Check the Date on Used Car Advice

As your guide to used cars, it’s my job to keep up on all the latest information about used cars. The key words are “latest information” because there is a lot of outdated information out there. You wouldn’t drink milk past its expiration date and you shouldn’t rely on outdated information for your used car purchase.

Take the case of a website called AutoCrazy. (I’m not linking to it because I don’t like its information.) It has an article that proclaims “Used Cars: ‘Certified’ No Substitute for Extended Warranties. It then links to an article from 2005.

Possibly, just possibly, that headline was correct three years ago, but it’s no longer true. Certified pre-owned, when backed by a manufacturer, just destroys any extended warranty on the market. I have information on all of the manufacturers’ certified pre-owned programs (and the “sell-by” date is good on all of them).

So, I can’t reinforce this enough. If a used car advice article makes reference to cassette players and Al Gore’s run for president, it’s time to chuck that expired advice into the garbage.

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