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Used Car Expert dropped into one of Honda’s main dealers to find the answers to these questions:
1. Are the cars expensive?
2. Are they likely to be more reliable than others?
3. Is the level of car preparation special?
Click here to find the best value used Hondas in your area
If you think Chiswick Honda looks impressive from the roadside, just wait until you have wandered around.
The first thing you see as you enter the showroom is an escalator – an escalator! Then to the right is a coffee shop. If you are looking to get the absolute best deal, it is hard not to worry about the cost of all these fixtures and fittings.
It is conventional wisdom to think, ‘well, these things must all push the price of the car up.’ So it helped to learn that even with all the coffees they give away, the coffee shop makes enough money from selling sandwiches and so on to pay for itself.
It was reassuring, after a couple of hours in the dealership, to compare the used approved Hondas to supermarket cars, and realise that when it comes down to the final deal, in most cases, the better value (but not necessarily the cheapest) car comes from the Honda main dealer.
This is mainly because, when all goes to plan, you can drive a used approved Honda for a year without any unexpected service or repair bills.
Let me explain why…
We followed a used car manager around the Honda dealership as he checked used cars at various stages of preparation.
From a distance, this black CR-V looked like it just needed a wax and a wash. And that’s about all it would get at an independent garage or supermarket.
But by asking us to run our fingers over the bonnet, he showed us that it actually had two dents.
Moving around the bodywork, getting up close to the car, we found some scuffs in the body-colour bumper.
Looking inside, it was amazing to see the state that some 18-month-old cars get in. Carpets full of grit and dirt. Stones and leaves crushed into the corners. A stain in one seat from a spilt drink and scuffs and scratches in the door trim.
Now any dealer will agree, that this is a pretty typical state for a family car to be returned in. And any dealer would valet it so that the carpets are fluffy and the dash shining.
But at Honda, a car only qualifies as used approved if the car is, to quote the dealer, ‘close to perfect.’
Once a car has been inspected it is sent around the dealership for the preparation work. Next stop is the body shop where we found a Honda Civic having the entire bumper re-sprayed because of a 10cm scuff. The kind of scuff you really expect a garage just to touch up.
But that kind of repair doesn’t last, and the point of used approved is that the cars will be repaired to a standard and look good for years to come.
We also found alloy wheels being re-furbished. Now if you go to an independent dealer that specialises in sports cars, all the cars will have perfect-looking alloys. But quite often a few months later (and in some cases weeks) the paint peels off and the wheel looks worse than before.
But that’s not the case with Honda. They sand each wheel down, paint them with the correct Honda paint and then bake the paint on in their oven. This means the paint stays in place far longer.
Later the cars go into the service bay, for a full service and recall check. Independent garages and supermarkets will inspect a car, but they rarely service it and whilst they can check for full VOSA safety recalls, they don’t check to ensure the car has had product updates, such as engine software upgrades.
Honda pay their garages for each update, so it is not a cost to you and ensures your car is absolutely right. Here we meet our first Honda-trained technician.
Honda technicians are trained to three levels, “maintenance,” “diagnostic,” and “master.” No matter what level you are trained to, you have to be re-trained and re-sit the exam every two years. The technicians are then given a licence that allows them to work on main dealer customer cars.
If you buy a car prepared anywhere else, you simply can’t tell if the mechanics really know anything about Hondas. So what might they have missed?
At Honda, as well as ensuring the car is up-to-date with its recalls and updates, they change any wear items that are likely to need replacing in the next 12 months, usually that means things like brake pads if 70% worn (saving you £45-£35 on something like a Civic), wiper blades (£18.90) and tyres if down to just 3mm of tread (£100+ per wheel).
This should all make the car more reliable, safer and save you money.
Click here to find the best value used Hondas in your area
Finally, the car is valeted throughout, restoring the carpet and removing stains.
Cars are then given a final inspection and if satisfied, the used car manager signs the car off as ready to be sold.
When signing the car off, he believes that the buyer won’t need to spend any money on the car for 12 months and will be getting a used car that is as close to new as they can make it.
Whilst these used approved Hondas may be a little more expensive that other cars on the market, when you add up the value of the work, the savings far out weigh the extra expense. Plus all used approved Hondas come with a full 12 month Honda Happiness guarantee.