Have a neighbor looking at a CPO Honda. They offer great benefits:

http://www.hondacertified.com/program-benefits.aspx

She found a used Honda at a Dodge dealership and they've been telling her it's certified and comes with the Honda warranty.

I smell bullshit on this one. I suspect it may come with some sort of dealership warranty but not a Honda warranty. Why does it matter? Because this dealership is 1:15 away and if she has to have work done, driving there and back for work isn't practical. With the Honda warranty, she could take it to any Honda dealership that would offer the warranty.

My assumption is that Honda is the certifying agent for their used vehicles so they would be the only ones offering this warranty. It's like buying a tool at Home Depot and expecting Lowe's to honor the warranty on it.

Does anyone else see this my way or am I being a little too paranoid?

I know they will say anything to a customer to get them in the door where they can work the customer over. And I know that if they are aware a customer has driven that far to get there, they know that customer might not want to leave without a car.

"Certified Pre-Owned"
Just more syllables to sound fancy when you really mean USED CAR!

Honda pre owned certified used cars are only sold at their dealerships and meet certain standards.

Unless that Dodge dealership sells Honda's as well, it's bullshit.

They are probably referring to the remaining Honda Factory warranty and their own certification.

I think you're on the right track. I don't see how dodge can cerify a Honda as a CPO. I've never seen a "certified preowned" vehicle on another manufacturers lot.

To go a step further, I have traded in a Honda CPO to a Honda dealer and they have stated on multiple occasions that the CPO warranty dies when the vehicle transfers to another dealer (including Honda).

I sold one to a private party once and they had to pay a transfer fee and send in the bill of sale to keep the warranty.

I call BS on a Dodge dealer having a CPO Honda. Even if it was at one time, my info tells me that has evaporated with the trade in.

CPO honda dealership only. I looked into this myself and found out that this is somewhat of a sales gimmick at Honda to increase the price of their used cars. Them may fix them, but they really dont do much in the way of inspection or repairs after taking them in to their dealership. I chose not to do it, and have my mechanic check car before purchase.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
CPO honda dealership only. I looked into this myself and found out that this is somewhat of a sales gimmick at Honda to increase the price of their used cars. Them may fix them, but they really dont do much in the way of inspection or repairs after taking them in to their dealership. I chose not to do it, and have my mechanic check car before purchase.

So I should not believe the pre-certification inspection sheet, the repair sheet, or the sign off inspection sheet from my wife's certified Honda? M-okay.

Plus she has a factory warranty on a five year old vehicle. But whatever.

quote:

So I should not believe the pre-certification inspection sheet, the repair sheet, or the sign off inspection sheet from my wife's certified Honda? M-okay

A healthy skepticism would be in order, but it is your purchase caveat emptor. You know for sure when you pay your own mechanic.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

So I should not believe the pre-certification inspection sheet, the repair sheet, or the sign off inspection sheet from my wife's certified Honda? M-okay

A healthy skepticism would be in order, but it is your purchase caveat emptor. You know for sure when you pay your own mechanic.

Well, now I know to beware. So is it just Honda America that is doing this, or Honda Global? Are Nissan, Ford, Mercedes, Volvo, and all the other auto companies in on the scam too? If I buy a new vehicle should I have my mechanic check it out?

Do I need to have each new firearm's headspace and chamber checked for SAAMI-spec'ness?

Did I enter the Twilight Zone?

Wait, what if my mechanic is in on it?

Oh well, thanks to the bourbon thread I'll just drown my worries in a shot of OGD 114. After I run it through the mass spectrometer to check for adulterants.

Is the dealership part of a larger chain? Around here one chain may have several different dealerships for multiple brands. Even then, it's odd.

I'm pretty sure that as others have already said, you can only get a Honda CPO at a Honda dealer. Same for other brands.

Side note: I recently bought a used vehicle that was not a CPO. Before buying, I took it to the independent service shop that does the maintenance on our vehicles.

Ninety-five bucks for a pre-buy inspection, and that was money that was well spent. Discrepancies that he found included a cracked transmission mount and a leaky cooler for the power steering fluid along with a few other things that would make a total repair cost of over a thousand dollars.

I went back to the selling dealer, told the sales manager that I would pay the asking price for the vehicle (which was well in line with market value) if they would correct the discrepancies, or I would handle the repairs but we would have to re-negotiate the sales price.

They chose to handle the repairs, all of which have a one-year parts and labor warranty.

Bottom line: A pre-buy inspection done by a qualified mechanic is a worth-while thing when buying a used car.

One of the old farts who drinks coffee with us is a retired Nissan dealer who moved here from the big city. He's told us that "certified" used cars are a complete scam. As underhanded as auto dealerships have proven to be, I'm inclined to believe him.

quote:

Originally posted by onegeek:

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
CPO honda dealership only. I looked into this myself and found out that this is somewhat of a sales gimmick at Honda to increase the price of their used cars. Them may fix them, but they really dont do much in the way of inspection or repairs after taking them in to their dealership. I chose not to do it, and have my mechanic check car before purchase.

So I should not believe the pre-certification inspection sheet, the repair sheet, or the sign off inspection sheet from my wife's certified Honda? M-okay.

Plus she has a factory warranty on a five year old vehicle. But whatever.

I can see it from both of your perspectives. While a mechanic could in theory "check the box" for a lot of things, there are the simple things you could check for such as filters, oil color (can't always tell if it's changed but if the oil is really dark then we can guess it probably hasn't been changed lately), tread depth, etc.

Warranty on a new Honda is 5/60,000. The CPO is 7/100,000 on the remaining balance. 7 years from when the vehicle first went into service (titled) and whatever the difference the current odometer is from 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. I've been helping her search and there are a lot of cars with 10-20k miles that are a year or two old. That's essentially a new warranty.

I suspect a lot of these vehicles were leased vehicles, maintenance history might be available through the Honda database, too.

I think for her situation, going CPO is the way to go.

She is really set on the Honda Fit, there isn't much CPO stock. But there doesn't seem to be much demand, either. I told her not to exclude the Civic. There are a lot more out there to choose from as it is more common. She's an older lady, kids are grown and out of the house so she doesn't need too much car. Commute is short at 7 miles/12-15 minutes.

That particular Dodge dealership kept trying to tell her it's Honda certified. Okay, if that ownership group did own a Honda dealership then they should know that a real Honda CPO should only be sold through Honda and "sold" the vehicle to their Honda dealership. To me, it was just a BS reason for them to get her into the dealership.

I took her to look at a couple of cars last week at Honda in Sanford and the salesman didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. But does that really surprise you anymore?

Are they saying it is certified AND a Honda warranty?
Or they are saying it is a Certified Honda warranty?

The first it likely still covered by the factory Honda warranty and then their certifodd warranty after.

I was looking at Toyota CPOs and a couple dealerships tried to sneak that in as some Siennas could not be Toyota factory certified due to an open recall.

Biggest thing to look out for is whether it is "certified" by the dealer or backed by the manufacturer.

True Honda CPO is backed by Honda, not the selling dealer. they have an extra 12m/12k bumper to bumper and 7y/100k drivetrain. I admit I was quite impressed when my front wheel bearing was covered free of charge at 86k miles.

Isn't the Honda CPO warranty transferable (goes with the car, not the owner)? Wouldn't it be possible the Honda was sold used by Honda as a Honda CPO and the owner later traded it in at the Dodge store for something else (at least 2 prior owners). The Honda would still be a CPO car if the warranty transfers. That warranty can run an extra $1K or so, so its a plus if it is transferable and if so, the Dodge store isn't misrepresenting. A phone call to a Honda service dept. with the VIN should give you confirmation.