"certified pre-owned"

[GMFan]

I went car shopping today with my parents to help them purchase a used car. We first went to a chevy dealer to look at used vehicles. The sales guy showed us a 2007 chevy equinox with the 3.4 liter v6 and 57,000 miles on it. Of course I had the guy pop the hood. The engine bay was very clean. Upon looking through the oil filler hole, it looked dirty and dark. Pulling the dipstick showed just a tad bit of slick filthy oil. A test drive revealed a burning oil smell from the engine bay. The salesman claimed that there certified vehicles are thoroughly inspected and checked to be running like new. Needless to say we were not impressed. They wanted $13500 for it.

We also test drove a v6 2005 ford escape 4x4. It had 40000 miles on it and was a fully loaded model. This car drove poorly and needed new shocks or struts. This one was $12500. My parents were so dismayed at all the other used cars they looked at. We ended up going to a nissan dealer. They ended up test driving a new base model nissan rogue. Very nice vehicle for the money. They are buying one tomorrow. I was very impressed with it.

Needless to say, used car shopping was a disappointment. It seems that every used car was too beat or had blatant issues for the high prices.

Wouldn't you expect for dealerships to at least change the oil before putting it on their lot as " certified pre-owned" or do they just warranty it and not even check it?

 

[Boomer]

My son's fiance bought a "certified" used Caliber that had about 25,000 miles on it. Looked great and ran very well. OIl was apparently changed regularly. She got it home and noticed a brake squeal from the rear disc brakes. Took it back and it turned out both calipers in the back were leaking BADLY and the brake pads were covered in fluid. They replaced everything, calipers, rotors, pads free of charge so at least they stood behind it. But no way was that vehicle ever inspected as the salesman said it was.

 

[mrsilv04]

Many of these CPO vehicles were owned by a little old lady named Hertz who only drove her cars to the airport, and on trips to see the grandkids...

If it has under 40,000 miles, the majority will be former rentals.

 

[Chris142]

All they do is buy the car from the place where used cars go. The lot boy cleans it up and on the lot it goes.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Many of these CPO vehicles were owned by a little old lady named Hertz who only drove her cars to the airport, and on trips to see the grandkids...

If it has under 40,000 miles, the majority will be former rentals.


Rental cars have to be shown as such by law. They are often 30% less then similar non rental cars. There are lots of good used card out there, you just have to look.

Dealers can buy lease return vehicles for the same price as the owners lease buy out. (sometimes for less if there are programs running on certain models) SO they cheery pick the low mileage ones. Anything that is abused or iffy is send back to the manufacture and ends up in the dealer auctions, Any real iffy is send out to (non-dealer)used car auctions

 

[jumpr]

The Rogue is a great value for the money. My wife bought one in July with Nissan's 0.9% financing deal. You just can't find a crossover with AWD and the other features it includes for under $23,000 anywhere. The Nissan CVT is a neat gadget too.

 

[hounddog]

CarFax shows you who has had it and what auctions its been through.I was shopping used Corvettes last two months.Most were off lease and most had been through several actions and several inspections.I bought a 06 that had been through 3 auctions two of them in two weeks in different towns.

 

[pidster]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Many of these CPO vehicles were owned by a little old lady named Hertz who only drove her cars to the airport, and on trips to see the grandkids...

If it has under 40,000 miles, the majority will be former rentals.


Or lease returns, better treated than a rental most likely but in most cases still treated as "disposable".

Originally Posted By: jumpr
The Rogue is a great value for the money. My wife bought one in July with Nissan's 0.9% financing deal. You just can't find a crossover with AWD and the other features it includes for under $23,000 anywhere. The Nissan CVT is a neat gadget too.


Very nice, I checked them out when I was car shopping. If the Ranger hadn't been cheaper and fit my needs a bit better I may just have bought one. It was in my top five anyways.

 

[eljefino]

Call GM and narc on them; GM is on the hook for warranty so they take it somewhat seriously.

Supposed to have a fresh oil change, I'm sure, and full tank of gas too.

For added amusement take names at the dealer of the people who say the oil's okay.

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Many of these CPO vehicles were owned by a little old lady named Hertz who only drove her cars to the airport, and on trips to see the grandkids...

If it has under 40,000 miles, the majority will be former rentals.


Rental cars have to be shown as such by law. They are often 30% less then similar non rental cars. There are lots of good used card out there, you just have to look.

Dealers can buy lease return vehicles for the same price as the owners lease buy out. (sometimes for less if there are programs running on certain models) SO they cheery pick the low mileage ones. Anything that is abused or iffy is send back to the manufacture and ends up in the dealer auctions, Any real iffy is send out to (non-dealer)used car auctions


Here in NY, many of the rental cars are called low mileage "program" cars. This could be rental or off lease, but nobody says what they are. Yes the carfax may show this status, but rental cars still get close to full book here.

 

[AuthorEditor]

It is usually best to buy a used car direct from the owner. It takes more leg work, but you can find cars with the original owners and they are often proud to show you the paperwork proving they had regular maintenance done. Some new car dealers sell their own trade ins and do a good job at it. I generally would trust a car more that had been purchased and serviced at the dealer that is selling it.

 

[Quest]

certified pre-owned is just some gimmicky buzzword that holds very little water in real-life situation.

In my case: I shop directly, inspect it personally (to be best of my abilities) and deal with the person in real terms, meaning that I will let him/her know what I think and/or what I believe needs attention.

Brakes, shocks, suspensions, engine, oil leaks, coolant smells, tires, rim rash, something smells funny from the tailpipe, car doesn't drive straight, etc. These can all be detected by keen senses and experience.

While we were shopping for a used 04 era camry, came across one with the typical steering intermediate shaft clunk (Toy has a TSB and revised replacement for that), mentioned to the seller about that, she was angry and act defiantly as if I'm trying to rip her off. Fortunately, her dad in-law was riding along with me during the test drive and he too (he's well into his 60s, btw),notice that steering clunk and spoke out.

At the end: she insisted that it wasn't an issue (according to her indie mech), turned around and sold the car to another buyer.

Oh well, there's always something in better condition than that (and we ended up buying a 04 with balance of warranty and had the idler tensioner bearing + water pump replaced (squeaky serpentine belt) under warranty by Toy dealer, and I couldn't be more happier.

Q.

p.s. I do not deal with used car salesman at all, citing over 90% of them are crooks and/or liars to begin with.

 

[ls1mike]

My Equinox was certified pre owned with 6000 miles on it. Now at 67,000, I haven't had to do anything to it, but it was nice to have the 50,000 mile warranty. Certified doesn't mean much to me unless it was certified by me.

 

[Silver]

Certified will get you the 100k warranty, or at least that's what my GM brocure said when I bought my current vehicle a couple months ago. The way my dealer pitched it was that if you wanted it 'certified', then you paid $499 to have it done and they'd go over the vehicle doing all these tests, etc then give you the 'certified' sticker. It's really nothing more than a warranty from what I gathered.

I think this dealership may have put their own spin on it, trying to make an extra buck off it. I negotiated with them until they threw it in and guess what - they didn't take one extra look at the truck - just stuck it on my paperwork.

 

[ls1mike]

100,000 bumper to bumper, 50,000 powertrain.
What kind of truck.

 

[Rick in PA]

I always get a chuckle out of the expression "certified pre-owned", I mean doesn't that mean they're assuring you that "yes, this vehicle has been owned before"?

I have a buddy that was familiar with auto auctions. If you have a car that was somewhat submerged in say, muddy water, like flood damage, you can pressure-wash the interior of a car.

You do have to fan dry the interior, so the next owner doesn't have too many electrical problems...

 

[GMFan]

The sad thing is.... You figure some poor sap spends 13500 on the equinox. They buy this " certified preowned" vehicle and figure it us fully maintained before the sale. Then they drive off with filthy oil in the engine that is over 1 quart low for a few thousand miles.

The ford explored we checked out had a nice clean engine inside but was making loud noises around turns...a loud popping sound. The sales guy pretended not to hear it.

The nissan rogue only cost $7k more and Is brand new plus 0 percent APR. For that price, I couldn't blame them for deciding on a new vehicle. I was very impressed with the Nissan rogue. It is a lot of car for the money.

The rogue has the 2.5 liter altima engine and AWD. The CVT is a minor concern but I know Nissan covers you for 120k miles.

I think they should be happy with it. They really wanted the new equinox or escape but they are $5k more.

 

[wallyuwl]

Dealers are not supposed to do "CPO" as an add-on at the point of sale. They are supposed to either be, or not be, CPO before being put on the lot. The manufacturers have guidelines dealers are supposed to follow regarding CPO. The dealers are also supposed to do an inspection, of which the items are dictated by the manufacturer, on the whole vehicle (most are "100+ point inspections"). And fix anything that doesn't pass the inspection. Like was said, the manufacturers are on the hook for the warranty, and they want things done a certain way prior to sale.

To me, it sounds like bad (dishonest) dealers and bad (dishonest) salesmen. I'd bet if you called the manufacturer, they would not be happy about the dealers you drove those two vehicles (Equinox and Explorer) at.

BTW: I've never heard of a dealer not changing the oil in any vehicle. Even on $2000 vehicles at budget lots. My uncle is a partner at a used car franchise and they do business the right way, so I guess maybe I'm a bit nieve to think it always works that way because that's how I know things to be.

 

[SwampDweller]

Certified pre-owned is NOTHING but an extended warranty that is added to the price of the used car. The price of a CPO will vary around $1500 to a couple thousand more than a non CPO. Folks need to do their homework before buying. The IMPLICATION is that this car has been inspected end to end and had all services performed...what a loaf of *&^%$.

 

[Scienceman]

I would definatly contact GM.
As far as the Nissan, cool! Post pics!
I have heard alot of good things about Nissan lately.