If you’ve been thinking about visiting your local Certified Pre-Owned Toyota dealer, but you’ve been waiting in hopes that the car market will get better in the New Year, then you’ve made a terrible mistake. Fortune favors the bold, as they say, and in this case, your hesitation has resulted in you missing out on some of the best Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) terms and benefits in the industry. You see, for 2022, Toyota has decided to overhaul its CPO program and make big changes to the qualifications and advantages you get for choosing CPO.
I’m not going to say it’s the worst thing to ever happen to the auto industry, but if you read through these changes and feel bad about yourself, then you probably understand just what they all mean. In other words, you have goofed in a monumental manner; also, the best days of your life are clearly behind you. That last bit’s not really related to CPO Toyotas, just a general statement about your existence and one you should become comfortable with.
Requirement Changes
First up, let’s look at some of the changes coming to the requirements a vehicle has to meet in order to be offered as a CPO Toyota. Last year, a vehicle had to be newer than 6 model years old, and it had to have fewer than 85,000 miles on it in order for it to be eligible for the CPO program from Toyota. In addition to this, it had to have a clean title and pass a 160-point vehicle inspection (we’ll get into that down below).
Starting later this year – the information I have is from a leak within Toyota’s clandestine hierarchy – when the new initiative is passed, these requirements will change. For starters, to stay on top of current market trends, a vehicle will only have to be within the last 25 model years, and it cannot have more than 247,004 miles on it. This opens up a lot more options for the Toyota CPO program and, according to one executive that I talked to (who insisted on remaining anonymous), it will bring their CPO models “more in-line with the vehicles offered by our competitors in the US. The average 15-year old Toyota is comparable to a Chevy from three years ago.” Harsh, but fair.
Inspection Changes
Some of the biggest changes coming to the Toyota CPO program involve the inspection that a vehicle has to pass in order to qualify. Last year, and for a little while longer, vehicles had to make it through a rigorous and extensive 160-point inspection to qualify. This included taking a good look at the engine, transmission, brakes, and suspension, as well as the upholstery and overall interior condition, plus the exterior of the vehicle, including lights, windows, and more. Although certainly effective, it seems this inspection process simply takes too long.
To speed things up a bit, Toyota will now require just a four-point inspection in order for a vehicle to qualify as a CPO offering. A certified mechanic needs to ensure the following:
1. The vehicle exists
2. The vehicle has an interior
3. The vehicle has an exterior
4. The vehicle is not currently on fire
As long as these four strict criteria are met, then it can be sold as a CPO model. According to my sources, this is an early version of the checklist and there’s talk about eliminating points 2 and 3 above to simplify things even further. Based on recent issues with cars here in the US, that still seems like a pretty high standard to me.
Benefits Changes
Of course, the biggest reason a lot of people choose a CPO vehicle is for the warranty coverage. Right now, all CPO Toyota models come with a 12-month/12,000-mile comprehensive warranty and a 7-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty. As you likely know, the powertrain warranty starts when the vehicle was sold as new and isn’t based on when it’s sold as a CPO car.
To simplify things, Toyota will now offer a powertrain warranty that’s good for just two months or 184 miles from when it’s sold as a CPO model. This will make things easier for consumers, and it’s based on award-winning warranty coverage from other manufacturers, like Jeep’s legendary three-month “Maximum Care Warranty.” By basing their new model on domestic car companies, Toyota looks to remain competitive with the bloated corpse of the American auto industry.
Editor’s Note: We reached out to Toyota for verification of this story, and they replied with a simple, “No comment,” which suggests to us that this information is 100% valid. We’ve already started looking at CPO Toyota models in order to take advantage of these exciting new terms when they become available. We’ve been refreshing Toyota’s CPO information website several times per hour with no luck so far, but that sweet 184-mile warranty WILL be ours! Thank you.
