bgruver

Do dealers honor the warranty of non-certified cars? Should non-certified cars be avoided?

I'm looking at a used 1998 GS400 with 33000 miles on it. The car was on lease and was bought by a local dealer at an auction, so it's not certified. Should I stay away from it?

LexusRules

certified cars is like buying a brand new lexus, you will get a new warrenty and full lexus coverage if i am not mistaken non-certified cars do not have full coverage if any, maybe the old warrenty if it hasn't expired

RealMarty

I believe certified used cars have their normal 60k power train warranty extended to 100k by Lexus. Thus, any Lexus dealer will honor the warranty.

If a non-certified car is still within its normal warranty period Lexus dealers will honor the warranty.

I would be concerned if I were buying the car from a Lexus dealer and they wouldn't certify it. It's unusual to hear of a used Lexus being sold by a Lexus dealer without the certification and I'd want to know why not.

You may want to check its VIN with CARFAX.

If the car checks out OK you may want to purchase an extended warranty from Lexus or a third party. Overall that may be less expensive than buying a certified car.

bgruver

Thanks for the help.

I already have checked the VIN out with CarFax. It checked out fine. It did say that it was a leased car and it looks like it was purchased at an dealers auto auction by a private, meaning non-Lexus, car dealer.

I think I'll check around a bit more for a certified vehicle before buying this one.

GS4Will

B,

at least 1/2 of dealer cars are bought from auction. from my experience, dealers would not certify the a car for the following reasons:

1.too high miles(this one does not apply.)
2.they bought the car and paid too much at auction, and they do not want to spend any more $$ to certify it.

3.the car has been in fender bender so severe that it is NOT certifieable.

the car only has 33k miles, so if it is non-certified, it still has the remain 4yr/50k miles warranty. if the price is right~$30k, and the car is mechanically sound, just get a aftermarket warranty before the factory one expires.

oh, the car is from a non-lexus dealer, hence the non-certification. then just take the car to a lex dealer and have them do a pre-buy inspection.

william

hawkatl

Many on this site seem to be more comfortable buying a "certified" car from a dealer. To each his own, but my advice is to forget about buying a used Lexus from a dealer.

The original warranty applies regardless of who you buy it from, so long as the 4 years/50K mile thresholds have not been exceeded.

It's true that Lexus adds a longer warranty for cars that it "certifies," but you pay a BIG premium for that.

Get your own inspector to give you an opinion about the condition of the car, regardless of who you buy it from. You may not have a warranty from a non-Lexus dealer or individual, but you are still likely to come out better on buying a used version of what is one of the best-built, most reliable cars in the world! I've taken this approach buying two used Lexii, (as well as other kinds of cars) and have had success so far.