Dealer cost for a Certified Used vehicle

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Bandito440

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Good afternoon folks.

I inquired about a year-old Subaru. It wasn't listed as Certified, and I asked if there was anything that would keep it from having the longer warranty. The salesman said that it was just a cost savings measure, and that they could go through the Subaru Certified Used process for about $1,000.

That seems like a lot of money, but I'm not sure what the process entails. I'm assuming an inspection and paperwork sent to Subaru, but what else? Do they pay a fee for this and pass it on to the buyer? Does anyone have an idea what it might be?

Thanks.
 
That $1000 is basically just the cost of the extended warranty, not the procedure they go through to "certify" it.

Same as when you buy a new car with an extended warranty. The price of that warranty gets tacked on.
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
That $1000 is basically just the cost of the extended warranty, not the procedure they go through to "certify" it.

Same as when you buy a new car with an extended warranty. The price of that warranty gets tacked on.
It's the cost of an insurance policy. Perhaps they take the car to a cleric for a blessing before they turn it over.
 
Agree cost is couple hours of shop time to make sure vehicle is certifiable + cost of warranty paid to Subaru corporate itself.

Dealer feels there is enough demand to sell with factory warranties so they skip the step.

Subaru's certified is actually cruddy as it does not effect the bumper to bumper warranty just extends the powertrain warranty a tad which failure is highly unlikely anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
That $1000 is basically just the cost of the extended warranty, not the procedure they go through to "certify" it.

Same as when you buy a new car with an extended warranty. The price of that warranty gets tacked on.

Ah, thanks. That makes more sense. The salesman presented it in a way to make it seem like it was a giant hassle, not just an extended warranty that I was buying.

I suppose I could just buy the extended factory warranty myself from whichever dealer would give me the best deal.
 
I think with most cars you can buy an extended warranty from the manufacturer if the original warranty hasn't expired. You can shop around nationally for the best price, usually the dealer you buy the car from will have a higher price but sometimes they can match a lower price you find. In this case when it still has the original factory warranty there probably isn't any reason to add the CPO warranty onto it as it probably overlaps. It makes more sense if the original warranty has expired. Also CPO usually has to meet certain standards, like maybe they aren't allowed to sell it if the tires are beyond a certain amount and then they will have to put new tires on it, but if it's not CPO, they can just sell it as is.
 
Originally Posted By: cpayne5
That $1000 is basically just the cost of the extended warranty, not the procedure they go through to "certify" it.

The car typically needs to pass their multipoint inspection to be CPO. If they find any wear-and-tear items that are close to needing replacement, they will typically do it - tires, brakes, etc.
 
Or they could do like the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealer that I had the unfortunate experience to run across...

Any used vehicle that would literally "sell itself" (in like new condition), they'd just sell it with the balance of the factory warranty.

The rest of the vehicles... with dents, dings, scratched paint, scratched windshields, stained or smoke saturated interiors, higher miles... as long as the vehicle would qualify, then they'd CPO it, as a sales incentive.
 
GM and Ford dealers have both told me the certification costs around $400, for what that's worth.

After having looked at several certified vehicles, and eventually buying one, I would say the certification process can vary greatly from actually repairing things to just saying "yup, it's now certified."

I personally wouldn't put much faith in the certification process itself and just judge if the additional warranty coverage included in the CPO process is worth it to you.

I have been somewhat disappointed in my GM certified vehicle. The "Bumper-to-Bumper Limited Warranty" excludes a decent number of things.
 
I just bought a already "certified" Camry. They sold it to me not certified for $500 less. They will certify anything for a price.
 
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I just bought a already "certified" 2012 Camry. They sold it to me not certified for $500 less. They will certify anything for a price. Seems like just another add-on. Basically, just paying for a 1 year warranty. The carpet looked new though, with new mats.
 
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I've bought three CPO BMWs that were from one to three years old. No complaints. And while we never needed it on our 2005 X3(bought with 16k miles on it in December 2005) we still bought it for less than a new fully optioned Escape. So that was a tough call.

In contrast, recently I was looking at a 2k mile CPO 2015 Mustang GT; the web advertisement on the dealer site had Ford CPO logos located in several places. We drove nearly three hours to look at it and when we sat down to make a deal the sales guy tried to add the CPO cost-@$900-to the advertised price. It turns out that the dealer buries "certification costs" along with "tax, title, and license" in the very small print at the bottom of the page. Due to that-along with several other shady tactics-we walked.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
In contrast, recently I was looking at a 2k mile CPO 2015 Mustang GT; the web advertisement on the dealer site had Ford CPO logos located in several places. We drove nearly three hours to look at it and when we sat down to make a deal the sales guy tried to add the CPO cost-@$900-to the advertised price. It turns out that the dealer buries "certification costs" along with "tax, title, and license" in the very small print at the bottom of the page. Due to that-along with several other shady tactics-we walked.

So, I'm guessing the final price on this CPO mustang wouldn't have been much less than a brand new one?

Personally, I'm curious to see what a price of a 2015 CPO mustang GT will be in 2017.
 
The most important thing with Certified is to make sure that the car maker is certifying the vehicle not the car dealer or some third party.

Car dealers and third party warranties have a nasty habit of going out of "business". Reality is they reform and leave the purchases holding the bag with a worthless slip of paper.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
The most important thing with Certified is to make sure that the car maker is certifying the vehicle not the car dealer or some third party.

Car dealers and third party warranties have a nasty habit of going out of "business". Reality is they reform and leave the purchases holding the bag with a worthless slip of paper.


You're not making any sense. The car maker never certifies the vehicle. It's always the dealer that does so. The good ones will do it correctly and make sure that it meets CPO specs, the bad ones will just slap the CPO label on it and then you have to complain to corporate when you find out afterwards that it doesn't meet CPO specs. The good thing about CPO is that it's the manufacturer's warranty so it doesn't matter if the dealer goes out of business, you can take it to any dealer. If it's a 3rd party warranty, then it's not a CPO.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
o, I'm guessing the final price on this CPO mustang wouldn't have been much less than a brand new one?

Personally, I'm curious to see what a price of a 2015 CPO mustang GT will be in 2017.


Actually, at the honest dealer I talked to(who had the CPO Mustang that ticked all my boxes(GT Premium, Perf Pkg, decent audio, etc) the price was @$6.5k less than a new one- and it only had 890 miles on it. I was a complete and total moron for not buying it the day I looked at it; when I decided to buy it four days later it was gone...
mad.gif
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
In contrast, recently I was looking at a 2k mile CPO 2015 Mustang GT; the web advertisement on the dealer site had Ford CPO logos located in several places. We drove nearly three hours to look at it and when we sat down to make a deal the sales guy tried to add the CPO cost-@$900-to the advertised price. It turns out that the dealer buries "certification costs" along with "tax, title, and license" in the very small print at the bottom of the page. Due to that-along with several other shady tactics-we walked.

You should have told the sale manager and finance guy about this shady tactic. They lost you as a customer forever.

I don't mind paying $30-50 documentation fee, but this example is clearly unacceptable.
 
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