Indeed. In fact, I bought the 460 and the 430 from Lexus dealerships in a neighboring state.

 

Why would we pay extra for a CPO vehicle if the inspection is not done properly? It's unacceptable that the dealer charges extra for CPO and skips items on the checklist. I have never had much confidence with these dealers anyway. I saw the mechanics abuse customers cars by driving them like race cars behind the gate in the service area at a dealer in central Virginia. It's a shame that you are just a walking dollar bill to them.

 

I personally wouldn't worry too much about a car being CPO or not if I were shopping for one.

 

Isn't the CPO vehicles free from any accidents?

 

They're allowed to have up to two non bumper panels repainted. I've read plenty of stories about people finding out CPO cars had previous accidents.

You can be 95% sure as to any used cars accident history after an inspection by a good mechanic.

 

Lexus salesmen told me a car can be CPO if it does not have any frame damage (not sure what frame, maybe subframes?). So some of them have been in accidents.

 

I don't see anything at Lexus that says that a CPO Lexus must be accident free. I always thought it must be accident free

 

Here's the actual CPO 161-point check-list for a Lexus product, direct from the company itself.

http://www.lexus.com/documents/broch...t-brochure.pdf

And here are the general CPO standards:

http://www.autos.com/car-buying/cert...ion-highlights


Interesting point, Jill. I thought so, too. Although the standards DO demand a "clean" vehicle history, the definition of "clean" is not really spelled out, and it does not specifically spell out no accidents. (maybe their reasoning is that if any accident damage was properly repaired, it is a moot point anyway). Perhaps (?) "Clean" means no legal or outstanding liens against the title, money owed on the car, or records of any police vehicle-impoundment like for drug-running or use of the vehicle in a crime.

 

I bought a CPO ES350 with minor fender repair. I even called corporate on it. They said it passes the standard, as will cheap undesirable tires as long as they have enough tread and are safe. The dealer had put on cheapies! Don't assume anything with CPO. I just got a LS 460 and had an independent mechanic check out the control arms(known issue $$$). They're OK, but I have 3 years of coverage if they go. BTW, I traded that ES in for the LS and the dealer mentioned the accident to devalue the trade in, but had to concede when I reminded him it came that way as a CPO.

 

cpo cars are a giant profit center for dealers.

 

And they're also a great option when looking for used Germans.

 

I agree that it's ridiculous. The problem is the implicit conflict of interest. The dealer wants to sell the vehicle as quickly as possible for as much profit as possible. A car advertised as CPO helps that goal, but any costs associated with CPO hurt it - so if they want to be money-grubbing, there's just no incentive at all to uncover and fix issues that might be found with an appropriate CPO or PPI. Only if the dealer is interested in customer satisfaction or their own reputation, or if corporate will bring down the hammer on shady dealers, will this conflict of interest be reduced.

There are plenty of horror stories on the internet as regards CPO cars, so as always, buyer beware. For anything even remotely pricy, I'd always insist on a 3rd party PPI even for CPO cars.

 

I think if the dealer can get away with missing a few items here and there, they would. I doubt they would improve their process of inspection to be more thorough -- maybe not intentional, but willful ignorance. It benefits them to miss repairs.
What about someone dying in the car? No one wants a haunted car!

 

Technically, to CPO a car, it has to eligible for the extended warranty. The dealer is basically paying for the extended warranty and doing an inspection that they would have done anyway even without the CPO. All warrantable repair costs are then passed on to Lexus.

 

Well, at large busy dealerships, there is also the factor of so much other service and repairs being done that, with a limited number of service-bays, technicians, and hours in one day, the technicians simply may not have the time to spend what it takes to go down all 160 items on each CPO and either check them off or make the necessary repairs/adjustments. I hate to say it, but if dealerships don't have the time or resources to properly inspect and recondition a CPO, then, IMO, they should not be selling them. Perhaps it would make more sense for automakers to open up large CPO centers that would only deal with CPO's and nothing else.....where that's all that the technicians did all day long. They would, more or less, compete with Car Max.



You've been watching too many Steven King movies.