Hello everyone!

Currently shopping around for my next ride and have been looking at both new and CPO vehicles. While I've always got a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) done from a third party for used car purchases I was wondering if a PPI is needed for a CPO as well.

Did you get your CPO purchased car checked out before purchasing? Is it required considering the manufacturer (Lexus) is giving 2 year additional warranty after the new car warranty expires?

Thanks!

 

A CPO usually comes with a warranty that is as good or almost as good as on a new car (depending on the manufacturer). To qualify as a CPO, it has to be under a certain age and mileage, and undergo a long list of some (roughly) 150 check-items or so....and certain repairs or replacements made as needed. I personally have never actually owned a CPO, but have visually-inspected, test-driven, and helped others buy a number of them. My experience has been that, in general, they ARE usually in better shape than run-of-the-mill used vehicles, but that the reality is not always as rosy as the image and/or TV advertising. I think part of the issue is that, at large dealerships that handle hundreds of vehicles each day in their service bays for issues with regular customers, they many not always have the time or the expense that it takes to concentrate on the long CPO certification-process before the vehicle actually goes on the lot for sale. In other words, they may end up charging for the CPO process (it adds several hundred dollars to the average price of the used car, because of the attention and repairs)..but not necessarily doing all of the actual work to certify it. I usually don't see CPOs with big problems on them like bald tires, shimmies, smoking engines, bad alignment/pulls, repairs from major accidents, etc.....but they sometimes omit small things that they are supposed to address, like noticeable body dings/scratches and cracked or broken interior plastic parts. Of course, if you have a trusted mechanic or technician who you like or have experience with, and you particularly want him or her to check out a prospective CPO, by all means, do so....a third pair of eyes usually doesn't hurt.

Here, for instance, is the 161-item list that is required for a Lexus CPO certification. As you can see, that's a lot of items....IF they actually take the time and expense to do it correctly, and not just rush it through to save time or money.

http://www.lexus.com/documents/broch...t-brochure.pdf

 

Lexus's L/Certified program was changed this Jan 4th 2016. The old warranty was 3 year / 100,000 miles. The new program is Balance of new car warranty + 2 years / unlimited miles. The LCCS Low mileage program use to cost $530 for certification is now $995, and the Standard program (6 yr/ 70K) which was $995 is now $1395. It should be noted that while last years program netted an oil change, now it comes with complimentary scheduled maintenance which covers 4 services (2 years or 20K miles). So if your certified car has 20,000 miles, the 25K, 30K (major), 35K, and 40K would be taken care of. New Lexus still only get 2 services! 5K/10K. Overall a nice improvement to the program.

 

So you lose a year but gain extra miles. Not sure if I like the new change.

 

It really depends on the vehicles DOFU or Date of First Use. at a MINIMUM you will get a 2 yr / unlimited mile warranty, at a MAXIMUM you would get a 6 year / unlimited mile warranty. Most CPO Lexus will fall in the 3-4 year coverage range.

Don't forget you're getting scheduled maintenance as well (4 services), and depending on vehicle miles at purchase, your next major service 30K, 60K could be covered

 

Under the old program, what if I bought a 2 year old Lexus. What would happen to the original warranty? Would I also get the 3 year 100k?

 

As long as the vehicle met program eligibility of under 6 years / 70K miles then it would delete the original factory warranty and begin the 3 year / 100K from date of pre-owned sale.

 

That does not make sense. If I bought a demo that was 2 months old, the original 4 year warranty would get deleted?

 

Your earlier example said a 2 year old car.

If it was a 2 month old Demo the dealership would more often than not, keep the remaining warranty because the car would probably only have 5-15K miles on it, so they would opt NOT to certify it to save themselves a cert cost.

Demo's are not usually certified because they are not typically RDR'd and therefore are still considered 'NEW' even though they have some miles on them.

Certification costs are as follows: LCCS Low mileage program (under 20 months under 30K miles) costs $995 (last year $530) and Standard (under 6 years under 70K miles) costs $1395 (last year $995)

 

Thanks for the info everyone!! As always this forum is my go to place if I need sensible answers.