I have been car shopping for about three months for a ES 350 "certified pre-owned" with the extended warranty and unlimited miles to replace my current ES 350.
.I found a car I liked that was advertised "no haggle". The car (sold by a Lexus Dealer) is on the internet, dealer website and other public websites showing as "certified pre-owned".
I drove 45 minutes to go see it and $2200 was added to the "no haggle" prices if I want to purchase the vehicle as a ":Lexus CPO"
The stickers on the vehicle read "Certified Pre-owned". The dealer responded as follows" "L/Certified" signifies the Lexus certified warranty. The "certified pre-owned" listed there is representative of the AutoNation certified warranty which is a 90 day or 4,000 mile warranty.. I went to another dealership who also advertised the same thing and told me it ranged from $1500 to $3000 to get the Lexus CPO on any car in stock. I am so confused....when I bought my car in 2013 cars that were advertised with "CPO" came with the Lexus CPO. Has anyone else had this experience? I am not sure if this is just the two dealerships I went to or if the process has changed.

 

This is something I have noticed when they are selling fairly new used cars.

"L/Certified" is Lexus CPO program. Thats what its called now. The "AutoNation Certified" whatever is just BS thats unique to the franchise that owns that dealership (AutoNation) and its worthless.

What happens is dealers have been trying to separate the L/Certified process and the car when its a late model car so they can advertise a lower price, and then they add the L/Certified process on like a dealer add on.

 

Look man, do not buy or support Autonation, they are the scummiest car sales company in the USA. They are terrible and will do anything to sell you a car. A 90 day warranty is a slap in the face to you and me for just hearing about that. Get away from Autonation.

 

I bought a new BMW (my first for the brand) from an AutoNation dealership. It was a very good experience from both sales and service departments, and would do it again. I've never dealt with pre-owned sales though.

 

The thing I don't understand is that I went to Lexus.com and filtered Certified Pre-Owned. The vehicle is listed from the Lexus AutoNation in WPB. WhenI went to purchase it they told me the price on the Lexus website was a car with the 161 point check-up but if I wanted the "certificate" I had to pay more money. If it does not come with the warranty of a CPO why would it be listed with a price on the Lexus website? I cannot believe Lexus participates in this.

 

Welcome to CL, Smalach.

All the more reason, IMO, buy new and avoid this kind of B.S.

 

 

The thing is that they adverse it at Lexus.Com, True Car, Carfax at a specific "no haggle price" listing it as "certified pre-owned" and then when you decide to buy it they tell you L/Certified is different than Lexus Certified. That's unfair advertising. Its not fair to consumers.

 

I have only done the extended warranty on two cars, a GM and a BMW. If one were to add up all the repairs for the GM at full retail, it was worth it. The BMW? Didn't have any claims so a total waste and how these programs work. You're always gonna have a Doug DeMuro bragging about $20k worth of repairs, but for each of him, there will be 99 others who got no benefit.

On a Japanese car? Suffice it to say on a brand new Nissan Maxima, it would have been like the BMW, no claims. My LS was purchased 10 model years old (2006 in 2016), and if it had an extended warranty, nothing would have broken except a park distance sensor. On a Lexus this is pure profit imho, and should yield zero benefit to the buyer. my .02

edit: my buddy faced a similar decision buying a used X5, with 48k (basically the retail price of a factory extended warranty would be added if he wanted it to be CPO). He declined it and his motor went at 53k. Defies the odds, and being a CFA, he never buys a new car, never leases a new car, and never takes extended warranties. Believe me he got BMW to fix it--when you don't need your car back, the dealer and mfg. lose a lot of leverage that they usually use to bully customers into paying. I did that with a Porsche--yeah I didn't have the car for 3 weeks, but it was covered by warranty in the end.

 

Not sure what you mean when you say L/Certified is different than Lexus Certified. I just bought an "L/Certified" 2017 NX in August, and it's warrantied by Lexus. Back in 2006, I bought a "Pre-Owned Certified" ES, also warrantied by Lexus. To me, it's the exact same thing (just a new name). The vehicles undergo specific inspections, everything must pass (or be repaired to Lexus' standards) and once it meets all the inspection criteria Lexus slaps the L/Certified label on it stating they're extending the warranty by XX years/XX miles. L/Certified is Lexus Certified.

 

There is no "Lexus certified"only "L/Certified".

 

I would RUN as fast as I could AWAY from these tricky AUTONATION dealers.

 

The truely L/Certified Lexus vehicles has UNLIMITED MILEAGE WARRANTY/6 years from the date of "first pit into service". VS new Lexus with only its OEM factory limited warranty which generally is 4 years/50,000 miles, whichever occurs first (there are some components with longer coverage, but not unlimited mileage).

So if one can find a "good deal" with a L/Certified Lexus vehicle, then this us the way to go. This AutoNation BS IS NO GO IMHO BC IT'S NOT HONEST AND JUST TOO TRICKY BY THE DEALERSHIP!!! RUN AWAY!!!

 

I get what you are saying, but most owners don't put unlimited mileage on their cars, unless they are commuting to work and back and forth 100 miles each way LOL. The warranty on a brand-new Lexus product (6/70 on the drivetrain, 4/50 bumper-to-bumper) should be adequate for most owners, who usually keep a vehicle 4-6 years. Not only that, but no matter how well the used-vehicle is inspected/repaired/conditioned, the new vehicle will usually be in better overall condition, unless damage was done en route from the factory.

 

Not sure the point you're trying to make. This thread is about certified cars. Bottom line is, the certified warranty is 2 years beyond the factory warranty. Theres no discussion about new cars here.