Wow...unreal frustration trying to find a car. CPO basically means nothing
 

Man guys, allow me to vent for a few minutes. Been trying to hunt down a car for several weeks now. Last week I found two CPO cars that were within about 45 minutes of each other so looking at them both was a real possibility. After getting the carfax from the dealers, both cars had been in accidents, for which the dealers could provide no additional info, other than "the car looks and drives as if it's new". Yeah, because what else are you going to say?

Yesterday, a friend of mine and I drove 3 hours each way to look at a CPO car that had a clean carfax and was the right color. I thought ok, this could be the one!

Got there, the car looked to be in good shape overall but needed a wash, no big deal. So grabbed the keys and started the car, it was really slow to start. WhaaaWhwaaaa Whwaaaaaa, finally started...thought hmm, that's weird, maybe just a battery a bit low from sitting on the lot. Drive the car a few miles come back to have my buddy drive it to see if he agrees mechanically the car feels good other than the weird start issue.

He drove it, agreed, mechanically seems pretty good. He gets out, I hop back in and the car won't start. Headlights come on, fog lights don't and we can't find a switch, they were aftermarket fog lights which immediately raised are red flag. Additionally, when I turned the lights on the radio went out for a second or two, when turning on the brights the radio didn't work at all...So I popped the hood, my buddy popped the trunk, we start looking around...

The car had aftermarket HIDs wired directly to the battery AND the passenger side carpet along the door was very loose. Then I noticed at the base of the B Pillar there were wires sticking out and you could feel where the plastic trim had been stretched as if someone tried to pry it off with a screw driver.

The sales manager was nice enough but really wanted us to buy this car, I told him dead battery is one thing, but this appeared to be far more than just a dead battery.

Really doesn't instill confidence in the CPO process at all and has me thinking emphasis on CPO is pretty overrated at least with Scion's lack of control over the certification process...frustrating weekend.

When I was diagnosing an issue on my car, the Shopforeman allowed me to sit in a CPO FRS. It had a blown strut and he told me that "you'll hear a thunk when turning because the strut is blown".

When we got back to the dealership he was like "We can't replace the strut until a customer complains about it, then we'll fix it under warranty. But I'm not sure how it'll pass the test drive".

The CPO checklist is very specific as to what needs to be looked at to qualify. Probably no box to check for headlights wired direct so they would not effect the certification.
Sucks but that is the way loopholes in programs work.

You'd think a battery would be on the check list, pretty basic. You'd also think that cars in accidents wouldn't qualify.

Accidents are not on the checklist either. If repaired then it doesn't count. You didn't say anything about accident damage anyway.
The trim pried up was probably some guy doing the aftermarket work. God only knows what was pulled off the car before it was traded/sold. Cheap or poorly installed mods will be a continuing issue with these cars as used and people will need to watch closely for any signs of them. Since it is a CPO car then any continued issues with the battery should be covered anyway. Problems resulting from the aftermarket parts however would not be.

Bingo, if the wiring loom or electrical system is damaged because of aftermarket headlights? They'll deny the warranty claim, some unsuspecting buyer could be purchasing an electrical nightmare.

Well, @OUGrad05 , that's too bad the car didn't meet your with expectations ......:(

IMHO, a used car having a weak battery shouldn't be a deal killer.

As far as the lights being aftermarket and the previous owner prying off the cover to the B pillar ....... yes, the car has been tinkered with ......... after all it's a used car that begged to be modded.

Good luck with your search.


humfrz

If it was just a battery I would agree, but the crappy wiring job for the headlights was a deal breaker.

Maybe find a car that looks good to you within whatever distance you're willing to travel. If someone here is close to the car I bet they'd give it a look and give you a report. I'd be happy to help someone out in that manner. Of course you'd need to be specify what you're looking for. Good luck! I'd keep an eye out a bunch are probably coming off lease soon.


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Thank you, I will keep that in mind.

And this is why I'll never buy a used sports car. Too many science projects running around.

True, with sports cars you either have to be patient and wait for the perfect one or buy new. It just gives you way more peace of mind with a new car. At least with the twins they're not exactly your typical drivers different from say your average Ferrari driver that probably won't go too fast or risk injuring their back or hips from speed and bumps.

I think the best way to go forward is just bear with the frustrations or buy new. If you deals with the frustrations and be a bit more patient, it'll save you money and time in the future.

Well honestly the proper way to wire HIDs is using a relay to the battery, in fact morimoto recommends this to PREVENT damage to the OEM wiring harnesses and to have stable power flow. But it sounds like the one you described is creating some sort of parasitic draw situation. You don't actually need to do the relay setup for our cars if you run 35 Watt hids you can use the OEM wiring and make it look nice and tidey. Worse comes to worse you can always remove it HID kits are super easy to install and remove.

But because it seems like a real hassle I would move on, it seems like you're really observant as to the conditions of the vehicles find another car at another CPO dealer.

This is true. But the problem doesn't exist just for this car it also goes for used WRX, mustangs, 350z-370z and the like Is they are all entry level sports car, consequently you get a large portion of people pushing them hard, modifying them etc. It is very hard to find ones unmolested and it takes a lot of work to find them, also bear in mind to a large portion of people that bought this car it was there first entry into the sports car market so the car has also been pushed hard.

You can still buy used but you have to make some compromises....