Do dealers pressure to get used cars into CPO program?

So I decided to finally get a nice daily driver after dealing with one pricey problem after another. Don't want to splurge on new, but wanted the benefit of a warranty, for at least the next couple years. Found the car I wanted, BMW 335i coupe with a manual. Spoke with a salesman and asked for a copy of the CPO inspection form, which he faxed to me. This car is only a couple years old. The form notes scratches on multiple body panels, the roof, the bumpers, damage under the front bumper, severe curb damage to one of the wheels. Maintenance records show low oil on at least one occasion. I don't think too many cars under 30k miles should be burning through enough oil between changes to drop below the normal range. Overall impression that the car had been abused, or at the minimum, not reasonably cared for. I guess I had higher expectations from a CPO vehicle.

My thinking used to be that those in a leased vehicle would take 'better' care of them knowing they would have to turn them back in and potentially be held responsible to pay for damages. Now I'm starting to think that many of those who lease are just honey badgers.

Probably an auction vehicle from another state.

CPO just means that everything works as originally produced and those broken parts were replaced with OE.

It's a slimy world out there with car sales....

@ thinking leased vehicles are treated well.......they aren't.

Does BMW offer the same type of warranty on a CPO that Benz does by chance? That difference alone would make me consider jumping the shark to a MB.

BMW's CPO warranty is actually pretty decent. At least it was when I bought mine in 2007 or so. The car was timed out of the OE warranty, but in my first couple years of ownership, they replaced both the HID headlights and the sunroof cassette.

In general, CPO is basically just an insurance policy on the car. There is no guarantee the car was not abused, just that it was freshened up using factory parts and dealer techs. Mine was in fairly nice shape (a 25,000-mile, 36-month lease turn-in) but it had the wear you would expect on a 3-year-old car.

The car in question was a local car, serviced at that dealer. I've never really considered myself a MB fan, but I think their styling on their newer C class and 2014 E class coupes is really sharp. I do like the looks of the upcoming CLA quite a bit and it will supposedly be priced in the low 30s, which was where I wanted to be pricewise.... may have to wait a bit until I can get my hands on one of those for a test drive. I will say I was more impressed with the current C class interiors than the new 3 series.

http://www.ebaymotorsblog.com/introduction-of-mercedes-benz-new-cla-class-at-naias/mercedes-benz_cla_class_1/

AugustusGloop wrote: My thinking used to be that those in a leased vehicle would take 'better' care of them.....

My job used to supply a leased company car; two years - 50,000 miles total. We were only supposed to add gas and change the oil once in a while.

I had 2 Impala's, 2 Venture vans, 1 Trailblazer, and 1 Taurus - most all the guys, including myself drove them hard with no respect. I never saw anybody take better care of them.

Leased vehicles get treated as rentals. Why do maintenance when you aren't going to own the car long term?

And with 15K mile oil change intervals and typical rental (leased vehicle owners) they don't bother checking oil level between annual service visits.

Cone_Junky wrote: Leased vehicles get treated as rentals. Why do maintenance when you aren't going to own the car long term? And with 15K mile oil change intervals and typical rental (leased vehicle owners) they don't bother checking oil level between annual service visits.

That's why BMW started offering the free maintenance on leases. Too many fatally sludged engines from people who were struggling to pay the lease payment and certainly couldn't swing maintenance. Even still--it becomes a question of someone still taking the time to take the car in.

Very sketchy.

From what I've seen dealers will CPO anything that comes in within whatever age and mileage limit they set.

A few years ago a local-ish sheriff shot herself in her cruiser. The dealer I worked for at the time bought out the lease on said cruiser with the intention of CPO-ing it. It ended up going wholesale after the service and body shop estimates. Watched them CPO some real winners other than that one, too.

Granted this was not a high end name like BMW, but I imagine the same principles apply.

CPO is basically an insurance policy, as Duke said. It does NOT mean the car was loved beforehand, only that at the time it gets CPO'd there's nothing wrong.

On lease vehicles: some leasing companies will want to see service records at turn in. If the car has not been maintained, the lessee gets hit with the cost of bringing the back maintenance up to date, along with things like fixing any body damage, replacing worn tires, mileage overage charges etc. People tend to pitch a BITCH when they learn how much that cost them.

Weird, the two dealers I have for (both japanese) have been extremely picky about CPO vehicles. The CPO inspection is alot more intensive, and the standard to replace parts as far as brake measurements and tread depth are much higher than a regular used car. (if that didn't make sense, I mean we would put four new tires on it if they were mismatched or less than 5 or 6/32")
We probably wouldn't ever CPO a vehicle with that much mileage anyways. Usually the CPO's I see are around 15k.
Must be something different abotu the market in my area or something, but I know Curmudgeon is just a few hours away.
I dunno.
But, then again, something like a BMW gets leased alot more commonly than a Nissan or Subaru.
And lessee's, as mentioned, are just renters, unless they plan to buy out the lease at the end.

I work for a Dodge dealer and yes the CPO is more exacting than the run of the mill used car inspection, also the car has to be under certain mileage and age numbers. But it is still (at least with Chrysler) a prepaid warranty much like an extended service contract, only it's not something tacked on in the finance office. It's even possible to get a CPO 'powertrain only' warranty, i.e, if the A/C compressor goes tits up the CPO powertrain won't cover it.