Is there a disadvantage to the buyer of a car with a Lemon title?

 

What is a Lemon title?

 

Do you mean a salvage title?

 

No, I do not mean a salvage title. A lemon title is a title that had been "branded" as a lemon title if the dealer had to repurchase the vehicle under the "Lemon Law" where new vehicles that cannot be properly repaired by the dealer have to be repurchased.

 

Never heard of that type of title before (googled it, it exists for sure). I suspect it would fall under the same skepticism and generally lower resale that a salvage title does.

 

Hi jimisbell. Upon seeing your post, recalled seeing the below YouTube video a couple of years ago which discusses lemon cars quite thoroughly. Hope you may find it informative ...

 

Over here (UK/EU) any car that is declared a "Lemon" is required to be dismantled and the chassis/body crushed.
This is to prevent the resale of these in other (often non-EU countries). Parts from the car can be sold on as used parts.
The net effect of this has been to force the manufacturers to produce fewer lemons (better QA) and also to buyback cars BEFORE they get declared a "Lemon" and probably ship them somewhere that doesn't have a Lemon law.

Remember that when buying a Lemon car, you often get no warranty or a reduced warranty, and could end up with a very expensive pile of scrap.
I personally would never buy such a car, but it's your money and your choice.

 

That's the exact Youtube video I was going to suggest as well. Samcrac did a pretty in depth review of the SUV he bought.

 

Any branded title depresses the value of the vehicle. To a potential buyer this may well, in fact, be an advantage in the way of a reduced price.

 

Good explainer video.

I guess it would depend on the vehicle and the prospective buyers own mechanical aptitude and patience.

Probably better for resale to not buy a lemon title car and/or not mechanically inclined or patient.

But if you aren't concerned about resale and/or are intending to drive it into the ground and are mechanically inclined - If it's a price hard to say no to then why not?

 

Turns out that in Texas, the first buyer of a lemon after the buy back MUST get a 12 month full warranty and a full disclosure of the reasons for the lemon buy back. So if you are a god mechanic, you can probably fix it....unless its some really funny electrical problem. And that can also be fixed if you get enough of a discount to make it worth while. But the Alfa Romeo I am looking it would, with a good title, sell for $46K-$48K. But the dealer wants $43K. That is not enough of a discount, even with the one year warranty.

 

I thought all Alfa's came with a lemon title just to save the new owners some time. Doesn't Romeo mean lemon in Italian?. These are horribly unreliable cars with an even worse dealer network. Caveat emptor.

 

Absolutely, but as Top Gear used to say, everyone should own at least one Alfa Romeo or they can't really be a petrolhead/gearhead. <LOL>
Mine was an Alfetta GTV 2000 in black on black, way back in the mid 80's. When I had it, it was 3 years old.
What a Sexy car! It was surprisingly quick and the handling was sublime, and that exhaust note was pure music.
The rust spread visibly every day, and it did not like being driven in the rain (all kinds of weird electrical glitches), but it made me grin like the Cheshire Cat every time I drove it.
It never stranded me away from home, but sometimes it just wouldn't start in the morning. I sold it before it completely dissolved.

 

If the wheels fell of once a week I would still want one. They are SEXY in spades. Who doesnt want to go 190 mpg in a 4 door touring car?

 

Apparently the owners do not all agree with that assessment. If you are an owner then that would add credibility to your statement.