Certified Pre-Owned — Trustworthiness/Reliability?

[Picnictraffic]

I’m currently in the process of purchasing a CPO e-Golf from a well-reviewed VW dealership in another province and having it shipped to me. It’s a 2018 with 35,000km.

The Battery Health Quicktest came back with favourable results (91% capacity with less than 2% DC charging).

The carfax looks mostly really clean (regular maintenance, no accidents), but I just noticed something that could be cause for alarm. There was a new owner reported in December—which means they only had it for 6-7 months before they decided to trade it in. Unless it was just a change of ownership within the family or it just wasn’t suiting their needs, it seems like potentially a bit of a red flag. OR, that could have been when VW got possession of it and spent this much time to have it repaired (?)

I know I should have arranged to have a pre-purchase inspection before doing anything but I did put a lot of faith in it being a CPO and the fact that these machines are relatively bulletproof where it counts—and the fact I’ve been searching for one for months and they had it priced fairly pushed me to move quickly on it.

So I guess my questions are:

• To what extent can the CPO title be trusted?
• Is it likely that they’d accept a trade if the vehicle had issues and sell it without addressing them?
• Do I have any recourse if I get the car only to run a scan and find a bunch of problems?

At this point, I’ve only signed an “offer to purchase” and left a deposit so it’s not too late to back out I don’t think, however I really don’t want to so I’m hoping ya’ll can offer me some peace of mind or advice. Thanks so much!

 

[f1geek]

Why

I’m currently in the process of purchasing a CPO e-Golf from a well-reviewed VW dealership in another province and having it shipped to me. It’s a 2018 with 35,000km.

The Battery Health Quicktest came back with favourable results (91% capacity with less than 2% DC charging).

The carfax looks mostly really clean (regular maintenance, no accidents), but I just noticed something that could be cause for alarm. There was a new owner reported in December—which means they only had it for 6-7 months before they decided to trade it in. Unless it was just a change of ownership within the family or it just wasn’t suiting their needs, it seems like potentially a bit of a red flag. OR, that could have been when VW got possession of it and spent this much time to have it repaired (?)

I know I should have arranged to have a pre-purchase inspection before doing anything but I did put a lot of faith in it being a CPO and the fact that these machines are relatively bulletproof where it counts—and the fact I’ve been searching for one for months and they had it priced fairly pushed me to move quickly on it.

So I guess my questions are:

• To what extent can the CPO title be trusted?
• Is it likely that they’d accept a trade if the vehicle had issues and sell it without addressing them?
• Do I have any recourse if I get the car only to run a scan and find a bunch of problems?

At this point, I’ve only signed an “offer to purchase” and left a deposit so it’s not too late to back out I don’t think, however I really don’t want to so I’m hoping ya’ll can offer me some peace of mind or advice. Thanks so much!

Why not scan car before purchase?
What does CPO get you vs without CPO?
I doubt you'd find a bunch of problems. Shouldn't VW tell you if it performed maintenance? Ask for maintenance history, right?

 

[Picnictraffic]

Why

Why not scan car before purchase?
What does CPO get you vs without CPO?
I doubt you'd find a bunch of problems. Shouldn't VW tell you if it performed maintenance? Ask for maintenance history, right?

I can’t be there physically to do it. I can hire a local independent, but at this point I’m afraid that they will pull out of the deal as I’ve been kind of a pain in the ass already, and I believe they are selling it to me at a loss (they started the inspection process after I put the deposit down and found there is some work that needs to be done..wear and tear stuff like rotors and pads)

CPO is much more rigorous than a typical province-mandated certificate. It’s a 112 point inspection. Practically, it gets me nothing other than peace of mind knowing it’s been gone over with a fine tooth comb. They also offer an in-house extended warranty to purchase. They don’t do that with non-CPO’s

I would hope so, but I also know how easy it is to just clear codes and sweep things under the rug.
That’s why I’m wondering how much weight the CPO carries and how obligated they are from head command to be completely transparent and not do something shady like clear codes

 

[f1geek]

I can’t be there physically to do it. I can hire a local independent, but at this point I’m afraid that they will pull out of the deal as I’ve been kind of a pain in the ass already, and I believe they are selling it to me at a loss (they started the inspection process after I put the deposit down and found there is some work that needs to be done..wear and tear stuff like rotors and pads)

CPO is much more rigorous than a typical province-mandated certificate. It’s a 112 point inspection. Practically, it gets me nothing other than peace of mind knowing it’s been gone over with a fine tooth comb. They also offer an in-house extended warranty to purchase. They don’t do that with non-CPO’s

I would hope so, but I also know how easy it is to just clear codes and sweep things under the rug.
That’s why I’m wondering how much weight the CPO carries and how obligated they are from head command to be completely transparent and not do something shady like clear codes

Ok makes sense, but I'm not convinced CPO inspections are worth much especially since there isn't much to go wrong on the e-Golf - a no-charge extended warranty is the value of a CPO, IMO.

Rotors and pads are required at 35,000 km? That sounds very fishy. I am still running the original rotors and pads at nearly 117,000 km. In my mind, this suggests either the seller is being extremely conservative (good) or regen is compromised (bad) or previous drivers have been really beating up the car (bad).

What constitutes worn pads and rotors after 35,000 km?

 

[Picnictraffic]

Ok makes sense, but I'm not convinced CPO inspections are worth much especially since there isn't much to go wrong on the e-Golf - a no-charge extended warranty is the value of a CPO, IMO.

Rotors and pads are required at 35,000 km? That sounds very fishy. I am still running the original rotors and pads at nearly 117,000 km. In my mind, this suggests either the seller is being extremely conservative (good) or regen is compromised (bad) or previous drivers have been really beating up the car (bad).

What constitutes worn pads and rotors after 35,000 km?

I don’t know for certain that they’re doing the rotors or pads. My salesperson told me that they have to do some work and mentioned rotors but she didn’t sound confident that’s what it was. I think she was just guessing.

I’m not sure where you live but in Canada, the requirements to pass a safety inspection in order to register a vehicle are pretty strict especially with regard to pad thickness. You are right about it being early for a replacement, but I’m wondering if maybe they were in rough shape from lack of use. I reckon with this (if they are replacing them) they are just being cautious. And if they’re replacing the pads then the rotors have to be swapped as well because iirc, VW won’t put new pads on old rotors.

With regard to the CPO warranty, there is no “no charge” option on something this old, but I am able to purchase protection. However, it’s unclear whether that protection includes high voltage batteries so I’m still waiting for the verdict on that before deciding.

 

[f1geek]

I don’t know for certain that they’re doing the rotors or pads. My salesperson told me that they have to do some work and mentioned rotors but she didn’t sound confident that’s what it was. I think she was just guessing.

I’m not sure where you live but in Canada, the requirements to pass a safety inspection in order to register a vehicle are pretty strict especially with regard to pad thickness. You are right about it being early for a replacement, but I’m wondering if maybe they were in rough shape from lack of use. I reckon with this (if they are replacing them) they are just being cautious. And if they’re replacing the pads then the rotors have to be swapped as well because iirc, VW won’t put new pads on old rotors.

With regard to the CPO warranty, there is no “no charge” option on something this old, but I am able to purchase protection. However, it’s unclear whether that protection includes high voltage batteries so I’m still waiting for the verdict on that before deciding.

Glad to hear Canada has strict safety inspections - we are lacking that in the USA in many jurisdictions.

I suspect the original warranty on the high voltage drivetrain and the original warranty on the battery itself will not be improved with a CPO car.

I don't understand how lack of use (typical for an EV) of brake rotors would lead to issues. By design under normal driving conditions (not racing) the brake pads and rotors will get used essentially only when slowing the car from ~10 kph to 0 kph. At higher speeds only panic stops will engage the friction brakes.

Best of luck!

 

[Warsuth]

Go to your local VW dealer that you will be eventually taking the car to and have them contact the dealer with the car to get all the records that they have.

 

[cctop]

I don't have answers to your questions, but I can understand why an owner in Canada might decide after 6-7 months that an e-Golf doesn't meet their needs.

Depending on how cold it gets where you live, the range of a 2018 e-Golf can easily go as low as 75-80 miles in winter, and likely even lower when you consider running the heater and using snow tires.

I live in California, and the range on my 2019 SE drops to around 100 miles when the temperature is 40-50 degrees Farenheit.

 

[Picnictraffic]

I don't have answers to your questions, but I can understand why an owner in Canada might decide after 6-7 months that an e-Golf doesn't meet their needs.

Depending on how cold it gets where you live, the range of a 2018 e-Golf can easily go as low as 75-80 miles in winter, and likely even lower when you consider running the heater and using snow tires.

I live in California, and the range on my 2019 SE drops to around 100 miles when the temperature is 40-50 degrees Farenheit.

Good point! It gets brutally cold. 40-50 degrees is fall time weather here. The average for winter is about 5 degrees fahrenheit but often drops to -22. Fortunately I have a very short commute and probably average less than 25 miles per day. So even with the heat on full throttle, I reckon the range hit won’t effect me very regularly