mellomel

Hi everyone, I am curious on this? Have heard a couple of salesmen tell me that there is in the region of 1500 in value in CPO incurred by dealers to get certified. Is this a pitch to extract extra $ from customers or Legit? Didn't see it discussed in my search. Any thoughts or redirection appreciated!

01tl4tl

it cost the dealer a few hundred for the paperwork with acura- but that gives it $1500 worth of warranty coverage- particularly important for the trans and electronics of the car--just too likely to fail if you dont have a warranty

But no- its not incurred value (wtf is that?) or madatory higher sales price- its perceived value and it does NOT mean the car is serviced or perfect at all!!!! do NOT be fooled

Its a sales tool to seal the deal- this car has warranty like all cars made today!! 100k miles
instead of that garbage 50 warranty acura came with
Its a visual inspection of normal wear items and check of any recalls to be fixed before sale- thats about it- nothing on accident damage thats been repaired etc
The tech is looking at mechanical wear- not crash damage unless blatant
Does NOT mean the car was serviced on time or at the dealer

Majofo

^ couldn't have put it better.. 'incurred' = , the service shop almost never incurs any cost.

If you buy a CPO vehicle, the trick is getting it to pay itself off.. that's the real value. Since the rules are pretty strict for warranty items, you'll have to maintain the appropriate service intervals so you're probably not going to ever have it pay itself off if you consider the true price of doing work on the car.

All it would take though is a head gasket, and maybe a couple axle swaps from the dealer.. If I bought CPO I would try to push for every little thing before the warranty expires.

mellomel

I guess I wasn't too clear on my explanation, I apologize. A salesman let me to beleive that the dealership selling the car paid around 1500 to get the CPO paperwork done. So that was a cost for them to recover in the sales price. I guess they tried to get me to raise my bid. I walked as it sounded fishy. Thanks for the info, it is very helpful in my quest to score a TL!

Majofo

^ Tom hit it on the nail.. they may have paid a small royalty but definitely not the price they pass down to the consumer.. you did the right thing by walking and doing research. What are the details about the TL? yr, mileage, warranty coverage, pkg options (navi / non-navi)..

CPO doesn't mean it's perfect and they definitely did not pay $1.5k to certify it.. CPO just means they inspected it and warranty it X yrs / X miles..

csmeance

CPO means that the car is in tip-top shape, new tires, brakes, etc. that needed to be done to insure that the car will be good for the road.

ndabunka

Some of what you are reading from others is a bit mis-leading. Cmeance was dead on though. CPO means that the dealership inspected the car (true). CPO cars generally also HAVE to be brought up to certain standards the manufacturer establishes. Tires have to be new (or VERY close to new). This may even extend down to the TYPE of tires/wheels allowed to be on the car. This means that in about 90% of CPO's, the tires have to be replaced. That's anywhere from a $400 to $600 value. Brakes also fall into that catagory but the standards may be a bit more flexible (about 50% of the pads replaced) so there would be another $400 or so. Dents (even small ones) can cause a buyer to pass by a car so it's also VERY common for a dealership to have a dent guy "pop out" any dents in a car and that generally runs another $200-$300 (my brother runs his own dent business for about 6 dealerships). So all this does add up to between $1K and $1,500 and THAT is why NAPA and KBB and Edmunds say that a CPO is worth $1,500 more (on average). Of course, more expensive cars cost more to CPO.

In some (very rare) cases, the dealership may not have to put much into the car other than inspecting it but... this is the exception.

One train of thought is to START at the wholesale value plus the CPO value and then negotiate. That is what I did with my recent purchase and it worked out VERY well for me (non-Acura)

01tl4tl

unless you are a dealer tech you really dont know what happens on these inspections~
I do--been there- inspected that~

Yes there are standards on the CPO- tires must be above a certain tread depth
brakes must be above 50% remaining-
BUT you should replace brakes at 20 percent remaining or 2mm- without a pad thickness measurement, brake info is a guess at best

Sales dept and service are different entities- sales looks at what they are putting into each car and what they can get for the car
They leave off most items unless required to fix by cpo, and can negotiate repairs into the sales contract and final price
they want max commission, and every dollar spent on the car is less they make in profit

Service will do the minimum CPO says- oil change IF the indicator says to- or it looks black as most buyers will pull the dipstick- and never look at ps fluid-brake fluid etc- other things that really should be done
the do NOT do cabin air filters or other basics

tech inspects and note it for sales dept- who decides what to do on each car
Sales calls the dent removal guy- who gives them wholesale deals
dealer has its own low paid detailer for the paint buffing and shine vac etc

cpo checks for open recalls and fixes them- thats supposed to be done on every car anyway~

What all this does get you- is an extended warranty which you will need
Im a gen2 and based on my own trans probs I wouldnt buy another acura without an extended warranty -cpo or something
but dont think cpo means perfect in any way!!!!!!!

Cars damaged or worn out- they simply dont CPO- they wholesale auction them or sell to a sucker thinking they are saving 1500 for no cpo
$1500 `value` comes from the price of acuras own extended warranty they sell-1500

andyc123

My CPO got me 4 years/50k miles of full warranty on top of the car. Buying my TLS with 12k miles extended the full warranty to 62k miles, and 4 years from the date of purchase. That said, I don't think anything will go wrong before then. I concentrated on price, which is what you should be doing anyway. Tack on an extra $500 for the CPO and bargain with those figures.

01tl4tl

wow that was a hosing--maybe read the contract again
you should get full coverage to 40 or 50 on the normal acura warranty- and then the cpo kicks in for everything from tail to nose up to 100 -the prime trans failure period
Im gen2 so cant speak with authority on cpo conditions of contract

DeathMetal

iTrader: (2)

Go for the CPO...if you're looking for a specific model, don't slight yourself. MAKE SURE THEY CHECK THE CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS!!! I take possesion of my CPO on Monday, and I'm more than happy, even in spite of the premium paid.

dannyboy10

For Acura CPO cars, the tires do not have to be new or close to new. They only need to have 5/32nd's of tread left. This means the tires can be 60 percent worn. A typical new tire had 10/32nd's of tread.

5/32nd's is not a lot of tread depth if you drive in rainy weather often or in snow....especially with the Turanzas.

01tl4tl

2/32 or 3/32 is absolute minimum tire depth- thats when the wear bars are gone
to test: stick a USA penny in- hat end first
If Lincolns head disappears you have a good tire tread depth
if you can see the hat and head- its new tire time

Dealer may use OE spec mickeyslips tires,, which sucked then and suck now- they pay about 40 bucks for a 150 dollar tire

mellomel

wowser! a wealth of info! thanks for the responses, that clarifies it a lot. I am looking at an 08 type S MT with about 20k. 3G's as a whole seem to be at a premium right now and are holding their value real well. Making my life frustrating, but I am going to try to be patient!

218TL

LOL...is it bad if the penny hardly catches the tread?????

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, but this is not correct. The CPO will give you an additional 12/12K bumper to bumper warranty added to the factory warranty, and 7/100K only on the drive train. When and only when you choose to purchased the full coverage will the warranty be extended bumper to bumper 100K. This is also misleading as there are many items that do not qualify for the warranty as Acura considers them wear items.

The CPO process also calls for an inspection and placements of the Vehicle Identification Number to ensure that the VIN plates match. I take this to mean if the vehicle had replacement parts that do not contain a VIN, it wouldn't be eligible for the warranty.

Most new car dealers will retain the best on their lots and wholesale the rest. As with many, most that are lease returns, or trade-ins with reasonable mileage are going to be in decent shape, if not out the door they go. When we looked at our car it wasn't a CPO, but after negotiating the price, I asked them to make it a CPO and it will be a deal. They obliged, and I purchased the extra warranty. The car was never re-inspected as I picked it up the next day, but they had previously installed new brakes and I couldn't find anything wrong even going over with a fine toothed comb. They probably put it on the lot hoping someone would purchase the car and they wouldn't need to lay out extra money, although minimal, for the CPO warranty.

It's a good deal for peace of mind, but they certainly aren't sticking their neck out too far as most of the cars will reach 100K without a problem.

Take a look over on the Acura site for the CPO inspection criteria and warranty, but it won't list the items that are not covered. This will come as a surprise in the booklet you receive.

HWYDSGNR

As others have said CPO=Peace of Mind, especially on the Nav and trans.

mellomel

Update Time guys! Thanks for the help on something I was wrestling with! I picked up My TL on Tuesday thanks to your clarification on this matter. Picked up a CPO NBP '08 Type S MT w. 19500 miles. Battled hard on the CPO value. 3G's Are holding their value really well lately.

01tl4tl

as I said turbo- Im not gen3 or cpo owner so going off memory --which seems to be going away more each day~
thanks for clarifying the miles and time conditions of cpo

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

No problem, you're usually spot on. We'll let you slide this time.