Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Consumers in the market for a used car to finance with a bad credit car loan got some good news this week when Mazda announced that it was launching its own Certified Pre Owned program.

Affordable and reliable used cars

At Auto Credit Express we know that with the cost of new vehicles rising every year, most credit-challenged customers that fill out our bad credit car loan application and get approved at one of the dealers in our nationwide network will decide that it makes more sense to go with a 2 or 3-year-old pre-owned vehicle.  With the quality and durability of vehicles at an all-time high, this decision makes sense. Now they’re faced with another decision: should they buy a regular used car or a certified used car?

News from Mazda

On Friday, Mazda North American Operations announced the launch of a new Certified Pre-owned Vehicle (CPO) program with designed to give buyers even more peace of mind as well as “lower customers’ cost of ownership.”

CPO vehicles

If you’ve read any of the previous blog articles on Auto Credit Express, you know how we feel about certified used cars – generally known in the industry as certified pre-owned or CPO vehicles. The fact is, we believe that, for the most part, certified used cars are a good choice for consumers who plan on financing a used car using car loans with bad credit.

Most certified used car programs work this way: if a vehicle meets certain age, mileage and inspection requirements, dealers can use a trade-in vehicle or purchase back a lease turn-in and sell either one with an extended service contract that is very similar to the warranties found on new vehicles – the only difference being that the total mileage and number of years can be extended past the original warranty date to cover additional months and miles the amount of which depends on the manufacturer and the program involved.

Because of this built-in, manufacturer-backed warranty coverage and other perks (such as roadside assistance), the dealer can (and usually has to because of the additional cost involved) sell these CPO vehicles at a premium over non-certified used cars – something that bad credit buyers should keep in mind when considering the affordability factor of these vehicles.

In the case of Mazdas new program, this means that every certified Mazda goes through a multi-point inspection and reconditioning program and will be identified on dealer lots by informational materials that will outline the details of the warranty program as well as other benefits.

All Mazda CPO vehicles will offer either the remaining balance of the factory warranty or an additional 12 month/12,000 mile comprehensive warranty (covering, we’re assuming, systems similar to the vehicle’s new car warranty) as well as a 7 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. One other bonus – there is no deductible or do-pay associated with any warrantable repair.

Additional CPO perks

In addition, all CPO vehicles will qualify for roadside assistance at no charge for the balance of the powertrain warranty period – which includes such amenities as flat tire changing, battery jump, vehicle lock out service and fuel delivery.

A reminder

Remember that the program we’re discussing here is part of the manufacturer’s (in this case, Mazda’s) certification programs. Just because your local Mazda dealer advertises a car as certified does not necessarily mean that it is certified by the manufacturer. Any dealer can “certify” a car, since the word, itself, really has no meaning. So make sure that the “certified” car you are buying is certified by Mazda. If not, you may be required to pay for any repairs up front and submit the receipts to the warranty company for reimbursement – a process that is much less desirable.

Choose the right model

One other thing that we’re more than a little bit nit-picky with around here is keeping your bad credit auto loan payment affordable and, fortunately, a number of Mazda vehicles fall into this category.

Although the Tribute, CX-9, CX-7, RX-8, Miata and Mazdaspeed3 are beyond the budgets of most bad credit buyers, the Mazda3, Mazda5, new Mazda2, and possibly even the Mazda6 are all vehicles that may very well work.

All 2006-2010 vehicles with 60,000 miles or less qualify for the program “as long as they meet the rigorous standards for quality.”

In Summary

Keep in mind that certified pre-owned vehicles are usually more expensive than their non-certified counterparts. The costs of an inspection, the required replacement of warn and defective parts as well as a fairly expensive service contract all add to the price of a CPO vehicle. Before buying one, it makes sense to do some research and compare the selling prices of both certified pre-owned vehicles and their non-CPO counterparts (priced it with a comparable warranty). Ultimately, you will have to decide for yourself if a CPO car is worth the difference in price.

One more thing

At Auto Credit Express we have helped thousands of people with bad, blemished, bruised, and tarnished credit buy cars and reestablish their auto credit at the same time. Our nationwide network of affiliate dealers specializes in bad credit car loans.

So if you are serious about getting your credit back on track, you can begin the process right now by filling out our secure online bad credit car loan application.

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