factory buybacks

I've noticed several FFEs for sale online whose Carfaxes report they are factory buybacks/lemons. There are often no descriptions as the the nature of the problem an owner had with his car.

What's the group's take on such vehicles? It's only conjecture on my part, but I'm assuming there are cases where a buy back occurred that was not an invocation of a state's lemon law.

Once such Carfax literally says "Branded Title: Buyback/Lemon," which, at best, is ambiguous.

Jeff

If the buyback was for the SSN issue that was fixed by subsequent software updates then I'd have no issue with one of those cars. Have you asked the dealer for info about why the car was bought back?

If interested in one of those cars, 2 things:
1) The dealer should be able to pull the service records of the car. Compare those to the change of ownership on the Carfax. If the "fix" was applied after the buyback, you might have a good deal on your hands...but don't let the seller know . I think the recall # was 13S09.
2) Not all SSNs are the result of the recall. I had 2 instances post recall. It occurred about 9mo after the recall was applied, but the car restarted. The second time, the car did the SSN in the carpool lane and I had to move over 6 lanes to the right and wait for tow truck. Car never restarted...it has been in the shop 37 days waiting for a new battery which arrived today.

The good news is, the drive trane should be covered under the 8 year warranty. Just make sure it is still covered.

I did ask (via email). In response, the dealer sent me a one-page PDF showing a handwritten "no problem found" in the column describing the findings of the dealer. Not much help in understanding the nature of why the car was bought back by the factory. It seems more a self-serving declaration of "everything's OK" by the dealer rather than anything potentially meaningful from the original buyer

A followup email asking for little more detail remains unanswered.

J

"No defect found" is not a good indication if recall 13S09 was applied before the buyback. My FFE han an SSN occurance 9mo after the recall was applied, and then a month later the drive battery died. As long as the 8year 100,000 mi warranty is still applicable, you would be covered.

Thanks for the responses.

Having researched "branded title" I've concluded it's in my best interest to pass on such cars, if for no other reason than the problems inherent in selling (or trading) the car at some future date.

Did find an interesting line item on the service records of one such "branded title" FFE here: http://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistory/p/Report.cfx?partner=DLR_3&vin=1FAHP3R44CL386470

Glad to see the dealer is showing due diligence by completing what looks like the (apparently "traditional") 6000-mile oil and filter change on the FFE.

Hmm! Why is the "California Motor Vehicle Dept" listed as being in "Farmington, Michigan"?

Look at the reason for the buyback, California more or less forces auto makers to buyback after the same defect is brought back for repair three times.

Many, if not most, of these were brought back for issue dealing with either the navigation system or radio. I looked at the Ford service history from the previous owner of one and it was brought back three times because MFT was unresponsive and then bought back under California's lemon law. It might have been the issue for which a recall was issued, it might not have, but I'd guess it was simply that the previous owner changed their mind and didn't like the depreciation so they got Ford to buy it back and only lost 2-3,000 after driving the car for a year. Keep in mind that they still keep the tax rebates!

The I would be MORE WORRIED about a Focus BEV that was a factory buyback, because this indicates it had the SSN, the factory will not buyback if the buyer just claims the radio is not working or the navigation is not working.