It’s been a little while since I’ve checked in on the different CPO program guidelines so I’m not exactly sure when this stuff changed for BMW, but there are some significant changes here that should be noted.
You can see a few changes in plain black and white if you look at the clip of their actual CPO check-out list above. They’re now allowing tires which measure 3/32 of an inch and brakes that measure 5/32. I would bet that most used car shoppers assume that manufacturer Certified cars have all new stuff. Those folks would be incorrect and would not be accounting for the fact that their factory certified car will need new brakes and tires soon. Most new tires measure about 12/32 of an inch, so the new requirement by BMW is that a tire needs to have about 25% life remaining. I think most used car shopper who hear “certified” would probably expect more stringent standards. This is just one more cost saving measure that BMW dealers are trying to take in order to compete with used car stores. They’re taking shortcuts and it shows in the quality of the vehicles they now offer.
In addition to this easy to spot “black and white” material change to their CPO check-out, it appears that BMW has made many other changes to the acceptance criteria for used vehicles that can now be certified.
This same inspection form used to have items listed like previous body work, replaced body panels, painted panels, refinished bumpers, etc. It now asks almost nothing about the integrity of the body or the aesthetics of the vehicle. This policy of not having body or history requirements of these CPO eligible vehicles is now allowing BMW dealers to sell accident history cars as Certified. I guess they’ll now have to come up with a new term to call actual nice cars with the right history.
Here’s a few examples that I found within a few seconds of shopping online. These cars are supposedly certified vehicles with accident histories at different BMW franchised dealerships:
eimports4Less Auto Sales Blog 