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Does keeping my car void buyback?

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goodcat

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have been approved for buyback of my car. It was a certified car, with 1200K miles, discounted almost $20K off original purchase price. However, I am afraid I will not be compensated enough to buy an equivalently equipped car because of the following reasons:
1. they will seek mileage compensation
2. I paid for routine maintenance and purchased a new tire (cost was $800) -- person at Stericycle said this was not covered by lemon law
3. I paid for a third party warranty.

If I decide to keep the car (it is now running), can I keep to the end of the existing manufacturer warranty and THEN ask for a buyback? Or does my decision to keep the car invalidate the qualification for the buyback? In other words, I want to take a chance that my car might actually be fixed, but I am afraid if something goes wrong again I am scr*wed!

Here is what went wrong with my car: all safety features disabled, navigation disabled, parking brake and turn signals disabled by computer glitch. It required 45 straight days in shop for problem to be fixed. I had a loaner all that time. It was purchased at 1.2K miles, brought in at 1.8K miles for initially check engine light coming on, followed by multiple intermittent problems (safety features, rear view camera, tire pressure warning, oil pressure warning, brake light warning intermittently on/off) until there was massive failure of all systems at around $14K.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I think your refusal to accept the buyback is going to seriously inhibit, if not completely block, any future efforts.

Also, as to your numbered concerns:

1: Yes, that's the way it works.
2: One is expected to maintain their car.
3: You can generally get a refund for the unused portion of any extended warranty. Check your contract.
 

goodcat

Junior Member
some additonal questions

I think your refusal to accept the buyback is going to seriously inhibit, if not completely block, any future efforts.

Why would it inhibit future efforts? It qualifies under objective, written criteria. I have a letter from manufacturer saying so. Why would that change later? I am not disputing you, just wanting rationale.

Also, as to your numbered concerns:

1: Yes, that's the way it works.
2: One is expected to maintain their car.
3: You can generally get a refund for the unused portion of any extended warranty. Check your contract.


Thanks for comments. With respect to your comments:
1. The car was presented for electrical problems at milege 1.8K. Why did they choose to use 14K? This seems unfair. It is true you can still drive the car with the check engine light on, but doesn't that show the car had problems from the beginning?

2. I bought the tire and had the maintenance performed on the same day I brought it in for massive failures. I would never have bought a new tire nor had maintenance performed on it had I known the issue was not fixed. They sent the car back to me without performing any fixes on my complaints and said it was fine. Later, I found out the computer they hooked it up to was not able to communicate with one of the headlights, but released it to me anyway.

3. Can I get a refund even though warranty was third party?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
It was a certified car, with 1200K miles, discounted almost $20K off original purchase price. However, I am afraid I will not be compensated enough to buy an equivalently equipped car because of the following reasons:
Of course you won’t get enough to buy an equivalent car. It was steeply discounted for a reason. It was probably a lemon buyback or a flood car. Obviously whatever damage or issue it had hasn’t been fixed.

You won’t find a similar car that isn’t a problem child with that discount.

So you either accept the crap car thinking you got a great deal or accept the offer and not expect to find a similar car (without problems) for a close price. If you keep it, understand it is with the knowledge it’s a problem child and will likely be ruled you assumed the risk of it having problems and as such, no buyback from here on out.

If the buyback has already been approved then either the deal has been made or they included contingencies (if mileage exceeds [XXXX] then subtract [$.xx] per mile. Subject to car returning in same condition as when sold other than normal wear and tear (and there is no wear and tear in 600 miles), and so on.

So, has an actual buyback been approved or is it they offered to buy it back if you can agree on the terms?

And why does one need to purchase a tire with Less than 14,000 miles on the tire? If you did something to cause the damage and If the dealership isn’t aware of that, you may find yourself without a deal if whatever you did to damage the tire also damaged other parts of the car.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
1. The car was presented for electrical problems at milege 1.8K. Why did they choose to use 14K? This seems unfair. It is true you can still drive the car with the check engine light on, but doesn't that show the car had problems from the beginning?
You can drive the car as long as it moves when you push the accelerator. That doesn’t mean you won’t causs damage to some part of the car by driving it. It also doesn’t mean you will cause damage. The check engine light is simply an indicator that the self diagnostic system of the car has discovered some monitored system is outside of design parameters. It could be anything from the gas cap is loose to there is about to be a massive failure that will destroy the engine.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
And why does one need to purchase a tire with Less than 14,000 miles on the tire? If you did something to cause the damage and If the dealership isn’t aware of that, you may find yourself without a deal if whatever you did to damage the tire also damaged other parts of the car.
At about 10k on my care, I got a nail in my tire that was on edge of the tire...just enough that it couldn't be repaired...so I had to replace it. It could be something that simple.
 

goodcat

Junior Member
You can drive the car as long as it moves when you push the accelerator. That doesn’t mean you won’t causs damage to some part of the car by driving it. It also doesn’t mean you will cause damage. The check engine light is simply an indicator that the self diagnostic system of the car has discovered some monitored system is outside of design parameters. It could be anything from the gas cap is loose to there is about to be a massive failure that will destroy the engine.
Gas cap ruled out long ago. Kept coming on. OMB analyzer states problem with gas/oxygen mixture.
 

goodcat

Junior Member
At about 10k on my care, I got a nail in my tire that was on edge of the tire...just enough that it couldn't be repaired...so I had to replace it. It could be something that simple.
Yup. its that simple. Also, any fault on my part not an issue.
 

goodcat

Junior Member
I think your refusal to accept the buyback is going to seriously inhibit, if not completely block, any future efforts.

Why is this? It objectively qualifies under lemon law (I have letter from manufacturer saying so). I just want to find out how long the buy back qualification is in effect. Can I keep driving the car until it finally goes kaput? I think CA lemon buy back only allows mileage deduction starting from the time problem presented. Does it matter how many more miles I put on the car?
 

goodcat

Junior Member
Of course you won’t get enough to buy an equivalent car. It was steeply discounted for a reason. It was probably a lemon buyback or a flood car. Obviously whatever damage or issue it had hasn’t been fixed.

You won’t find a similar car that isn’t a problem child with that discount.

So you either accept the crap car thinking you got a great deal or accept the offer and not expect to find a similar car (without problems) for a close price. If you keep it, understand it is with the knowledge it’s a problem child and will likely be ruled you assumed the risk of it having problems and as such, no buyback from here on out.

If the buyback has already been approved then either the deal has been made or they included contingencies (if mileage exceeds [XXXX] then subtract [$.xx] per mile. Subject to car returning in same condition as when sold other than normal wear and tear (and there is no wear and tear in 600 miles), and so on.

So, has an actual buyback been approved or is it they offered to buy it back if you can agree on the terms?

And why does one need to purchase a tire with Less than 14,000 miles on the tire? If you did something to cause the damage and If the dealership isn’t aware of that, you may find yourself without a deal if whatever you did to damage the tire also damaged other parts of the car.

Buy back approved.

Nail in tire edge -- run flats. Repair not possible.

I wish it was a lemon buy back -- thing I could ding them for $$$$ for illegally selling a buyback as a cpo!
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I think your refusal to accept the buyback is going to seriously inhibit, if not completely block, any future efforts.

Why is this? It objectively qualifies under lemon law (I have letter from manufacturer saying so). I just want to find out how long the buy back qualification is in effect. Can I keep driving the car until it finally goes kaput? I think CA lemon buy back only allows mileage deduction starting from the time problem presented. Does it matter how many more miles I put on the car?
Have you gone to arbitration, or is the manufacturer simply offering this to you?
Do you have an attorney?
When you come back after using the car for the full extent of the warranty and then ask the manufacturer or the arbitrator to buy back your car for what you paid for it, do you think you'll be successful? (really)
 

goodcat

Junior Member
Have you gone to arbitration, or is the manufacturer simply offering this to you?
Do you have an attorney?
When you come back after using the car for the full extent of the warranty and then ask the manufacturer or the arbitrator to buy back your car for what you paid for it, do you think you'll be successful? (really)
Hmmm.... you don't really seem to know yourself.

I am asking the question: why not?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Gas cap ruled out long ago. Kept coming on. OMB analyzer states problem with gas/oxygen mixture.
Um, that was merely attempting to explain the meaning of the check engine light illuminating and that by itself, it does not allow one to determine if a car should or should not be driven. It has nothing to do with actually diagnosing your car.


But given your list of ills, I do have an idea of two...

But that’s for a forum of another color.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Some new cars have a "low power mode" built in as a fail safe. If the problem is bad enough that damage may be caused by further operation of the vehicle, the low power mode comes on in order to protect it and help prevent or lessen damage.
 

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