Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - View Single Post - Wow...unreal frustration trying to find a car. CPO basically means nothing

OUGrad05 · 03-20-2016, 06:41 PM

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.

03-20-2016, 06:41 PM	#1
OUGrad05 Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Drives: 2015 BMW 335i M Sport, 2004 Z06 Location: Tulsa Posts: 56 Thanks: 4 Thanked 19 Times in 15 Posts Mentioned: 1 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	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.