Originally Posted by jehazel

Have you run a carfax on this vehicle? Does it say anything on there in terms of the buy back or was that just a courtesy admission by the dealer? I don't know why that would show up on any official reports regarding that vehicle.

I went through the arbitration process with Chrysler back in 1996. I had bought a brand new car which stayed in the shop more than it did in my driveway. I had a stack of paperwork and the dealership admitting they had no idea how to fix it (various electrical problems and the dealer had replaced every component they could think of). Anyway, I ended up taking it to arbitration and I was denied restitution (buy the vehicle back) because the vehicle was not in for service the qualifying number of times for the same issue within the designated timeframe. The thing was, it was in for the same problem each time but since they logged it as a different component each time, it did not meet their requirements.

The GM knew I was not very pleased with the outcome and I informed him that I would be visiting with my attorney to pursue recourse under the Lemon Law. Within a week Chrysler flew someone down from Corporate and he met with me and the dealership and offered to buy the vehicle back for what I paid for it (minus a small mileage charge). They explained that this would allow them to correct the problems on their own time and then resell the vehicle. Whereas, if they were forced to buy it back under the Lemon Law they would be required to destroy the vehicle or would not be allowed to resell it in certain states.

Originally Posted by bwarren2

Thanks for everyone's fedback. I am going to pass on this RL. I trade cars too often and in the end the resale value would get dinged to much along the way. I have found a Celestial Siver/Taupe Demo for $2K more and will likely get that one. Im in the Southeast and the absolute lowest I can find is $39.5 for this car, a demo w 5K miles (owners car suppsoedly :-). Other delaers have told me to go buy that one becasue they can't come close on thier Demo's either. You guys think that's a good deal? I can always buy off eBay but if you dig in to the story's on sevral of those, they are also Manufacturer Buybacks. It's apparently more common than we would think.

Originally Posted by bwarren2

I have been loooking at a number of 05 RL's in my area to get the best deal on a Silver or White RL. I came across a good used deal and spoke with the dealer (Not an Acura Dealer) and he disclosed this particular unit is a "Manufacturer Buyback" and provided me with the documentation associated with it. I was also told I could contact ACURA or any delaer to verify the work done on the car to repair it. The problem according to the paperwork I was given said the issues were a Dead Battery and Door Locks Cycling, both problems have been fixed now. I called my local dealer and gave them the VIN # and they confirmed 5 things had been replaced:

XM Unit, Speaker, Locks, Battery and Controle Module

I will also call the original dealer tomorrow and see what story I can come up with there and maybe get the original owners name. BTW the VIN # is early C0013XX. The Acura Svgc Mgr said he wouldn't be scared to purchase the car. I have also noticed a # of other "Manufacturer Buybacks" from AUDI and others show up on eBay, this seems to be fairly common now.

My question is, would I be a complete idiot to think about buying a car that has had known problems?

or

Would I be taking advantage of a good opportunity with an early RL that has had all the known issues repaired now? This woud certainly save some $$$ but is it truly worth it?

It seems feasible since this VIN # is early it experienced all the tech issues but they have been resolved. None of the problems seems to be significant. I'm not sure about the Control Module, I assume that's the ECM. I don't see an issue with replacing that, it seems most of the issues on the RL have been software and computer related. Again, I could be worng and a new ECM is a big deal. It wasn't in my A4 however as I upgraded teh ECM to increase HP.

Please reply and let me know if I should run away or continue exploring this oppty. Thx for your help, let me know if I missed anything. By the way the car has 4400 miles on it.

Originally Posted by TheAcAvenger

Just because its a manufacturer's buyback doesnt mean its a lemon. My sister had an Audi A6 and they sent her a letter asking if they could buy it back and give her a good deal on a new one. We never figured out why, but we figured out that it was probably because they changed the fascia on all the new audi's and didnt want the old ones on the road. So I guess that doesnt apply to the RL, but thats just one example of an issue of when it doesn't have to be a lemon