mmw

Is anyone familiar with the details of a manufacturer buyback car? I'm looking at an 05 at a dealer that is very reasonably priced - $16,900 with less than 5300 miles on it. But apparently it's a buyback that has had a new engine installed All warranties still apply, etc., but I'm a bit nervous about it as you can imagine. What does the dealer have in this car, or are they just given it by the company to move again? Wondering hom much room there might be on the price.

Thanks for any information,

Mark

expo1

Your going to have to ask the dealer or try a CarFax report on that 8. 2005’s were not a part of the early ‘250 HP’ / Mazda buyback issue early 2004’s were. That car could be a lemon law buyback, a lease return that was purchased by the dealer at auction. 5,300 mile the rebuilt engine or the car in total?? That seems very low to me, why did this car sit for so long? You need more information in order to make your decision.

mmw

From what I understand, the mileage is on the car, motor is new. Original engine was a "no-start" problem that supposedly was bought back to avoid a lemon law issue. So I guess all the in and out of service is why it has such low miles. Carfax for sure, thanks for that.

05whiterx8

had to be a car that was brought into service at least 3-5 times for same complaint and not fixed at the time, Then mazda bought it back...could be fixed, could still have a problem. Its really a 50/50 shot at this point

mysql101

and lemon law doesn't count for used cars, right? So you could be in a world of hurt if it's a serious issue that they weren't able to fix.

mmw

The manufacturer warranty still holds, so in this case the 4 yr/50K mile warranty would take me to mid-September '09. Thanks for the thought though - that's certainly in my mind...

mysql101

http://www.carlemon.com/lemonstat.html

It looks like lemon law might be available to you, but from the few states I looked at, they have 30-90 day ranges.

Razz1

5300 miles is ok. That's what I drive in about 3 years.

Many people don't use the car as a DD.

LOOK ar DEEDUBB he has the RX8 club garage Queen.

05whiterx8

yeah, base warranty would still apply but i don't beleive you can use lemon law on a used car, especially if you buy one that has been baught back from the lemon law. Still could be a really good car for you, but there is a chance you could be asking for trouble

mmw

Agreed on all counts. I'm figuring that if the engine was the problem and that's what they replaced, then it should be good to go. But..... Hence the hesitation.

Thanks to all for the info. Do you suspect there's still room to negotiate, even with what seems like a really good price?

mysql101

You're assuming a lot. The engine might be completely unrelated.

05whiterx8

i agree...it could be unrelated to the original problem....i would definetly say try to negotiate more if you have your heart set on this car....worse thing they are going to do is tell you no they can't go any lower

Revvittupp

A Buyback, is a buyback, and it's not good. Manufacturers aren't in business from buying cars, it's to sell them. You have no idea what gremlins lie in that car. Taht said, you could buy it, and have zero issues past 100k. I would certainly pay more for a 30k mile car with a clean title and ownership history, on it's original engine.

Duke15

Lemon Laws vary by state to state - some include used cars, some do not. There is a federal Moss warranty act/law/whatever that would apply, providing they don't require you to sign away your rights on the car when you buy it. At the end of the day, you don't want the pain of going through that process. It is possible that the problems with the car were eliminated with the new engine, or maybe they weren't. I agree with the previous posters about getting the carfax report. Take in consideration what is in that report, and how it plus the replaced engine will impact you when you try to sell the car later. I would also ask Mazda to give me a print out of the repair history on the car so I could see for myself if the new engine fixed the problems.

It is a risk verses reward - at what price point are you willing to take a risk on this car? You can't know that for sure until you have all the information possible. It does reduce that risk some by having the warranty though. Perhaps they will throw in an extended warranty???

NotAPreppie

I would ask the dealer for a no-lemon guarantee. Make a written agreement with the dealer that they will buy back the car if you run into the same issue(s) that invoked the lemon law in the first place for 1/3/6/12 months (whatever you can get them to agree to IN WRITING). Maybe have a lawyer look at the written agreement (a few hundred dollars) to CYA.

If I had that, I'd seriously consider buying it.