Should I buy a lemon?

[Spinothalamic]

I have found a few real sweet deals on 2018 Ford buy-backs. One says is comes with a Ford factory warranty. Do you think Ford fixed the offending issue, or are they reselling a broken truck?

 

[GordoJay]

I have found a few real sweet deals on 2018 Ford buy-backs. One says is comes with a Ford factory warranty. Do you think Ford fixed the offending issue, or are they reselling a broken truck?

You're taking a chance, for sure. Some lemons are awful, a few are fine. I nearly sold mine back for a dealership botched transfer case repair - that would have been a good buy. Electronic gremlin? Run. Run fast.

 

[2slo4u]

I would run away. If Ford was able to fix the problem, why didn’t they do it the first time??

 

[Big Blue]

Anyone that buys a factory buy-back because they are getting a "great deal" are more than likely to find out they got bent over.

 

[smurfslayer]

I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a moment.

The Raptor is pretty complex now, and Ford doesn’t keep hard parts available in some warehouse you can just order them up from. So, if you are one of the unlucky ones who actually manages to hole a 3.5TT block, or grenade a transfer case, your truck is going to be down a long time. Way longer than the lemon law threshold of 30 days.

My truck was down almost 9 days for the moon roof track ! Now, some of us have been more lucky, with same day moon roof repairs and some have actually had hard part repairs in under 2 weeks. I just depends. My overall point is that you could check out the car fax or oasis history and see what was done. If it was a single repair attempt that took a long time, or maybe multiples that resulted in the failed component being replaced but past the point at which Ford agreed to buy it back or the courts decided for them, then it may be an ok deal but you have to do a lot of homework to ensure you don’t get rooked.

 

[Pikser]

Lemons are only good with gin and tonics !

 

[Braaaaptor]

I'm not a lawyer I just pretend to be one on the internet. I'd take a look at the Carfax and Oasis report like others have mentioned (bonus points if you post it here), then find the 'story' from the dealer and make a determination then.

I had a buddy walk away from his Raptor after having some transfer case issues, instead of waiting for parts to come in (April/full lockdown time) he walked from the truck. Now someone got a truck with eibachs, deaver's, and a tonneau for a decent price so you may get lucky.

Some people's threshold for repairs is really small and Ford's supply chain isn't immune to covid so hitting the 30 day threshold is easier nowadays. Wouldn't the CPO come with a 3yr/36k warranty for some peace of mind?

 

[Sage]

Are you a good mechanic?? Know electronics?? Your answer IS the answer

 

[Sonicsunspot]

I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a moment.

The Raptor is pretty complex now, and Ford doesn’t keep hard parts available in some warehouse you can just order them up from. So, if you are one of the unlucky ones who actually manages to hole a 3.5TT block, or grenade a transfer case, your truck is going to be down a long time. Way longer than the lemon law threshold of 30 days.

My truck was down almost 9 days for the moon roof track ! Now, some of us have been more lucky, with same day moon roof repairs and some have actually had hard part repairs in under 2 weeks. I just depends. My overall point is that you could check out the car fax or oasis history and see what was done. If it was a single repair attempt that took a long time, or maybe multiples that resulted in the failed component being replaced but past the point at which Ford agreed to buy it back or the courts decided for them, then it may be an ok deal but you have to do a lot of homework to ensure you don’t get rooked.

This is exactly the case with mine. Cam phasers early in the life of the gen2 kept it in the shop for extended periods. Initially they had to wait on parts, then replaced 2 of the 4. That didn’t work so it went back in and replaced again with first generation parts.
I bought it as a RAV and saw the history. Immediately took it to a Ford dealer o trust and had them give it a shake down. We replaced the cam phasers again with second gen parts and it has been a solid truck for me now for a year and 10k miles.
When I bought it Ford added 12k miles to the warranty and then I bought extended to 140k miles.
If you do your homework, have a little guts and have confidence in your dealer, it can be a great way to go.

 

[dreys]

In most cases, owners give up on their trucks when they had enough. Usually it is more than one issue.

And very often Ford's fixes are "band-aids", I can almost guarantee previous owner had to take the truck for the same issue multiple times, and issue still was not resolved. Even after dealer said it was.

As it was said before, stay as far away as you can from buy backs.