Ford Certified Pre Purchase Inspection

[ryanj]

Does anyone have input on if a Gold Certified Ford need a Pre Purchase Inspection?

Would this certification be good enough for a quality truck purchase?

Thanks for any input!!

 

[smurfslayer]

No. The certification means it’s passed their specific “point” by point inspection. We’ve had FRF by “certified” trucks that were tuned - IOW, the warranty on at least the powertrain was compromised. That’s fine if it’s your choice, but, if you buy it and have a major engine issue, Ford will send staff out and the Tech is going to find it tuned. Tuned is almost always a powertrain warranty denial. Ditto suspension mods. We’ve seen lifted trucks sold as certified. That’s great if you want that, but any of the affected suspension & driveline components are probably not going to be covered if they break, or wear out. Or maybe the PO traded it because it has some annoying, intermittent NVH issue which are very difficult to troubleshoot.

You have to check the truck out every bit as thoroughly as any other used vehicle. The Rap is easy to check out, you can crawl under and inspect without a lift. Get dirty checking it out. Take a good test drive, and look for the generation specific issues on any purchase.

 

[grendel]

What smurfslayer said...in particular regarding warranties and what you're buying / may give up. As I'm not a mechanic (besides the basics), I think it's prudent to find a knowledgeable, independent mechanic to go over a vehicle. I cannot speak to Raptors as mine have been new, but using an independent mechanic for the purchase of a 2004 996 TT Porsche saved me ~$10k in repair fees. The Porsche was "certified pre-owned" by Porsche. Mechanic found a crack in a turbo connector. The $250 I paid the guy was well worth it. My $0.02. Good luck with the purchase.

 

[CruiserClass]

It's marketing, mostly, and reliant on the tech who checked the boxes to have actually checked the thing the box is for rather than pencil whipping it for even that bit to be useful.

I looked at a 'certified' truck that had mud and grass packed in the underside completely obscuring much of the underside. As in inches thick and packed up against the frame rails. No way anybody crawled under that truck and inspected anything. But it was certified...

 

[JohnyPython]

A friend bought a certified 911. There were a couple issues. It’s bs and caveat emptor always.

Even with a new vehicle.

 

[GordoJay]

Certification means that if you believe it's worth something, you're certifiable.