Buying A Lemon Title

Would you buy a car with a lemon title pending a PPI?

List of maintenance done below:


Rod Bearings

Both Throttle Actuators

Agency Power Muffler

Valve Cover Gaskets

New Clutch Kit/Flywheel

New Steering Wheel

Oil Pan Gasket

Spark Plugs + Spark Plug Tubes

Both Oil Separators

DriveShaft Was Rebuilt

Differential Oil Was Changed

Manual GearBox Fluid Changed

Engine Oil & Filter 10w60 LiquiMoly

Engine Mounts

Transmission Mount

Any insight about lemon law reason?

mapster37 wrote

Any insight about lemon law reason?

No but as I dig deeper, it was lemoned, then auctioned in 2010 by BMW.

In 2019 as well, it was written off as a total loss by an insurance company later to be registered and driven.

Got a vin? I can look into it tomorrow if u want but normally I would steer clear of a lemon

When you say Lemon do you mean it has a salvage title? My 2010 M3 has a salvage title. It was written off and purchased at an auction. The guy that purchased the car was in the auto body paint business. He fixed the car and kept it for a little over a year. He provided photos and receipts of the repairs. I ended up buying it. I've now had the car for 4 years with no issues. If you can find out the complete history and willing to take a knowledgeable risk, I say go for it. Resale value wont be as good. I'm planning on keeping mine as long as I can with no thoughts of selling anytime soon, if at all.

pjk380 wrote

When you say Lemon do you mean it has a salvage title? My 2010 M3 has a salvage title. It was written off and purchased at an auction. The guy that purchased the car was in the auto body paint business. He fixed the car and kept it for a little over a year. He provided photos and receipts of the repairs. I ended up buying it. I've now had the car for 4 years with no issues. If you can find out the complete history and willing to take a knowledgeable risk, I say go for it. Resale value wont be as good. I'm planning on keeping mine as long as I can with no thoughts of selling anytime soon, if at all.

It seems like the car has been through a lemon buy back when it was first produced. Presumably fixed by BMW and auctioned off. From there, it looks like it was in an accident and got the salvage title. But it did also at one point have a lemon title.

The car is only 18K…

There is a reason it is so cheap.

Ervin87 wrote

There is a reason it is so cheap.

Yeah…

I hate answers like the one I'm about to give you, but it really does depend.

If the car was Lemon'd for something like electrical bugs that couldn't be sorted, I'd steer clear of that disaster.

When was the listed maintenance performed? If fairly recently, the car can't be all that bad since the bottom line ($) on the work would have been a large number.

Nobody is replacing trans mounts on a car that doesn't drive.

From what you wrote in the OP, it's clearly enthusiast owned. For 18k I'd scan the shit out of it and take the gamble. Could probably part the thing out for close to that.

Would I daily this? no

This would be a good candidate to be a track beast! strip the bad boy, all you need is the engine, steering wheel, seat, wheels, and goooo right?

If its electrical, that car will never ever run right.

I think I found the exact car you were talking about. I found the listing on C&B and was trying to find any previous info on it as it's really interesting and I have the advantage of being near the seller and avoiding any shipping costs that most other buyers would have to account for. https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KmpgRRWm/2008-bmw-m3-coupe

for 18k hell no.. my first m3 cost me 16.5k. it had some miles and interior wear + rod bearings, throttle actuators, and more maintenance done.
Sparkling graphite/bamboo, manual, no nav, clean title, no lemon