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Old 02-20-2019, 07:41 AM   #1
Josh (PA)
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would you ever consider a buyback car?

I was browsing e63 wagons (again) the other day and came across this listing.
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invent...ting=140942095

The car is a perfect year, color, option, mileage combo for what I would want to replace the x5. It is also a lemom /buyback, but the price seems to be adjusted accordingly. The buyback was at 1000 miles looks like it was a rough engine / check engine light issue. The car has gone ~30k miles since and from carfax looks to have had no additional issues.

I'm not in the market right now, but it got me thinking.... would you consider buying a car that had a lemon title ever? I originally was definitely no, but if it saved you $20k (which is about the discount this one has) and the issue hasn't reoccurred in 2 years would you worry about it for the future?
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Old 02-20-2019, 08:28 AM   #2
John V
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A buyback Benz? Uh. No.
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Old 02-20-2019, 08:43 AM   #3
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The Carguru's price history graph is interesting.

The listing says AutoCheck reports one owner.

Between those data points, this would be my guess on the car's history:
  • Took a while to sell as new from the original dealer (because that happens soemtimes; not a concern by itself).
  • Original buyer had problems and led to buyback
  • Wholesaler bought it very cheap
  • Wholesaler used it as personal transportation
  • May or may not have passed hands to other wholesalers
  • May or may not have additional problems, but if so, related work was not reported to Carfax, et al because work was done by whoelsaler's own staff or "friendly" repair shop/MB dealer
  • Whatever wholesaler owned it in August 2018 decided it was time to sell for whatever reason and has been cutting price ever since, possibly passing through multiple wholesalers over the last 7 months

Change my mind.

What does Carfax show as owner and title history? Does Carfax show more info about service visits, smog checks, etc? Does it give a sense of how many service visits before the buyback and/or how long it was out of service? Autocheck also says it shows an accident, but that may be a different reporting of title being branded.

The branded title (or Carfax equivalent) wouldn't necessarily keep me away from a car. If I could gather enough reliable info elsewhere that suggests the issue isnt really a problem, the discount was substantial enough that I was confident I could sell easily and happily later at the discount required because of the issue it may be worth considering. However, I don't think I'd want anything to do with an expensive late-model luxury car like this at more than 50% its normal price.
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Old 02-20-2019, 11:41 AM   #4
robg
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Wow- very tempting for that price but who knows how future resale will be given the title. Love the color combo. The listing also says 1 accident- any idea what happened?

I assume the original warranty is still in effect?
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Old 02-20-2019, 11:46 AM   #5
Jeff_DML
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For a enthusiast car like this I would not, economy car maybe
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Old 02-20-2019, 12:00 PM   #6
ff
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At ~ $55K, I think that'd be a pretty big gamble. But I'm not looking at cars in that price range to begin with, so take that for what it's worth.
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Old 02-20-2019, 12:07 PM   #7
zach
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My e70 X5 50i was a buy back. I got a good deal on it of course, and it was great for the 4 years I owned it. Just one data point.
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Old 02-20-2019, 01:10 PM   #8
Josh (PA)
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Yea, I'm not doing it, but I thought it was an interesting question. It is a tempting proposition at $20K to $30k below market price, but it would also be a huge risk.

I could see it either going like Zach's x5 and be a steal or go so horribly bad that I can't retire. I don't see a lot of in between.

Rob... you should buy it, instead of the Tesla (the risk is probably about the same). If it goes great, please keep the miles low and sell it to me in a couple years. If it goes poorly, just remember I warned you )
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Old 02-20-2019, 01:14 PM   #9
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that is my wife's dream car. She drives slow(and pretty bad nowadays after kids) so not sure why guess she likes have the ability to smoke people in a wagon She has always loved wagons.
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Old 02-20-2019, 02:21 PM   #10
robg
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh (PA) View Post
Yea, I'm not doing it, but I thought it was an interesting question. It is a tempting proposition at $20K to $30k below market price, but it would also be a huge risk.

I could see it either going like Zach's x5 and be a steal or go so horribly bad that I can't retire. I don't see a lot of in between.

Rob... you should buy it, instead of the Tesla (the risk is probably about the same). If it goes great, please keep the miles low and sell it to me in a couple years. If it goes poorly, just remember I warned you )
haha- i was actually thinking about it. E63 wagons are a fascination of mine. I actually do think it would be less risky than a CPO tesla
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