Considering buy an '07 Denali XL lemon law buyback

I'm trying to take the time to find the exact right deal for a new SUV for the family, and we really like the new Denali. I know there's some Denali fans here, interested to get thoughts and feedback on this deal.

Found what looks like a really nice deal an a FULLY loaded '07 Denali XL (and it has the second row bench that we really need, and is hard to find) at our local dealer. It's got 10k miles, practically brand new. Dealer will sell it to us for $40.5k bottom line (Plus T&L).

The downside? It's a lemon law buyback. The dealer says they have pages of legal documentation that show that the sole reason for the lemon law buyback is that the power running boards stopped working 3 times.

I know that we'll have this truck for a long time, but also know that just having it branded as a lemon law truck will bring down the value when we do go to sell it. Trying to decide if it's worth it, or if I should keep on looking...

Stay clear! We got screwed with a branded title, I would never buy one.

wha' happened?

If there was anything funny with the title I wouldn't even consider it. It would never be worth anything in the future. Check with the dealer and see what's up with the title first.

i would stay away in the end u r probaly going to end up paying more

It was a buy back for something that simple? There has to be more to the story.

You will get screwed in the future with an altered title, why ask for problems????????

Yeah, I just went through an selected all options I could on a 2007 Denali XL 2500 4x4 at carsdirect and came up with about $45K. $5K is not worth buying a used lemon over when you can get a new 07 for that price. (And usually you can beat the carsdirect price.) The resale value alone on a lemon makes the deal not worth it.

All of the 4-5 "lemon law" buy backs that I was involved in were not bought back per the State's Lemon Law, but boiled down to being buyers remorse. The vehicles had some sort of mechanical failure and the owners saw it as a way out. Some were just gun shy of a new vehicle that brokedown and some were just in too deep.

As far as is it a deal or not, when buying a vehicle (wholesale) with a branded title (salvage, flood, odometer, etc) I would take what it's worth "clean" and cut it in half.

I would ask why the dealer has it if it was a Lemon Buy back, usually they go back to the Manufacturer. The dealer may have just unwound the deal or bought it back for the original price or traded them into another. If so, look at it as just a used car.

Dante, they don't make the Denali XL in the 2500 series.

Just to check, I went to carsdirect and did a build myself. Their price for a fully loaded Denali XL was $49.5k.

In any case, you guys have given me enough feedback to realize I don't want to buy a lemon. I do agree with Chpthril's thinking though, that most people see it as a way to get out of the car they bought. Heck, if i could turn in a car with 12k miles and get all of my money back, I'd probably do the same...

You're right. I picked the Yukon XL. I've never seen a non-Denali XL. I just assumed Denali was the XL package. My knowledge of the Yukon mostly comes from my brother's old mid-90's model.

You're making the right move. It's still not even worth $10K. The salesman is going to give you the rosiest picture possible about it. If they said it's a lemon buyback, then you can rest assured that there's a branded title attached or they wouldn't even mention it.

^^^^^
Absolutely correct...if it was a deal that had been unwound or the dealer had bought back under any other situation, there would be no title notes...the fact that they told you it was a buyback means the title will be scored.

Tommy -

I bought a lemon law buy-back mini van (FOR THE WIFE) back in 1998. The car had 4800 miles on it, and in the disclosure the buy-back was for fuel delivery problems. Over the next 5 years my wife drove that van, the only repairs I made were:

1) New rear window window opening motor
2) New Alternator
3) New Battery

The van had 5 years and 130k miles on it when we sold it. We never had a fuel sending unit issue, and believe it was a buy-back due to the previous owners not being able to afford the vehicle. After 5 years time, the depreciation on the van had caught up to all of the new vans purchased the same year. We sold it via 3rd party for the same price all of the other over-used minivans were selling for in the area. We feel we got a great deal, and I would do it again. GM put a full warranty on the vehicle when we bought it, so the only outlay we really had were the parts which normally wear out like brakes tires etc...

(Message edited by flackpack on November 20, 2007)

Flack

My parents had the same experience with a dodge minivan. In the end they had to go the 3rd party route when getting rid of it because the place they were buying the new car from would not take a lemon as a trade in. But like Flack said, by then the car was worth the same as any other van of the same year regardless of the lemon title.

I do believe that we'll hold onto for a really long time, but I've decided to stay away from this one. I'd rather spend a few $k more for the piece of mind. Plus, with gas prices through the roof, I may be able to score a sweet deal in December like Shawn did on his brand new Escalade ($14k off msrp).

If anyone knows or hears of a killer deal on an '07 Denali XL, let me know. I don't want black or the blue/green color, and I need a 2nd row bench (believe it or not, these are hard to come by). I prefer 20's, nav, and dvd, but those are negotiable, depending on price, and I want something with 15k miles or less (or new)...

I looked at the Denali's, Range Rover's, Jeeps (Commander and Cherokee), Nissan's (Pathfinder and Armada) and Touareg.

In the Denali, I really like the rear heated seats, backup camera, and the fact that it can be ordered in diesel, but for me it was just a bit too big for every day driving. For many it could be perfect.

When buying any new car, I swear by Consumer Reports. Pay the $39 to get 3 months of access to what the dealer pays, what their hold backs and incentives are, and negotiate from their bottom line up, not from MSRP (or even more) down. I've done this 3 times now, and been successful each time. I bought 2 Jeeps and 1 VW and as long as you let the dealer make $500 - $1000, most will deal with you. I even special ordered all three to my exact specifications. The exception to this Consumer Reports rule is Land Rover (and most high end cars). I really wanted the RR a little more than the Touareg but I called 15+ dealers and the best I could get was 3-4k above their cost, which I refused to pay. When I compared these two side by side without the name brands, it became a very easy decision.

On most major purchases, you make money when you buy, not when you sell.

Steve, you swear by CR and have bought 2 Jeeps? Don't get me wrong, I love Jeeps. My wife's daily driver is a Commander and before that we had another Commander and before that a Cherokee. But Consumer Reports tends to hate all Jeeps not named Liberty.

You may be wondering how we ended up with 2 Commanders since they've only been out for two years. We bought an 06 Commander and while nothing major was wrong with it, it did have enough nitpicky issues that we were going to get the extended warranty. The dealership we talked to tried to talk us into trading instead since they have the lifetime warranty now. I told them if they could get us out the door on a 5 year note with the same payments as our current 5 year note while only putting the price of the extended warranty down ($2K), we'd trade for a Jeep just like ours but with leather. They said no initially but a week and a half later, they made the deal.

The moral of this story is that you are probably right, Tommy. Once it's 2008 and the GMC lots still have 07 Denali's left over and gas is round about $3.50 to $4 per gallon, they'll make you a nice deal. They're already pretty desperate to get rid of Commanders. the rest of the gas guzzlers will soon follow.

Yeah, I should have clarified. I swear by CR for obtaining the prices of new cars. They don't have a whole lot of nice things to say about Jeeps but I've owned a Liberty (for my gal) and still own a Cherokee and have been very happy with both. With the new warranty's they will be tough to beat. CR did help to sway me from the Range Rover to the Touareg.

Back to point, I would NEVER buy this Denali being described. EVER. I would look for a different one if that's the vehicle you want.

You can buy a loaded used 07 denali for that kind of money so there is no point in getting a lemon law buyback (ps factory electric step boards were only on the escalade)

factory electric stepboards are an option on the '07 Denali.

If you can swing it see if you can work a deal and take advantage of the 0% for 60 months from GM, that might make up the difference in savings about $9K. 0% for 60 months assuming 0 down and a purchase price of 48K would be $800 a month. Same situation and at 72 months at 5.99% is $795 monthly plus you pay $9,260 interest over the life of the loan.

I'm pretty sure I read GM will be offering Red Tag Clearance deals for end of year. Maybe if your dealer doesn't have one, he could locate and trade for one that suits your needs.

steve--since when can you order a denali with a diesel?

My EXT had the same problem with the Power running boards. GM cam out with a software fix / update and I haven't had any trouble since. I could see if some one wanted to get out of a deal the could easy bitch or complain about somthing to get the lemmon law buy back

I was wondering about the diesel as well. I have never seen a Denali with a diesel except the old late 80's 3/4 ton suburban's. Am I missing something? When I looked at them I would have bought diesel for sure if they offered it.

A new 2500 HD Denali pickup just came out, but I don't know if you can even order that in diesel. Anyone know for sure if either of these can be ordered with a diesel?

the yukon can not be ordered with a diesel. There was some talk early in development that they would offer a diesel option but they couldn't fit the allison trans under them so no diesel.

Good choice not buying a lemon buyback. We got an 07 Denali this year and love it. It's been flawless and tows great. Best of luck to you.