This space is hardly enough if the reason for the buyback was that a car spent more than 30 days in the shop for a variety of reasons, including transmission failure, five minor electrical defects and a seatbelt retraction problem. Thus even where some disclosure is made, it's often only partial and misleading. The auction procedure also facilitates deceptive nondisclosure practices. Typically auto auctions aren't open to the public, just dealers, and some are even exclusive to only that manufacturer's dealers. Thus Monday auctions may be open only to Chrysler dealers, Tuesdays are accessible to authorized Toyota franchisees and Wednesdays are limited to Ford dealers.
Buyers view the vehicles as they roll through on a conveyor belt.
Retail buybacks are supposed to get a red light, but because some repurchased vehicles aren't lemons and only some states require title branding, the process is somewhat subjective and there is minimal enforcement. Among the milling professional auction crowd, the volume is heavy, the pace is swift and the dealing is slick. The dealer that buys the car at auction may then sell it directly as a used car, or the car may change hands among several dealers before it's sold at retail. Returning the car to the road When the car is eventually sold at retail, the seller usually renounces all knowledge of the lemon history and sells the car with no disclosure. This is despite the fact that in most instances the complete computerized warranty repair history is available to dealers.