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Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles

681 messages,  Last post on Oct 04, 2012 at 4:49 AM

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What is this discussion about? Certified Used (CPO)

Messages Page 66 of 69

#642 of 681 Re: Certified Corolla been in an accident before purchase [prithis] by volvomax

May 30, 2008 (4:45 pm)

Replying to: prithis (May 29, 2008 11:27 am)
Honestly, a bumper that was re-painted is hardly catastrophic.
Certified cars are not guaranteed to be free from ANY bodywork, only MAJOR bodywork.
Toyota's are actually easy to check because they put VIN stickers on all the OEM bodypanels.
If those stickers are missing, then you have had major work done.
 
I'd just relax and enjoy your truck.

#643 of 681 Certified or Non-Certified? by nameless

Jun 08, 2008 (5:56 pm)

I hope this question hasn't been asked already, but I'm new at buying a used car (have generally purchased new cars), and needed some advice.
 
I am in the market for a used Acura MDX, 2004/2005. This will serve as a primary car for the next year, but will eventually be a second car. I have been searching around and came across a 2005 with 56K miles, Touring, and Navi for $19,500 (non-CPO). However, the lowest CPO that I found is around $24K-$25K. You will probably know my question, but is it worth the extra $5K-$6K for a CPO, or should I just save the money and just go with a used?
 
This might also be a stupid question, but if I buy a non-CPO from a dealer/private seller, can I take it to a Acura dealer to have it inspected and get it CPO?
 
Thanks for the help!

#644 of 681 Re: Certified or Non-Certified? [nameless] by volvomax

Jun 10, 2008 (10:25 am)

Replying to: nameless (Jun 08, 2008 5:56 pm)
First question, do the CPO cars have the same miles?
 
Next, you can't generally have a dealer certify a car the dealer didn't buy.
You may be able to buy a warranty for it though.

#645 of 681 Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? by ny14337

Oct 13, 2008 (7:46 pm)

I purchased a CPO 2001 Lexus RX300 a number of years ago for my wife. At the time I purchased it, I ran a Carfax check which came back clean and the dealer told me the vehicle had never been in an accident. Today I went to another dealer to purchase a new car. I was using the RX300 as a trade in. Imagine my shock when I was told that the vehicle had obviously been damaged at some point because there was a significant amount of repainting on the entire body. They offered me about 1/2 of what the retail value of the car is because their policy is that they don't sell cars that were in accidents so there is no resale potential for them. When I told them that it was a CPO vehicle from a Lexus dealership, they were shocked that it had been certified.
 
When I got home, I called Lexus customer service to find out how a vehicle that had obviously had some significant body work done on it could have passed their certification process. They told me that a vehicle could be certified as long as there was no frame damage. I have to admit that I was stunned. Their own website says that they will often not certify a vehicle if it has a strange odor, and now they tell me that as long as there is no frame damage its ok. Lord knows if there is frame damage. I didnt know there was anything wrong with the car before today.
 
Now I'm stuck with a vehicle that may be worth only half of what I originally thought. I wish I would have known this 6 months ago before my in-laws purchased a 2008 RX-400 and a 2008 ES-350 for cash. Any ideas on what recourses I have?
 
Thanks!

#646 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [ny14337] by dtownfb

Oct 13, 2008 (8:12 pm)

Replying to: ny14337 (Oct 13, 2008 7:46 pm)
About the only recourse you may have is with CarFax. they advertise some sort of guarantee that may be worth investigating. Other than this, I don't think you have any recourse.

#647 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [dtownfb] by ny14337

Oct 13, 2008 (9:13 pm)

Replying to: dtownfb (Oct 13, 2008 8:12 pm)
I'm not even sure if I could pursue anything through CarFax. I'm guessing that whoever the prior owner was decided to do the repair without going through the insurance company. Plus I think the CarFax guarantee is more related to issues such as total loss accidents, fire/flood damage, mileage issues, lemon law problems, etc... But thanks anyway. Now I need to bring it in to an independent bodyshop to see if there is any other problems with it.

#648 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [ny14337] by millikin54

Oct 14, 2008 (7:19 am)

Replying to: ny14337 (Oct 13, 2008 9:13 pm)
Your best course of action might just be to trade it in or sell it to another Lexus dealer. My wife and I had a similar surprise when I tried to sell her old car to an independent used car dealer. It was a 1 year-old used Ford Escort hatchback that her parents bought her from a Ford dealership while she was in college. After we moved and got new insurance on the car, the insurance lady mentioned something about her car having been previously totaled (this was before Carfax was prevalent).
 
I tried to sell it to an independent dealer, thinking that would be the easiest way to get a decent deal on the vehicle. The guy on the lot pointed out signs of repair from what looked to have been a significant accident. He told me that he couldn't buy the car because of the liability he might have to absorb at some point, and he couldn't afford that as a small independent shop. He then suggested for me to take it to a Ford dealer, saying that they would be big enough to not share his liability concerns.
 
So I took the car to a Ford dealership and asked them what they would give me for it. I didn't mention anything about the repair work that the other guy showed me. I felt it was fair since the dealer that sold the vehicle to my father-in-law never mentioned anything about it either. Fair dealership trade-in pricing for that car in good shape was around $4,200-4,800 at the time. They looked over the car for a few minutes and offered me around $4,500.
 
Since it sounds as though you are in a similar predicament, I would recommend that you do something similar. I'd be sure to play up the part about how you purchased it CPO. That way, I would think, they should give you a pretty fair deal.

#649 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [millikin54] by dtownfb

Oct 14, 2008 (11:36 am)

Replying to: millikin54 (Oct 14, 2008 7:19 am)
The only problem is the accident is showing up on Carfax. I guarantee they will check Carfax (or whatever database dealers use) before taking a trade in this environment.

#650 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [ny14337] by volvomax

Oct 15, 2008 (8:56 am)

Replying to: ny14337 (Oct 13, 2008 7:46 pm)
Lexus isn't alone w/ this provision.
Remember that CPO warranties cover the mechanical aspects of the car, not the cosmetic.
Some dealers won't certify a car with obvious paintwork, others will.

#651 of 681 Re: Lexus certifying vehicles that were in accidents??? [millikin54] by ny14337

Oct 15, 2008 (9:11 pm)

Replying to: millikin54 (Oct 14, 2008 7:19 am)
Well it seems that I have sort of gotten to the bottom of what the issue was. I spoke to someone from Lexus Customer Service who asked that I bring the vehicle in to one of their service centers so they could take a look at it. I agreed but before I did that I decided to go back to the dealer who told me that repairs had been done on my car. I asked them to show me what they had noticed. I was told that when they appraise a vehicle, they use some sort of device that measures the thickness of paint on the body. When they used it on my car, the thickness of the paint on all of the doors was more than double of what it should be. This meant to them that the vehicle had some type of work done it. After thinking about it, I believe what happend was that the vehicle was not in an accident. When I initially looked at the vehicle 4 years ago, there were some scratches, chips, etc... on the doors. I mentioned that to the salesman and he said that they could all be buffed out and compounded out by their detailing guys. What happend in actuality is that they probably brought it to a body shop and laid another coat of paint on all the doors. It looked great, you couldnt see a mark on it and my wife was happy. I explained this to the dealer I was trying to trade the car into and he said that while that it was a likely explanation as to why there was all the extra paint, it still did not change his valuation of the car. He said that especially in luxury cars, which he places the Lexus in, any type of repair to the body, even simply repainting the door, will devalue the vehicle. Even if that were true, I'm still not sure why it would decrease the wholesale value by almost half. They use Galves in NY and the wholesale value of my vehicle should be approx. $11,500. Dealerships in my area are selling cars with similar mileage and options for anywhere from $15,500 to $16,250. The dealership I wanted to trade it into offered me $6,500. Thats almost a $10,000 swing. I guess I'll be selling it on my own.

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