School me on Certified Pre-Owned (CPO)

[NismoNVT]

I feel more comfortable buying a cpo.
Not sure how it covers wear items since wear items are never covered.
A battery could fail at any time, breaks should be checked before sale

Wear items are never covered upon acquistion, but are sometimes (not always) a requirement before a CPO is sold. Some dealers to meet the spec do the bare minimum, so you'll see some shoddy work in tire brands, or you wont see cheapo pad slaps etc.

A lot of these concerns would be addressed in an indy PPI.

 

[supton]

The key to the 3P warranty is to have a real in depth read AND understanding between you and the service writer at your trusted dealership. Often its best to ask the SW what warranties they do regular business with before considering. Fun fact, sometimes the FM office warranties they sell, their service writer secretly dislikes/makes life for new owners miserable.

Trusted dealership? I know some here do have those. I have one that I do like to business with, as I have bought 3 times from them. That said… not sure I trust them, and I certainly am not there very often. If I buy a car and own for 10 years and do all the work myself, why would they do anything for me? I’ve ”done nothing“ for them, if I defied the F&I guy and gave them no extra coin, and didn’t go back for routine service.

Being a repeat customer at a dealership, buying a new/used car there every few years, seems like a bigger loss of money than one or two out of pocket repairs.

 

[supton]

I feel more comfortable buying a cpo.
Not sure how it covers wear items since wear items are never covered.
A battery could fail at any time, breaks should be checked before sale

Those are cheap items that one should be able to pay out of pocket for. And which can go rather unexpectedly too. Yeah a car you bought a year ago that now suddenly needs a pad slap or a battery, that’s annoying and makes you think poorly of your choice, but the truth is, any vehicle you own, that sort of thing happens. Random failures is a way of life after a certain age in a car.

 

[Nick1994]

How much more is the markup for buy the CPO Explorer compared to a similar one that isn't CPO? Might make more sense to buy used for cheaper and just get the best extended warranty. I did that with my Genesis, was warrantied for 7 years/135k miles for $3300. If I bought one CPO I would have spent a lot more than $3300 for less warranty.

 

[NismoNVT]

Trusted dealership? I know some here do have those. I have one that I do like to business with, as I have bought 3 times from them. That said… not sure I trust them, and I certainly am not there very often. If I buy a car and own for 10 years and do all the work myself, why would they do anything for me? I’ve ”done nothing“ for them, if I defied the F&I guy and gave them no extra coin, and didn’t go back for routine service.

Being a repeat customer at a dealership, buying a new/used car there every few years, seems like a bigger loss of money than one or two out of pocket repairs.

That's an issue that you as an individual has to decide for themselves. While the automaker backs and pays for the warranty, the actual diagnosis and fix is via the service write/dealer tech. If you dont feel confident in their caliber of work, especially since as you said you dont have a working relationship with them, then CPO is not the right product.

However, having said that, the customer who values the dealerships work due to previous service experiences, whether simple/low $ or complex/$$ work would find a CPO quite attractive, and its a good business idea in both theory and implementation.

CPO value depends on the individual.

Another good warranty, to consider would be CarMax warranties on their used cars.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I view buying a CPO as getting a car with 90 percent of its life remaining for 60 percent of its new car price

I don't think there anywhere close to 60% of the cost of new anymore. The ones I have seen are about 80%. I think if your going luxury the discount might be more, but not "normal" cars in this market.

 

[NismoNVT]

I don't think there anywhere close to 60% of the cost of new anymore. The ones I have seen are about 80%. I think if your going luxury the discount might be more, but not "normal" cars in this market.

Even luxury CPO is hilariously expensive these days. Some dealers have seen the light and are ready to move stale units, but that 60-90 day marker for how long a unit has be in stock doesnt seem to be problematic as they once were.

 

[dogememe]

I don't think there anywhere close to 60% of the cost of new anymore. The ones I have seen are about 80%. I think if your going luxury the discount might be more, but not "normal" cars in this market.

Well in my case there are two CPO Explorers of interest to me.

The first is a Base they are asking 27944. Original MSRP shows as 33470. And an XLT they are asking 29934 with an original MSRP of 37870. That doesn't seem all that much of a discount for it being used. BUT when you compare to what is available brand new now, assuming I special order either the Base or XLT configured like that, they are far more expensive. Base starts at 36760 and XLT starts at 38570. So in reality it is quite a lot of savings.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Well in my case there are two CPO Explorers of interest to me.

The first is a Base they are asking 27944. Original MSRP shows as 33470. And an XLT they are asking 29934 with an original MSRP of 37870. That doesn't seem all that much of a discount for it being used. BUT when you compare to what is available brand new now, assuming I special order either the Base or XLT configured like that, they are far more expensive. Base starts at 36760 and XLT starts at 38570. So in reality it is quite a lot of savings.

How many miles and what model year (s)

 

[CR94]

... Plus, that dealer spent $150 in parts (floor mats being the most $) then the cost of the tires (and it sounds like they cheaped out there). Honestly, they did the bare minimum and in fact, they may do that for every used vehicle they put on their lot. When I bought my wife's Fusion (from a Ford dealer), they replaced all (4) brakes, turned the rotors, put BF Goodrich tires on it, wheel alignment, oil change, wiper blades and cut/programmed a 2nd key. ...

Mine may have included new brake pads and alignment, but I don't know. In my previous list, I forgot to include new brake pedal cover.
Those Chinese tires turned out to be problem-free, to my surprise.

 

[Hall]

A loaner vehicle is for customers who brought their own vehicle in for services/repairs and needed a vehicle til their vehicle was ready.

There is another term for that type of vehicle or maybe it's not used anymore. I can't remember what it is called though. It is/was a brand new model and with some automakers, it had to reach a certain mileage before the dealer could sell it under that term. Was it "demo" model ?

 

[Chris Meutsch]

There is another term for that type of vehicle or maybe it's not used anymore. I can't remember what it is called though. It is/was a brand new model and with some automakers, it had to reach a certain mileage before the dealer could sell it under that term. Was it "demo" model ?

I believe it's a "demo." I bought one with 5k on it that was considered "new" with the full warranty from 0 miles and time-wise. Mazda Protege stick. Miss it.

 

[Hall]

that was considered "new" with the full warranty from 0 miles and time-wise.

Yeap, other than having a few thousand miles, it's still considered "new" by the state BMV (not that that matters) as well as the automaker so the factory warranty is still in effect. My sister and brother-in-law have bought a few cars this way. Worst part is they go and pick the car, sign a "deal" for it, then have to wait.... and wonder "who's driving it today" and "I hope they don't tear it up".

 

[CharBaby]

I really wish that were the case, but every time I've looked at one and compared it to new the discount for buying used just wasn't enough for me to justify it.

I'm sure location and specific vehicle play a major part so maybe I was just unlucky.

I agree. Before I bought the Altima(CPO) in my signature, every time I looked at "certain" used or CPO vehicles, I did better on the new(same) vehicle, including the same trim level.

 

[Pew]

My friend bought a "ford blue advantage" SHO from a local Ford dealership. 1 week later he needed 1 strut, 1 lower control arm, alignment, and fluids never changed, and the dealership still made him pay for the lower control arm despite it should have been fixed under inspection. I wrote a big nastygram review for the dealership for him but he never posted it .