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"reacquired" vehicles


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Made a similar post in Tech Talk, but I was afraid it would go unnoticed.

 

Does anyone have info about "reacquired" vehicles? Are they always bad news?

 

My wife and I are looking at a used 2006 Freestyle that was "reacquired" by Ford under the lemon law. The salesman said these undergo a very good inspection regimen that checks out all the customer issues. The only issues noted on the report are auto trans downshift error, strange handling noise, accel/decel error and broken rear glass. Two of these sound like issues with the CVT to me, but they could have been from someone who didn't know how much different it is from a regular auto trans. Ford can't help it if someone's window gets broken.

 

Any experience with "reacquired" cars here?

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a friend of mine works on these cars for chrysler. many of them truly have issues, but a substantial portion of them are buyers that have buyers remorse, and continue to push until the car is reacquired.

 

more often than not, the issues just don't get fixed quick enough by regular mechanics. once it's bought back, an extremely experienced mechanic is then used to get to the bottom of the problem. at least in the case of my friend, the car doesn't get put back into service until the problem is 'fixed'. sometimes, the problem doens't get 'fixed' because it was an owner issue, not a mechanical one.

 

obviously, i do not know if ford goes through this same process, so i am just assuming they work in a similar fashion to dcx.

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'tim kakouris',

 

I'm kinda getting the feeling from this car (b/c of the list of complaints) that the owner was just trying to come up with problems to get the car repurchased. The buyback report says that Ford could not duplicate the problems the owner was experiencing, which leads me to believe either a) buyer's remorse, or B) an obsessive complusive owner. I mean, if the transmission was falling out, the report would say that it was fixed, or replaced. Instead, Ford can't even figure out what the guy was talking about.

 

I'm just trying to think it through. 6-cylinder.

 

a friend of mine works on these cars for chrysler. many of them truly have issues, but a substantial portion of them are buyers that have buyers remorse, and continue to push until the car is reacquired.

 

more often than not, the issues just don't get fixed quick enough by regular mechanics. once it's bought back, an extremely experienced mechanic is then used to get to the bottom of the problem. at least in the case of my friend, the car doesn't get put back into service until the problem is 'fixed'. sometimes, the problem doens't get 'fixed' because it was an owner issue, not a mechanical one.

 

obviously, i do not know if ford goes through this same process, so i am just assuming they work in a similar fashion to dcx.

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not to insult anyone who truly has problems with their new car, but sometimes people lie to get out of a car. plain and simple.

 

if you can get the seller to agree to relieve you of the car if it exhibits the same faults the previous owner 'experienced', i think you'll be fine. have a conversation about it. if they want to sell a reacquired car, they will probably have to make some promises to do it.

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'tim kakouris',

 

I'm kinda getting the feeling from this car (b/c of the list of complaints) that the owner was just trying to come up with problems to get the car repurchased. The buyback report says that Ford could not duplicate the problems the owner was experiencing, which leads me to believe either a) buyer's remorse, or B) an obsessive complusive owner. I mean, if the transmission was falling out, the report would say that it was fixed, or replaced. Instead, Ford can't even figure out what the guy was talking about.

 

I'm just trying to think it through. 6-cylinder.

 

well on the other hand ... "could not replicate" also means that they are still there ... I have a really annoying dash rattle in my old Focus and for the love of anyone no dealer would repair it .. every time it came back with C-N-R report ...

 

so be careful, because it can be something serious and annoying, but something Ford does ot want to address or it is extremely hard to track/fix ..

 

I would request at least 2 day test drive (pay for miles) and do you full 2 day commute + errants i nthe car to truly test it ...

 

I also assume the car has irresistibly low price on it.

 

Igor

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Yup, a lot of the lemons are the owners. If they sell it certified at a great price with the extended warranty and lower rates then I would. I'd worry more about a 'lemon' mustang then a Freestyle, doubtful they did donuts all over the place when they found it it was being bought back.

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An update for those who are interested:

 

I called the salesman again Tuesday and told him we were hung up on the "reacquired" part but were still thinking about it. After hearing nothing from us in two days, he called my wife and told her the general manager needed to move some cars before the end of the month and was throwing in the 100,000 mile bumper-to-bumper Ford ESP at no cost. She bit. We pick it up Saturday. Btw, the car only has 14k miles on it, so it's still under the factory warranty as well.

 

I expect to be pilloried roundly, but it was too good a deal to pass up.

 

6-cylinder

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