Buying manufacturer's buyback, issue with windshield and poor contacts for rear hatch

mlevin77

I am considering buying a nice 2017 Forester, but the dealership tells me:

"it's a manufacturer's buyback for an issue with the foam seal for the windshield and poor contacts for the rear hatch. It's been repaired by Subaru and is covered under the factory warranty (the original in-service date for the warranty start is May 2017). The buyback status wil be reflected on the title and noted on history reports such as CarFax."

is this one of those things I should definitely stay away from? I definitely don't want any hassles with this; does "repaired by Subaru" mean it's basically like new, or is this likely a source of on-going problems? Does it mean it likely had serious leak (water interior)? How worried should I be about this?

kyfdx

mlevin77 said:

I am considering buying a nice 2017 Forester, but the dealership tells me:

"it's a manufacturer's buyback for an issue with the foam seal for the windshield and poor contacts for the rear hatch. It's been repaired by Subaru and is covered under the factory warranty (the original in-service date for the warranty start is May 2017). The buyback status wil be reflected on the title and noted on history reports such as CarFax."

is this one of those things I should definitely stay away from? I definitely don't want any hassles with this; does "repaired by Subaru" mean it's basically like new, or is this likely a source of on-going problems? Does it mean it likely had serious leak (water interior)? How worried should I be about this?

It was bad enough, and they had enough problems with it, that it couldn't be fixed under warranty, and they had to buy it back from the original customer.

After that, I wouldn't want to hear any more of the "story". Is there a shortage of cars to buy in your area?

Mr_Shiftright

Just remember, whatever gets you into a car more cheaply, will haunt you when it's your turn to sell it.

I suppose if your heart is set on it, and it's a smackin' great deal, you could test drive it on a rough road (for rattles), then on the highway (for windshield wind noise) and then run it through a car wash after putting newspaper down in the hatch area and on the front floors (to absorb and identify any small leaks that might appear).

mlevin77

Thank you; makes sense not to get involved with a known problem; but, one more question: does the same argument work against all used cars? I mean, a lot of used cars could have something wrong with them - is knowing what it was + a repair by a dealer worse than potential unknown problem(s) from a used car in general?

Mr_Shiftright

I think the problem in the case you mentioned is a bit different than just any used car. For one thing, you will always have a "branded" title, which has financial consequences; secondly, on a buy-back it means that numerous attempts were made, unsuccessfully, to repair a persistent problem.