by Craig J Davenport

Created on: October 07, 2009   Last Updated: March 27, 2010

The term "Certified Pre-Owned vehicle" is nothing more than the one or two year old vehicles sold by dealers all over the U.S. that were previously known as Program cars. They mostly are made up of rental cars, turned in by Avis, Hertz, etc. When they buy these cars in bulk, they are guaranteed not to lose money on their purchases, so comes the new term. The cars are never inspected by anyone at anytime. The norm is to take them to the Auction, have them detailed and sell them to the highest bidder, one at a time. The buyer, or bidder has to be a certified licensed Ford, Chevy, or whatever make the car is New Franchised Dealer. Some, very few, of these dealers check out anything on these cars, other than an oil change.

Even though I have, so far degraded these vehicles, I do believe them to be the best deal available. The main thing, when you are considering one of these Certified vehicles is to make sure that it hasn't been extensively damaged in an accident. Some of the Rental Car Companies repair these vehicles with gray Market parts, For example, fenders, hoods, and all body parts since they are less expensive and in some States illegal. They all do carry an extended warranty, usually the normal factory warranty plus what mileage has been put on them. In most States they do not fall under the Lemon Laws, since they are used.

When it's all said and done a Certified Vehicle is a good buy since you can save thousands of dollars versus buying a new one just like it. Vehicles today are built to travel hundreds of thousands of trouble free miles if they are serviced by the schedule provided in the glove box owners' manual. If the vehicle you are interested in has twenty thousand miles on it, and has new tires, don't buy it. It should go fifty thousand miles on the original equipment tires. If this vehicle has a new set of tires, you know something is wrong.

If you buy by color, try to buy the lighter colored car, even though you may not prefer that. The dark colors tend to show every scratch and small dent much more than a tan or white car. Most dealers will even avoid buying the darker colors, since the scratches are already there. I spent forty years of my life managing Auto Dealerships, so if I'm wrong, I must be stupid. I'm not stupid, so believe what you just read.

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