Is it just me, or has everyone noticed the quality or the CPO cars? I'm talking about the cosmetic condition. They are just ...... @#$% ! I can remember buying my first couple of cars and my Dad's 2nd Lexus, they were perfect ! No dings, no dents. Now, door dings, cracked windshields, scratches and on and on. It's really sad. I called Lexus ans asked, they said it's a gray area. There is no standard, it's kinda what ever they can get away with.

Ok, I feel better. well, a little.. Back to shopping for a nice CPO car

 

Like everything else, Lexus CPOs is profit driven. The less they fix, the more money they make. When the Lexus CPO program first came out, they were trying to set a good reputation for the new market. Wasn’t Lexus the 1st company to start certifying their used cars. Unfortunately, like everything else, quality usually goes down after the market have been established.

 

Flame Suit Level 3 engaged GMAN?

 

The "inspect and repair" component of the CPO program is somewhat of a joke at many delaerships (and I'd venture to say MOST dealerships). The cars do in fact carry the extended warranty and they will generally fix issues that you identify upon your inspection (but they may argue with you on the "gray area" items) or that happen during the warranty period, but the "inspection" process during the CPO certification process is very half-assed from what I've personally seen at multiple dealerships on multiple vehicles. You can easily find things on most CPO cars that obviously indicate that the car was NOT closely inspected by anyone with functioning ears and eyeballs and a decent understanding of cars. Or else they intentionally decided to let it slide and see if they could get away with it with their customer. IMO, Lexus is beginning to squander some of the excellent reputation that they worked so hard to build in the early years.

 

CPO cars can be good deals, but you must cherry-pick from a lot of mediocre stock. The CPO warranty and certification does give some legal protection from surprises that might come up later.

 

My dealership here in SoCal always ALWAYS have some repair truck/van on premise fixing dents and chips and scratches on cars on the lot. Not just the new ones, but also the CPO and non-CPO cars.

Maybe SoCal car buyers are a bit more conscious and specific about the aesthetics of their cars. Most of us are car enthusiasts out here...

 

As the car market gets worst, car dealers are making more and more used cars CPO to generate more profit, even thought those cars would normally not be CPO.

 

My dad's IS was in pretty good shape when he got it. Now my friend's parents got a 3 year old GS and they pointed out all of the dings and scratches they wanted fixed prior to purchase. Come to think of it, this dealer (Lexus of Chester Springs) did the same for my bro's IS300 which needed a bumper respray. Kudos to them, though they have no idea how to register a car apparently.

 

I've mostly seen very good examples. I rarely have seen a bad example. This goes for most all luxury brands, most CPOs are in good shape.

For the dealer it makes no sense to sell a bad CPO car (Lexus) as the car is covered for 100k miles and they don't want to waste their time/money fixing a car under warrenty.

 

Doesnt the dealer still get paid on a CPO warranty repair? Its still a booked amount paid by Lexus, not the dealer.

 

In the end yes, they get reimbursed. However you still are using your techs to do warrenty work instead of work paid by the customer. This can create longer wait times, which creates longer loaner times, customer's not satisfied etc.

 

And I was told here that Lexus does the final inspection/review for CPO certification, not the dealer.

 

Do you really think Lexus have a rep in every dealer inspecting every used car they sell

 

Here is Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area, yes. And that's no spectacular feat, since one rep can drive and service a dozen dealers within a 100 mile radius. And it's not every used car they sell, it's only the CPO cars which is a small percentage of total used cars sold by Lexus dealerships, big difference.

 

I agree, Mike. The CPO's I've seen at our dealer are absolute "cream puffs" I think there's a misconception that if it's used, and sold by a certified Lexus franchise, it's automatically a CPO car. That's untrue. Very few pre-owned cars sold by Lexus dealers can meet CPO qualification, and are simply sold as "pre-owned", not CPO. For the most part, if you buy a pre-owned Lexus from a Lexus dealer and it's in less than stellar condition, it's probably not a CPO car. CPO cars must:

Pass a 165 point inspection. (which includes cosmetic)
Have no more than 60,000 miles.
Be no more than 5 years old.
Have never been in an accident.
be obtained by the original purchasing owner.

Botom line is, just because it's pre-owned, doesn't mean it's a *Certified* Pre Owned car.