Cost of "certification"

[mgiven]

Doesn't seem to be a Civic BUYING forum...so I'll post here and please move to a more appropriate place if I've overlooked it.


Hi all…

I’m in the process of buying a “certified” Civic. I found a particular Civic on the Honda.com (corporate) website by using the search parameters to only display certified civics. This led me to one particular vehicle I was interested in that came up as certified. I then repeated this process on the specific dealer’s page and only searched for certified Civics and again got this vehicle in the search results.

The description page on the website for this vehicle shows the price and the “Honda Certified” logo and says in the text description “**HONDA CERTIFIED**” which to me and my knowledge of English as past tense and already certified. The description goes on to further state that it has been “inspected” (past tense) and “repaired” (past tense) and “guaranteed” (past tense) and lists it as having the 1 year/12,000 mile and 7 years/100,000 powertrain warranties. Even further, the Carfax report clearly shows the car as being “offered for sale as a Honda Certified Used Car” on 1/24/11.

I went to the dealer on 2/3/11 and they started with the price on the website as the basis and took information and began the financing process and showing the car and all. Then before finalizing the deal they added a $995 charge for “certification” which they said is the cost to get the car certified and for the warranty.

This raises a lot of ethical and potentially legal questions:
Is this a common practice? Is this even near the cost for certification? And maybe most importantly…Can they advertise one price and list in the description something that is clearly “already an included benefit” and then tack on a charge for it later? I thought an advertised price can not be changed for something that is already in the advertised description? I am meeting with them on Monday and will ask for the complete charge be removed or I’ll walk, but any other ideas of what to add to strengthen the case?

Thanks…sorry so long.

Mike

 

[R3dline]

what

 

[bones420]

tell them to shove the warranty, or just buy a car from an individual. Most dealers will try to add alot of crap you dont need
especially in the financing process. I say take someone with you who has been there and done it already.

 

[R3dline]

certified really isnt s**t, its just some f**k tard that works at the dealership, he looks around see if anything is leaking, or looks wrong, then thats basically it, its pretty much a scam. hell go buy a car from craigslist, and ill certify it for you for like 100 bucks.

 

[2NRSTV]

What he's saying is that the car was stickered and advertised at one price as a certified Honda, then, right before finalizing the deal, they added on the cost of certification on top of the sticker price.

He wants to know if it is legal to do.

OP - Although not ethical, it is perfectly legal for them to do that. The certification should have been in the sticker price. The warranty should have been in the sticker price too, unless it was an option. You may be able to get them under false advertising, but that's about it. Just as long as you don't sign, you're safe.
But, since they have already shown that they are not ethical and not trustworthy, if they do drop the cert charge, make sure that the car is actually picked up by a bank. You might want to talk to banks to make sure that they approve the financing and will pick it up as soon as you sign. This will ensure that they don't have a reason to re-write your financing deal and add the charge or any other bullshit charge they might feel they want to tack on. What a lot of people don't know is that when you drive off the lot with the car, it doesn't necessarily mean that a bank has financed the car yet or has even approved it. Also, a bank won't finance a car for more than it's worth, your down-payment equals the additional charges (certs, etc.) and profit, and maybe a little of what the car is worth.

 

[Daddy_Digital]

i use to work as a car salesman for honda. ive been on both sides of the table. as a customer trying to buy a new car and as a car salesman trying to sell a new car. its not fun, its a lengthy process and you have to go in knowing what u want or else the dealership will have their way with u.

a honda certified used car is a car that was bought probably from that dealer and has been maintained properly by the service department before the previous owner traded that car in. when they get the trade, it is inspected by the dealership and if it passes inspection, its certified. a honda that certified is usually runs good, looks dam near new and very well maintained. so YES the certification fee is legit. if you buy that car, you can be rest assured that it will look good and run well when u drive it off the lot.

it is common practice to show a car for a certain price then up sell you when u arrive at the dealership. its called advertising. who ever said selling cars was an honest living? totally legal. it isnt right tho. i remember i went to a dealership to check out an integra they had for sale for 2000 grand. it was a POS. but they hooked me to go to the dealership (which is what they want) and i ended up checking out a totally different vehicle. its genius! if they can get you to the dealership, their ad in the paper did its purpose.

when it comes to financing, dont talk s**t about the dealership or the salesman. if u have bad credit, your job history isnt long enuff, you have too many bills, your under the age of 25, or you are trading in a POS, and your co-signer needs a co-signer..be mad at yourself. the salesman all he wants to do is sell u car no matter what the price is. i mean, ya..higher price higher commission. but if he sells a car, that bumps his stats up regardless of the price. the manager and finance is where s**t gets messed up. they become greedy because they want a higher cut.

plus its a well known fact that trying to finance from a honda dealership is very hard. think about it..when do u hear about honda giving rebates? NEVER! they dont need to bribe u to buy a honda. if u want a honda, go to a dealership that isnt honda. u have to have squeaky clean credit dam near in order to finance a new OR used car at a honda dealership. my advice to you is to go at the end of the month to buy a car. the dealership becomes desperate because they want to make the last deals to get either a bonus, bump up their stats or get more commission.

 

[2NRSTV]

I agree with Daddy_Digital. Certification is better and is worth it and you should wait for the end of the month. From what I know, certifying a car can be as high as $1,500.

But what I don't agree on is advertising prices.
Upselling is to sell you what you came to buy and then convincing you to by things that you didn't necessarily need.
If the car is advertised at $20,000 (example) and says that is a Certified Used Car in the ad, then charge you an extra $1,500 (example) for the Certification without stating in the ad that the advertised price is the price of the car minus the Certification, that is false advertising.

 

[mgiven]

All good information, but 2NRSTV gets right to my point. I understand the upsell and the dealers right and desire to tack on whatever they think they can get away with. My point IN THIS CASE is that the advertised price is for a car that has ALREADY been certified. a week earlier. It's already been done and the cost advertised shows that is part of the package. We're not talking things added later like doc fees or dealer prep or extended warranties. We're talking about what was already listed as an inclusion and a set price.

Thanks and keep it coming if anyone else has any opinions. Really helpful stuff!

 

[joe7987]

I moved your thread to off-topic. You'll get more responses here.

 

[Chris.]

based on my experience.....


find another dealer.....dont tell the new dealer what happened. and see what happens.

 

[emerican]

^ could always try that couldnt really hurt.