I’m currently in the market for a 2022 AMG SL63, and I keep seeing quite a few lemon law buyback cars nationwide in the $85–95k range with 5–15k miles. Considering these were ~$200k cars new and many still have a decent chunk of factory warranty left, the pricing seems pretty tempting.
My plan is to use the car as a weekend toy, put maybe ~2–3k miles a year on it, and keep it for 3–4 years. I fully understand that resale might be tougher down the road because of the buyback title, but the upfront discount is big enough that I’m still seriously considering it.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has:
Bought a luxury-brand lemon law buyback (any brand).
Owned a Mercedes buyback specifically.
Had good or bad experiences with lemon law cars long-term.
Any issues unique to the 2022 SL63 that I should watch out for.
Did the repairs actually fix the original issue? Any recurring problems? Anything about ownership or resale that surprised you?
Any real-world insight from owners would be super helpful before I pull the trigger. Thanks in advance!
My friend has a lease and in the process of getting it bought back. His electronics have bunch of gremlins. Main issue is the center screen going off suddenly. He drove it for free for several months but he said it was not worth it even for free.
I’m totally fine with selling it in about 3 years for roughly half of what I paid. But are you saying that nobody buys branded-title cars at any price? I’m in California, by the way — and from what I’ve seen, Lemon Law buybacks here go through one of the strictest paperwork and inspection processes. Is that the case?
Pay $15k more now, remember your resale price will be higher too and you will have a much larger buyer pool in three years.
California has the most relaxed buy back rules (consumer sided). So the car might have been lemoned for a small issue. But still not worth the headache for me. If you were going to keep it for 10-15 years then it may make sense. A clean title car and a branded title car would be around same worth at that point probably.
Shady FL dealers and curbstoners used to title salvage FL cars in GA for title washing. Idk if GA system still doesn’t see salvage FL titles in their system. Or maybe they don’t care.
Always good to be extra careful on cars that were first titled in FL then GA.
I don’t have firsthand experience to share and generally fall into the camp of “bad idea.” However, I can tell you $85–95k seems high given what lemon buybacks trade for at Manheim. Not a SL63 expert, but this looks like a good comp, and the offer range starts just under $71K.
There are 5 more 22 SL63 buybacks listed presently. If you are seriously considering doing this, it would need to really be an exceptional deal. IMO that would be less than $70K. Might be worthwhile to work with a local wholesaler.
If considering a CPO versus LLBB make sure the car doesn’t have any trade assist / goodwill codes in the warranty history, these are often used in lieu of a buyback on cars with repeat issues to quietly move the owner into a different vehicle. You can go one step further if the car has a warranty intense VMI (history) and ask the dealer to specify that the car was not the subject of a trade assist claim. (Some bury the claim on the VMi of the new VIN) so you wouldn’t actually see the trade assist damage code reflected in the warranty history.
I put this out there because if you purchase a CPO vehicle, it’s typically at a market premium and if the car is basically a laundered lemon, you’d be paying too much and likely experience more issues with the vehicle.
Because 911s barely depreciate , especially those before the MSRP increases recently. It’s almost free money for Porsche whereas this is not the case for Merc.
Also, listen to those who say don’t do it. There is always a sweet spot but at these prices, sellers are looking for a sucker. A frequent LH’er is not one.
