Real stories: Buying a certified pre-owned (CPO) car
I’m finally there: that certain age when folks with the means start to sniff at a special vehicle, something either they couldn’t afford or that was impractical "back in the day.”
I haven’t counted, but I’ve had lots of vehicles in my lifetime: Some were cooler than others, of course. I had a new 1980 Audi 5000T (loved it), a new 1972 Vega GT (everything you’ve heard is true), and some I wish I had back, like my 1954 Pontiac Chieftain two-door.
Others were crap, like my Nova convertible with the permanently duct-taped top.
In any case, recently I’ve been on the hunt for something fun. Being a snowbird, I wanted to have a vehicle I could leave at my southern digs for when I’m there and I didn’t see the need to buy new and take the depreciation hit on a car that would be sitting for six months out of the year. My first thought was, “time for a Vette or maybe a Porsche Boxster."
A few nights searching the Web for late-model Corvettes and Boxsters landed me with an appointment at a nearby Lexus dealership to drive a cherry-red 2005 Corvette.
I drove up, took a test drive, liked it and started to negotiate with the salesman. We were very close to a deal but couldn’t quite make it happen. My main concern was that the vehicle came with no warranty, only a three-day “bring it back if you don’t like it" guarantee. I asked for a 30-day bumper-to-bumper warranty, but they said the only way was to buy an annual warranty for more than $1,000.
So I walked, figuring I’d hear back from them, that they’d cave or I’d keep looking. In the meantime, I read up on certified pre-owned (CPO) used cars. I found there were two types of certification: Dealer certification and factory certification and that factory certification tends to be more comprehensive. Plus, if you have a problem, you can take the vehicle to any dealer in the United States and be covered.
I started my search again, this time looking for factory CPO vehicles in my area. Much to my own surprise, I wound up at Braman Motorcars to look at a few BMWs. I found that the BMW factory certification is a guarantee of a well-looked-after and well-inspected vehicle.
Bottom line? I’m driving a base-trim-level 2009 BMW 328i with 29,500 miles, moonroof, automatic transmission and power seats–all for a very fair price. The experience was painless with no pressure. They had many vehicles to pick from, mostly coming off leases. In four hours, I picked a car, test-drove it, agreed on a price, got the paperwork and insurance together and drove away in my mint CPO BMW. The car has 1.3 years left on the factory warranty, which covers full service during that period, after which the certification kicks in, and I get two more years of limited, but reasonable, coverage.
It’s nice to have a pleasant auto-buying experience.
Eric Bloom is a founding member of the Blue Oyster Cult rock band and is an occasional contributor to Autoweek and shopautoweek.com.
