AudiOn19s

Curious if anyone here has ever purchased a Man. buyback car and how their guarantee holds up after it's sold back to the public?

I'm looking at an E55 that was a buyback and just put back on the market as of 12/10/08. The documents with this car state that Mercedes has to warranty, for one year, the issues described in the document that were the source of the buyback in the first place. Basically as I read that the car has 1 year worth of warranty on an otherwise out of warranty ('04) car.

The origional owner had the car from '04 until the buyback in '08. The running complaint that they could not correct was a rough idle on cold startup. In searching around here it sounds like rough idle is fairly common? Everything was replaced on this car...I mean everything. Spark plugs, plug wires, fuel injectors, fuel rails, fuel filters, air pumps (idle I'm assuming), belts, supercharger. Even though the car only has 37K miles most of the parts on the car are nearly new.

BUT...and there's a BUT. What really concerns me is they found cylinder wall scoring on the #8 cylinder and "repaired crankcase". Are the E55 blocks sleeved to where they could actually put a new sleeve in the block? Otherwise did they JB weld it and call it a day? That repair was in March '08 and the customer complained of more rough running in '08 when MB finally bought the car back.

Everything points to running as quickly as possible away from this car. It's every option I want, low mileage, and the price reflects the buyback status on the title so the price is right. That and the "percieved" warranty on everything noted in the buyback agreement are tempting however.

Thoughts?

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Stay away

Air Marshall Eldritch

I guess it depends on the level of discount they are offering, and how good of a relationship you have with a mechanic you trust. You know there will be problems from the jump. Will this warranty result in a final fix, or will you go through a year of waiting around for the eventual second lemon law case? That even assumes lemon laws cover 2nd owners in your state.

Timeless

+1...Some buybacks are ok, but one with engine problems is a no no.

prodigymb

STAY AWAY. Do not touch buybacks no matter how good of deal it is.

AudiOn19s

You guys are right. I was trying to justify it by thinking that any motor problems, if still an issue, would show themselves in the 12 months that the car would be covered by Mercedes. Not worth the potential headaches though.

The search continues.

Thanks for the feedback.

Andy

harjothundal

My previous car before the 55 was an 03 745li... It had problems galore, and was a BMW buyback. During the paper signing process, the dealer put papers in the car indicating it was a buyback and the name of the auction it was going to... It was that simple to them... I however, feel sorry for the person who may have bought the car thinking they got a good deal... The 3 years I had that car was by far the greates amount of time any of my vehicles had spent at a dealership....

For your own sake, I'd steer clear and look at others...

Blacksport350

Run, don't walk...far away. Even if it is a great car for you, it will be very hard to sell.