Disappointed with reliability so far...

[Doc in AZ]

certified used is the biggest bunch of horse manure i've heard yet. they are just certifying that it is used and there were no visible problems according to some underpaid "tech" usually. it's a used car and you don't know how it was used. it may have been a rental car for all you know & with that said i'll remind you that buying a used rental car is like marrying a prostitute. car fax is a joke at best, i know guys that have nearly totaled a car and put it back together in their garage, made it look nice and sold it with a clean car fax. if the insurance or department of motor vehicles doesn't know about it then car fax doesn't know about it. my jeep, when i checked the car fax was registered to the same owner 4 times in 3 years... didn't make any sense. it had visibly been wrecked and repainted but car fax was clean. you might check on "lemon laws" in your area. i know my sister had a lot of problems with a car but in california it was a 3 strike lemon law. you would have to take it to the dealer for documented repair and if it wasn't corrected the third time you would be able to claim it as a lemon for an exchange but not for a return. i also had a nice chevy silverado with a clean car fax that i bought used from midway chevy in phoenix. i drove it a couple years and when i was selling it the buyer's financier said they couldn't finance the whole amount because it was officially classified as a "lemon" due to some uncorrected fault.

sad but true.

[carb850]

I called a local dealer about extended warranties for pricing info. This fella was over the dealership and while his dealership didn't offer certified used at this time he said he was a big proponent of it based upon his experience from a previous dealer. He said they really did go through the cars with a fine tooth comb and that was worth a lot in his opinion. His advice was actually working against a warranty sale so he had little reason to suggest it.

Now the out of area dealer I purchased it from told me the certification doesn't mean as much as it used to, he said they made the process easier and thus it lost some of it's value. I will say, looking back I believe button panel was bad and maybe the HVAC flapper door were both issues when we bought it but we didn't notice until later. If they went though it the way they were supposed to that should have been caught. On a positive note, it appeared on the carfax that the dealer replaced the brakes and rotors (@ 32K miles) which I think might of been caught during there certification.

[carb850]

Followup to an old thread. Happy to report no new issues. The first few months were pretty rocky and we became a bit concerned but after that it has been trouble free. ...crossing fingers that luck continues.

[The_War_Wagon]

Biggest issue I'VE had, is the local dealer contesting the WARRANTY on everything. I have 4k miles of warranty left, and HOPE to get the front U-joints and leaky tranny lines covered under it. If you have a good dealer down there, lemmee know. Charleston is close ENOUGH to Pittsburgh!

[carb850]

One reason we wanted Certified used is so we can get an extended factory warranty, we have a 8yr - 80K. Now that I'm looking to put a lift on it I called around to all the local dealerships asking if a 2" lift would effect my warranty. The two closest said they would deny service on a power window if a lift is installed, per Chryslers policies. That is just rediculous and made me not interested in dealing with either. I did find one that seems to be willing to work with me. They said that if the parts are directly related such as suspension or CV joints they may not, but electronics, motor, transmission all would be fine. Unfortunately, they are in the wrong direction for you.