Celica Forums General Discussion General Lemon Law Question

Hey everyone, I searched a Celica's VIN on carfax and it came up with a Manufacturer Buyback Label under the Lemon Check. He says he doesn't know anything about it. First owner purchased it in Florida, this guy has owned it in Texas. I was wondering if there's a way I can find out WHY it was labeled as a Lemon. I'd like to know what part was continuously breaking and had to be brought back to the manufacturer.

Get a maintenance history report from a Toyota dealer!! Has the car broke any?

How much does that history report usually cost?

As far as breakage, he said he was in a minor fender-bender in a parking lot and it was fixed. Car looks great too. I'm just worried about the Lemon part, if it'll come back or not.

i had a lemon before, it was my mazda MP3, i got it from carmax and when i had to take it in for some fixes they ran the VIN and it came back saying it was "branded". the car check out good for carmax but not for mazda, the car was in great shape to no crashes or any thing, but we now think that the car was in a flood and the engine got messed up. try to find out if it was in a flood or something, but if i was going to get the car i would not, to much work and paper, dont get a car if it said it was a lemon.

lemon = no good

i think the report is like 20-25 dollars, i could be wrong

Depends on what the problems were, and what the repairs were. If the price is greatly reduced because of it being a "lemon", it might be worthwhile. But then again the guy might know all about it, and is just trying to scam someone.

Ok, I've made a few e-mails and calls; here's what I've found out...

I first e-mailed a Toyota dealership in Houston, TX. They instructed me to call the service department and ask. I called, gave them the last 6 digits of the VIN, they said it wasn't in their records.

I e-mailed the person in sales back and they said to try a dealership in Florida (where the first owner was located at according to Carfax). They guy said it wasn't in their records either and gave me the Central Office for Toyota @ 1-800-468-6968. Called that # and they ended up directing me to another # 1-800-331-4331, forgot what they called that department, customer driving satisfaction or something.

Called them, the lady was able to tell me the campains (recalls) that are available for the vehicle and if they have been performed or not (they were not): 50d (DRL lights) and 40k (recess rubber seal ring on master brake cylinder). But she said that she is not able to tell me where it's been serviced, when it was serviced, why it was serviced, or what had been serviced. I asked if there was any other number I could call to get this information and she said this was basically the end of the line from which I had been calling. She told me I'd have to contact the original owner to see service reports.

So basically I've ran a goose chase and lost or I can call every single Toyota dealership in Florida to see if anyone has service records of the car.

wouldent the car have a dealership name on it somewhere? seems that would be a good place to look then breakout the www.yellowpages.com [yellowpages.com] and check it out through florida:)

Maniak, Not every car has a dealer label on the back or front or side of the car. Its not that hard to take off. Also if there was a dealer sticker, I think he would have seen it already.

sometimes people overlook the obvious just tring to be helpful:)