Is a Lemon 3rd gen worth it?

I have a buddy who is looking into a new truck and naturally I suggested a Tacoma. Long story short, he found a dealership that mostly deals with "lemon law" vehicles, and they have several Tacomas.

We went to look at them and they showed the paperwork detailing the buyback details.

Needless to say all of them were either related to weird transmission shifting, diff leak and howling noise lol.

I know this are very common complains around here so I'm thinking these vehicles don't have a "real" issue.

The diff leak took longer than 30 days for many people so it could have been someone getting tired of waiting for the parts to arrive and taking advantage of having the lemon law available.

As for pricing, the vehicle they had was a 2016 doublecab 4x4 TRD sport with the premium tech package, 21k miles for $28.5k plus taxes so 30k OTD. This one in particular was bought back because the diff leak had the vehicle "in the shop" over 30 days..

Could be a steal imo, what do you guys think? I wouldn't even consider recommending this if it was any other vehicle but given the common complains around here matching the reasons for the lemon and the fact that he already drove my truck and felt fine with the shifting..

 

You mentioned "traded in" toward the bottom. I thought you said the were lemon law buybacks. Which is it?

 

That’s a terrible business idea.

 

what year?

 

Not a bad deal at all. Once my rear diff gasket was replaced there haven't been any issues. Transmission shifting was solved with the latest programming update - it's awesome! And I solved the howling noise with two 12" lengths of 1/4" aquarium hosing inserted into the door sill weatherstripping.

I'd tell him to go for it.

 

by "traded in" I meant returned to Toyota lol, guess I should edit that.

 

& Where is this located at?

 

Put a 2nd gen differential in it and you’re all set

 

Found this little bit of info i was not aware of...

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cu...s-to-lemon-law-cars-after-theyre-bought-back/

 

They had a 2016, also a 2017 slightly more expensive.

Paperwork for all 3 we checked showed the same, weird shifting, diff leak, howling, or a combination as reasons for the lemon lol.

 

Factory warranty is still in place is what they told me and so far I haven't found any info saying otherwise.

 

I say do it. You have 15k miles for them to get it fixed under warranty.

 

If it was a 2016, odds are the warranty has expired already or expires at any moment. I'd make them offer an extended warranty for no extra cost.

 

Remember, these buybacks are given a "branded title" in most states. I've seen a ton of Subaru's with oil burn issues being resold by Subaru dealerships around here. Carfax all shows branded titles. To me, that's not worth the little bit of savings. That severely affects your resale.

I would pass.

 

That's a good point, although I think it would be even more given that the drivetrain warranty is up to 60k? I think 36k is for electronics and all other stuff.

Yes, the resale would take a hit although it seems he wants it until the wheels fall off, probably planning to pass it to his children in 10+ years lol so that might not be a big concern and the savings compared to the closest best deal is about $4-5k... which might be decent if it was simply the diff leak that virtually everyone here experienced lol

But again, everyone changes their mind when the newest and latest comes out so resale could still be a concern.

 

I think you need to review the Lemon Laws in your state and actually understand under what circumstances constitute a buy back through that law.

Its not a law that allows some bitchy customer to demand their money back for a vehicle because their oil change took too long.

In most states one portion of law dictates a vehicle has had to had the same problem and the dealer has made at least three attemps to resolve the issue AND the vehicle has been unsuable by the owner for a set number of days AND the issue cannot be related to a recall or sevice bulletin. A manufacturer has a certain amount of time to correct an issue with their product and thus cannot be claimed under the Lemon Law.

I would want documentation proving what was wrong with the vehicle and proof that it was fixed.

The normal differential leak issue would not qualify the truck to be taken back under the Lemon Law so its gotta be something else.

Also something to verify is if the VIN now has a flag on it because of this. If so it will kill resale.

I’m all for people buying what they want as long as they make an educated decision. Some people have cash and know how to fix nearly anything and they’ll never plan on giving the truck up. In those instances go for it.

I’m not for it if people aren’t understanding what they are getting into.

 

I could be wrong... but do lemon vehicles even have a warranty?

 

I would assume no from Toyota but you could have a third party warranty.

 

If it is still under the 3yr / 36k miles it should.