If MINIUSA does a buyback on a vehicle that qualifies for the lemon law, what usually happens to the vehicle?

If the vehicle is later re-sold, is there any special notation on the title?

A local club member bought his MINI used from a regular used car dealer...he has since found out that the original MINI dealership (Prestige, NJ) replaced the transmission 3 times and the owner sold the car shortly after the 4th transmission was installed.

(I say 4th transmission because obviously the car came with a tranny and then 3 more trannies were installed: 1st @ 8 months; 2nd 7 months later and the 3rd 10 months later.)

Is it possible for him to get a printout of the entire service history done at Prestige MINI and any other MINI dealerships? How would he go about getting that information? Is there a fee?

Thanks!

 

Damn.. that's not good.. Lotta possibilities here..

Has he tried doing a search thru Carfax? They have a good reputation for tracking a car's woes.

Does he know if the car was actually bought back by MiniUSA, or is he just aware that it's had 3 transmissions? If the dealer that took it in on trade wasn't aware of the transmission problems, then he can't be held liable.

The other possibility is that the car was beat, and the previous owner ran thru trannys like most of us run thru tires.

Keep us posted..

 

I believe if a car is lemon lawed the title is branded with that. That is why most car company's will buy back before going into a lemon law proceeding. No branded title.

 

I'll try to get more info...as well as try to get him to post in this thread directly.

 

Hmm...I wonder if doing a buyback keeps a brand's numbers "looking good" if the general public had access to total number of lemons.

Maybe the car wasn't lemoned, but simply the result of a buyback. Would the title of a buyback be marked differently?

What usually happens to buyback cars?

 

My best guess is they are auctioned off.

 

Most likely: No, the title won't be marked differently.

 

Interesting...I know several people who bought vehicles from the same dealership here in town...and all had previous owners from NJ.

 

I knew someone who bought a lemon buy-back. It was a Lexus and they told him it was a lemon buy-back, the reason and what was done to fix it. I am sure that was Lexus's choice, though. But, if you ask, they have to be honest. So, if you plan to buy used and are suspicious, or even if you aren't, I'd ask outright if the car was "lemoned."

 

I'm just curious...Is the car blue with the blue leather and cloth seats?

 

Who?

 

Sorry, I mean the car that had the tranny work done on it.

 

No, it's Chili Red.

It's too bad we can't have a sticky that would let us list the VIN if MINIUSA were to have a buyback...but I guess that would violate the non-disclosure agreement.

Still, it *would* be nice to have a sticky where we could list VIN info of problematic vehicles...sort of a "if you're looking at a used non-MINI dealership or auction, AVOID this VIN #." kind of thing.

 

Does the dealer have to tell you its a buyback? Or can they sale you a LEMON or before it's a LEMON MINI..? HOW can BMW do this to loyal customers...? Does BMW really care what we think? Is BMW ever going to make a Recall about the rear hatch hinge on the 2003 Models ? Are dealers ever going to give you work reciepts for warranty work? Or is that to cover there Own AS_ES....? Before a recall has to be made? HUM....

 

There are special conditions that must be met by a concern before it can become a recall. (I do believe it concerns # of deaths)
I don't know about BMW but, Mazda takes thier buyback/lemoned cars to thier training facilities & after about 1 year they're crushed/dismantled.

 

Um, your dealership should be giving you invoices which detail the work done on your car. If they aren't it's more likely a dealership issue then MINIUSA. I always get an invoice detailing what was done to the car.

 

Cooper in a Cooper is the club member I mentioned in the OP.

He bought the car locally at a non-MINI dealership. The dealership is actually a used-car dealership with no particular marques affiliation.

The original owner was from NJ and purchased the vehicle from Prestige MINI in NJ. The tranny replacements were done by Prestige MINI.

I suspect it was a buyback which was then sold at auction.

The local used-car dealership where he bought the MINI from has a long history of buying vehicles that were previously owned/leased in NJ.

 

Prestige Motors won't know if it's a buyback since they aren't a MINI dealership.

Prestige MINI of NJ would know if it were a buyback...so would MINIUSA, I think. Wouldn't hurt to call MINIUSA, give them your VIN# and then ask if the car was processed as a buyback from the previous owner in NJ.

Good luck!

 

If a car is bought by via Lemon Law, it will say that i'm pretty sure it's on Carfax as well

 

A carfax is only as good as the reporting. If not reported it will not show up. The best way is to ask the dealer for a DCS report/Vehicle History, all they need is the last 7 of the VIN#. This will not only give you the options on the car but service history, remaining warranties, extended warranty info and last but not least "trade assist" aka buy back info. Any MA can pull this up and takes about 20 secs to do so.

 

Carfax shows nothing....I think its a cover up by BMW MINI

 

On the state of florida goverment website there is a section on lemon-law and ALL cars in the state that were lemoned out. Do a search on the web...something like NJ lemon law buy outs and see what you get. Some states are pretty up front with info while others its like searching for a needle in a hay stack to find.