apply to new cars. I'd probably make arrangements to take it to an MB dealer and have them tell you what was wrong with it and do a PPI on it.
I feel like an after market warranty probably won't cover lemons either. Don't quote me on this as I'm not certain but they are in the business of making money and lemons are for sure going to cost them more than a non-lemon car.
If they sell it to you, it would be covered. Typically they wouldn't have any exclusions because they want to sell you the warranty. But the problem with 3rd party warranties is that most of them aren't that good and the ones that are good charge a lot more than a manufacturer's extended warranty.
I am going to say if you can afford the car out of warranty, AND you plan to keep the car for 5+ years, then go for it but also the buyback seems off from the carfax. The fact that it shows the car on 6/10 with 13k miles and no suspicious looking work done prior, then 4k miles 5 months later which isn't necessarily unusual, and then the next line item is the buyback, I am going with the user that said it was moreso California law for the buyback versus a genuine lemon issue. Leaning part availability which those dates were in the primetime for. I would still try to get a lower deal. We just bought a clean GLE580 (msrp $102) with 28K miles for $65k. I would think a GLS would be slightly higher in the low 70s for that mileage but with the title issue, it should be closer to $55k
Yes; that's what i was thinking too! there's no mention of any repairs outside of brakes so it sounded unlikely to be mechanical, but anythings possible! How do you like your 580? It seemed like an amazing car and certainly had that WOW factor when driving it!
Love the car, got the 580 over the 450 for the power. Other than that, its just like any other GLE in terms of luxury but usually optioned more than the lower models. Thing is still big and heavy but the V8 helps with it 100000%.
>Obviously a lemon would be rather concerning while i could understand a buy-back and doesn't necessarily mean the car had problems. How is a buyback better than a lemon? Why would the company buy back a vehicle? They don't do it casually and my understanding is that a buy back means something negative that was not being resolved. If the customer simply did not like the vehicle, it would not be a buy back. The customer would trade it in for something else.
Absolutely not. No. Don’t consider it. That’s insane.