What’s the Difference Between a Used and Certified Pre-Owned Car?
If you’re thinking of buying a pre-owned car for the Cerritos, Los Angeles, and Long Beach areas, you’d be making a great choice. You’ll get some excellent features and specs, all while bypassing that first year’s depreciation. What could be better?
However, not all local drivers understand the differences between used and certified pre-owned. That’s why our team at Norm Reeves Honda Superstore Cerritos has put together this helpful article.
Certified Pre-Owned Cars: Just Like New
If you’ve ever heard the term Certified Pre-Owned, or just plain CPO thrown around before, you might assume that it’s interchangeable with a used car. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
What makes a pre-owned car certified is that after trade in, it undergoes rigorous manufacturer testing. This multipoint inspection includes a varying number of items, depending on the brand. Honda, for example, is notorious for its thorough 150-point inspection.
During the process of this inspection, any elements that aren’t up to manufacturer standards are either repaired or replaced. And once they are, the car is fit for a manufacturer seal of approval.
As a show of the car’s quality and the manufacturer’s confidence in it, CPO cars are then given an all-new limited factory warranty. As a driver, that should offer you plenty of additional peace of mind.
Used vs Certified Pre-Owned
With your standard used car, you probably won’t have that new limited warranty (though depending on the car’s age and mileage, it may still fall under the original). The car may have quite a few extra years on it, too. Nevertheless, the price will probably be lower.
You’ve likely gathered by now that CPO cars have a ton of benefits. In addition to their extra coverage, there’s even a good chance that they have less mileage, since many are relatively new off-lease returns. However, you are going to pay a little more for these benefits.
A Used Car Won’t Let You Down
Though a used car doesn’t come with all those CPO bells and whistles, you can still expect that it’ll be of a higher quality. No matter what kind of pre-owned car it may be, once it arrives at the dealership, it’s going to be inspected. And in the hands of a skilled technician, nothing is going to slip through the cracks.
In the end, this used car may be a little bit older or have more miles on it, but the dealership will ensure it runs as close to new as possible. This is all at a slightly lower price, too, so it ends up being a great deal. You may not have that kind of assurance with a private seller, but with a dealer, it’s a given.
Check Out Our Selection of Used and CPO Vehicles Today
One thing you can be sure of when shopping with Norm Reeves Honda Superstore is that used or certified pre-owned, you’re bound to get a car of excellent quality. All Cerritos, Los Angeles, and Long Beach drivers can browse our full inventory online today!