Buy Used Certifiedily

You know, it makes sense to buy used. It's not fun to buy used, but it makes sense. And now that manufacturers are offering these "certified" programs, you can almost buy with confidence. Anyway, CNN/Money reports: Best used-car programs. You can read who's the best for yourself, but what we really want to know is, have you purchased a certified used car? How was the experience? Would you recommend it to others? Why or why not? Please use a certified #2 pencil when filling out your answers.

Comments

[Jay]

Yes, we have. We picked up a Ford Certified Pre-Owned (okay, used) Windstar last month. The van was in good shape with only 41K miles on the ticker. It had a complete service (tune up, flush and fill, etc.) before we took the keys and they fixed the couple of things I found wrong with it (How they missed brake problems in the supposed inspection is another question) during the test drive. They gave us a written contract stating these items would be fixed at no charge.
We also got a warranty that runs the length of the payments. The kicker: The van was less than half of what a new T&C or Freestar would've cost.
My wife is considering letting me have a new car next year. When I get it I will definately do the certified used route again. Very few things are as aggravating as making payments on a used car that doesn't run. The certified used programs eliminate this.