Buying an Audi Lemon Buyback - good or bad idea?

[BahnSpeed]

Found some money saving deals on used low mileage B9 SQ5s that were bought back by Audi of America under lemon law complaints. The independent dealer states the they were repaired by Audi and come with the remainder of the factory warranty. I assume these were bought at auction.
Are these a good way to save some $$ or would you avoid these at all costs? They are selling for around $5-7k under blue book.
All comments are welcome. Thanks!



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[1S32K16]

You can try and pull the history to see what was repaired. Sometimes it can be cosmetic or it can be mechanical obviously.

[djn876]

Maybe depending on the issue, but you'd need a lot of trust in the dealer. Personally I don't think I'd touch it.

[EvoToSQ5]

If you buy them, make sure you get the documentation from AoA as to why it was bought back and what repairs were made. My wife’s S3 was a buyback because you couldn’t control the subwoofer through the MMI. I probably wouldn’t purchase a car that had a major mechanical issue though. You do get the remainder of the factory warranty.

As far as her vehicle goes, it’s been great to us and we got it for much cheaper than comparable cars. The subwoofer is now controlled through the MMI and the only issue I’ve had was the rear main seal was seeping oil but totally unrelated to the buyback issue and it was replaced under warranty.


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[blackfunk]

And it's my understanding as well that if its not fixed it can be repurchased again.

[sandjunkie]

Found some money saving deals on used low mileage B9 SQ5s they were bought back by Audi of America under lemon law complaints. The independent dealer states the they were repaired by Audi and come with the remainder of the factory warranty. I assume these were bought at auction.
Are these a good way to save some $$ or would you avoid these at all costs? They are selling for around $5-7k under blue book.
All comments are welcome. Thanks!



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Bad idea. As someone who just sold back a BMW to BMW North America, I would never buy a buyback.

[430hps4]

I have a dealer local to me that 95% of their inventory is dealer buy backs. I've purchased 2 cars from them myself, as well as referred plenty of family and friends to them. Neither of the vehicles had any issues during the years of ownership. Same thing with the ones my friends and family purchased.

The main advantages... price, of course. You get to have a "high end" vehicle for a fraction of the price. The main disadvantages... if you need to finance, some banks may have limitations on how much they will loan out. If you pay cash, you won't have any issues with insurance or anything along those lines. The only other real downside is the future resell. You have a market of people and dealers that won't touch them. So if you are the type to go through vehicles every year or two, and only work with dealers... you may struggle to see benefits. If you deal private sale, and hang on to vehicles a lil longer... more benefits to them.

All in all... in my opinion, its no different than a vehicle that has any kind of damage or repair. It's been documented what the problem was and how it was resolved. So people really shouldn't worry about them, in the big picture.

[Irish1004]

I have a dealer local to me that 95% of their inventory is dealer buy backs. I've purchased 2 cars from them myself, as well as referred plenty of family and friends to them. Neither of the vehicles had any issues during the years of ownership. Same thing with the ones my friends and family purchased.

The main advantages... price, of course. You get to have a "high end" vehicle for a fraction of the price. The main disadvantages... if you need to finance, some banks may have limitations on how much they will loan out. If you pay cash, you won't have any issues with insurance or anything along those lines. The only other real downside is the future resell. You have a market of people and dealers that won't touch them. So if you are the type to go through vehicles every year or two, and only work with dealers... you may struggle to see benefits. If you deal private sale, and hang on to vehicles a lil longer... more benefits to them.

All in all... in my opinion, its no different than a vehicle that has any kind of damage or repair. It's been documented what the problem was and how it was resolved. So people really shouldn't worry about them, in the big picture.

I have a friend that purchased a late model VW that was a lemon law buyback from California and has had great success with it. The car was repaired by VW but because each state
has different provisions in their Lemon Law and different requirements such as CaliforniaÂ’s Strict Emission Laws. A car that doesnÂ’t meet a requirement in one state might be just fine in another. Also the manufacturer is still responsible under their warranty to address any defects that arise.

[Unleaded20T]

if the issue was mechanical and they tell you it was repaired, id try to get service history from the audi dealership.
If the buyback was due to an electrical issue, i would not buy it... but thats just me

[BahnSpeed]

Thanks for all of the comments so far. Good to know that the paperwork trail could affect resale and finance by being branded as lemon buyback.


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