Hi Everyone.

I'm new to the Mercedes scene and interested in a C43 AMG or lightly used C450 AMG. Typically, I would never consider a Mercedes buyback or any lemon for that matter; however in this instance:

1) a dealer is offering a decent deal on a fully loaded c450 AMG.
2) The reason listed for the buyback was "irregular tire wear on the front end". (hope this is just excessive wear)
3) The buyback was from California, which has more stringent lemon buyback laws, and in other states, perhaps this would not have been possible.

I have been provided a copy of the state required notice for required vehicles, which states that the following corrective actions were taken:
-Mounted and balanced 2 new tires and installed new camber correction bushing.
-Performed 4 wheel alignment, adjusted ride height, camber, caster and toe on rear axle.
-Adjusted ride height, cam ber, caster and toe on front axle

That work would be warrantied by MBUSA for the next 10000 miles or calendar year. I believe that the rest of the car is still under full warranty.


From the various forum threads I've read about the excessive tire wear C450 (i.e.Front Tire Wear Excessive Front Tires Wear), this seems to be an issues with the stock run-flat tires and c205 platform. The car has under 10k miles and appears to have been well maintained (according to Carfax records). There were no I only drive ~ 2500 miles a year and tend to hold on to my cars for a while and I'm not as worried by the stigma of a buyback.

Could you guys help me out by answering a few questions. There are many cases where one would want to steer clear of a buyback (mechanical/electrical), does this seem to be one of those cases? I will be taking a mechanic with me to inspect the car, is there anything in particular I should look for? Are there any other pieces of information that I could obtain/provide that could in assessing this situation?

Thanks!

 

Looks like you are doing the right thinking about it. But to save you drawn out opinion. Used car is fine, but buy back is a toughy. If they bought it back it probably went through some serious debate and like you said it’s tough to buy back. Unless they said the problem is all fixed, you are looking at a headache down the road.

Personally, if I could wait a couple more months save some more cash and get a used/new I would go that route. But to each their own.

 

I personally wouldn't. "Excessive front tire wear" sounds like it had an alignment problem, although im sure its more than that since its a buyback.

 

Thanks for each of your helpful responses. I tried to do a little more research on the issue and called both the dealership and MBUSA for more information. The dealership was unable to release the information and MBUSA said they could only release the information to the current owner of the car. I'm not dropping the asking price to find out what the problem was.

Right now I'm leaning towards a solid no. I have asked the dealer via email:

Depending on the response we may go ahead and look at the vehicle, bur right now I'm disinclined to make this purchase.

CFG: Cool, your Alabama C450 was made in the Mercedes (Vance) facility ~ 40 miles away from me. Glad to hear that they are turning out good products there!

Edit: I agree if this is related to an alignment issues, there is something else there going on.

 

That's Classic!

 

honestly, those are all mechanical things they've exchanged and this car is notorious for having tires prematurely wear. If the person had a large fleet and made enough noise I can see them getting their way if going through two sets of tires (or more) in XXXX mileage.

I wouldn't be too concerned but if you're seriously interested I would make sure to get some professional eyes underneath to ensure everything looks good. Better yet to have another car for comparison.

 

Having worked for a MB dealer for several years, I would steer clear of that one. The only cars I have seen bought back had big issues. I highly doubt a dealer would buy a car back because of tire/ alignment problems.