GM’s Ultium vehicles have had a shaky few years, with the company buying back vehicles for problems ranging from shaky build quality to risk of spontaneous fires. Now those cars are finding their way to the used market with some huge discounts. You just have to trust GM finally fixed the underlying issues with the cars.
Aside from the very public buy back of fire prone Chevy Bolts, a number of 2023 and 2024 model year Chevy Blazer EVs and Cadillac Lyriqs were bought back by the automaker. Software issues plagued early build Blazer EVs, so much so that a stop sale was ultimately issued. Issues with Lyriq were less public, but from owner forums and Reddit posts the problem was with build quality. Like one owner who detailed his Lyriq’s issues on Reddit.
My Lyriq has basic issues – the interiors are loose, everything rattles and squeaks when driving on any road less than butter smooth. The charge port door is sagging about 1/2 inch, and let’s water in every time it rains, the cameras don’t work, the driver assist doesn’t work, the emergency braking brakes for no reason and gives my constant headache, the screen (the full this by the steering and in the center) has gone blank a few times and has had to be fixed, the screen is not misaligned with the graphics on it. I can keep going on and on. And I have had the car for less than 5k miles.
Many owners, like the one above, ultimately had their vehicles bought back by GM. GM offered customers money, a different car or both after going through arbitration. According to lemon laws, when these vehicles are re-purchased over issues by the automaker, they have to fix said issues before they’re able to be resold. The result is bitter sweet. You get a sweet deal on the used vehicle marred by a tank in resale value thanks to a buy back entry on the vehicle history.
Take this 2024 Chevy Blazer EV RS. It’s practically new as it has just 2,305 miles on it. According to its CarFax, it was originally purchased in Southern California in November 2023 for $60,203 (and likely marked up.). GM bought it back in April before offering it up for sale again the same month. Now it’s sitting for sale on the used lot of a Chevy dealer in Smithville, Missouri for just $33,187.
Another 2024 Blazer EV RS for sale at a dealer in Plymouth,Wisconsin has just 669 miles on it and had an MSRP of $60,215. Its buyback by GM in February caused it to take a $21,000 hit in resale value. It’s on sale now for $38,990.
Cadillac Lyriq buy backs might be the biggest steals of all. Victory Chevrolet in Savannah, Missouri currently has four Lyriqs that were bought back by GM. They’re all low mileage and three of them are under $40,000. The cheapest is a 2023 Lyriq Luxury that wore an original MSRP of $63,590. It was bought back by GM in February and now sits used with just under 13,000 miles on it for $34,889. So if you’re in the market for an EV and can’t or won’t pay the big prices that new ones command, don’t let a little automaker buy back scare you away from one of these good deals.