You might have come across ‘certified pre owned’ (CPO) through dealership or even on the Internet while searching to buy used cars through online listings. So what is a certified pre-owned vehicle anyway?

Unlike vehicles acquired from a private seller or purchased from an independent used-car dealer, certified pre-owned vehicles are inspected as per the manufacturer’s standards. They also carry a manufacture-backed warranty. Certified pre-owned are sold by licensed new car dealers and they typically have mileage limits.

But before you decide to go ahead and buy certified pre-owned cars, here are a certain things you ought to know.

Not all certified pre-owned cars are less expensive than you may think
There is a notion among used car buyers that CPO (certified pre-owned) cars cost more than regular used cars. In fact, it was found that the regular cars cost roughly $700 more than the CPO cars. Some of the popular car brands that have premiums of reasonable rates include Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Subaru, Honda, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Buick etc.

Look carefully into certified pre-owned
There are dealers that might cleanup used cars and call it certified. These cleaned up cars may not even match the standards of the certified pre-owned cars technically. In cases like these, make sure that the certified program is backed by the manufacturer. This way, the patent company will stand behind the warranty of the certified pre-owned car that is put up on sale.

Details can greatly vary among manufacturer certified programs
There are some car manufacturers that add a 12 month, 12,000 miles new certified warranty and a five year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty from the date the car was first sold. There are also car brands that add just 3 months or 3000 miles coverage in the new warranty.

The age of the car does not matter
Certified pre-owned cars are generally looked upon as alternatives to buying new cars. There are many certified cars that are two or three year old models which are returned after a lease. But most manufacturers put those cars on certifies pre-owned sale that are at least six to seven years old and have run more than 50,000 miles on the odometer.

Certified pre-owned doesn’t mean a problem free car
There will always be a possibility that a certified car might come up with a problem that could not be detected during the inspection. It could also be a possibility that it would have been initial quality problem in the new car.