Chrysler certified pre-owned warranty

Chrysler’s certified pre-owned program explained

If you’re new to certified pre-owned cars, here’s the skinny. CPO vehicles are used automobiles that have undergone a rigorous inspection at the dealership and include an extra warranty on top of whatever factory warranty is left.

These “like new” cars offer buyers something between “new” and “used,” and they’re a popular choice since they come with some degree of quality assurance.

» LEARN: What is a certified pre-owned car?

Instead of coming up with its own CPO program, Chrysler follows the CPO program designed by its parent company, Stellantis. (Stellantis’ CPO program covers Chrysler, Ram, Dodge, Jeep, FIAT and Alfa Romeo vehicles, so most of what you’ll read here applies to those brands, as well.)

Chrysler has two tiers for CPO vehicles.

Stellantis calls the program CPOV. To qualify, a pre-owned Chrysler must be under five model years old (e.g., a 2019 or newer in 2024) and have fewer than 75,000 miles on its odometer. CPOV Chrysler vehicles include a three-month/3,000-mile Maximum Care warranty (which is how Stellantis labels its bumper-to-bumper warranties) and a seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty. You’ll get a few additional benefits, too, including 24/7 roadside assistance and towing (up to $100 per occurrence), a car rental allowance, a three-month SiriusXM trial and a free Carfax vehicle history report for your vehicle.

Stellantis also offers a secondary CPO program, called CPO GO, for higher-mileage vehicles. To qualify, Chrysler vehicles must have between 75,001 and 120,000 miles and pass a similar 125-point inspection. CPO GO vehicles still get the three-month/3,000 mile Maximum Care warranty and roadside assistance, but they do not include the seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.

For the rest of this piece, we’ll be focusing on the main CPOV program for “newer” used vehicles.

» LEARN: What does a car warranty cover?

How good is Chrysler’s CPO warranty?

Chrysler’s CPO warranty isn’t great.

For context, most CPO programs include at least one year/12,000 miles of additional bumper-to-bumper coverage. The timer starts on the day your factory warranty expires or the day you buy the CPO vehicle, whichever comes later.

The bumper-to-bumper warranty on CPO Chryslers is shorter than what many manufacturers offer.

Compared to that, Chrysler’s three months of bumper-to-bumper coverage is pretty short. And Chryslers already come with the minimum amount of bumper-to-bumper coverage from the factory — three years or 36,000 miles.

This means that if you buy a CPO Chrysler Pacifica with 30,000 miles on it, you only have 6,000 miles of the factory warranty remaining and 3,000 miles of CPO warranty after that. All told, you get a combined 9,000 miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage — barely a year’s worth of driving if you’re lucky.

To their credit, CPO Chryslers also include a seven-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty (measured from the date the vehicle was first sold to its original owner). That means it effectively takes the five-year/60,000-mile factory powertrain warranty and adds another two years or 40,000 miles of coverage.

That’s not bad, but keep in mind that powertrain warranties may only cover a few dozen parts inside the engine, transmission and drive axle — roughly 1% of the parts covered by the bumper-to-bumper warranty.

How does Chrysler’s CPO warranty compare?

CPO vehicles from Honda, Kia and Chevrolet all come with a full one-year/12,000-miles of bumper-to-bumper coverage, and while Kia’s coverage can technically overlap with the factory warranty, the brand also offers three additional years of powertrain coverage.

» MORE: Best CPO warranties

CPO Chrysler benefits

CPO Chrysler vehicles also come with the following benefits:

• 24/7 roadside assistance, including up to $100 per occurrence for flat tire changes (using your spare), up to two gallons of gas delivery, battery-jump-start assistance, lockout assistance and towing
• Car rental allowances of up to $35 per day for up to five days ($175 total) to help with the cost of a rental while your Chrysler is in the shop for a warranty-covered repair
• A First Day Rental Allowance of $35 to help cover a rental car or taxi while your vehicle is at the dealer, even if it’s not for warranty work (though this excludes bodywork)

You’ll also get a three-month SiriusXM trial and a free Carfax report.

As for how Chrysler’s CPO benefits compete with other brands’, well, it’s a mixed bag. 24/7 roadside assistance and a $35 rental per diem are pretty common for CPO vehicles, but this is the first time we’ve seen a “first day rental allowance.” That could come in handy.

Still, Chrysler’s CPO program is missing a lot of key benefits that competitors offer. Chevy includes two free maintenance visits, for example, and Kia and many others include trip expense reimbursement, which helps to cover the cost of meals and lodging if your CPO vehicle breaks down 100-plus miles from home.

Is a CPO Chrysler worth it?

A CPO Chrysler could be worth the extra cost, but it probably won’t be in most cases.

To explain when it might be worth paying extra for CPO, let’s look at how reliable Chryslers are and how much dealers are charging for CPO status these days.

How reliable are Chryslers?

By all accounts we could find, Chrysler vehicles are far less reliable than your average car.

As of publishing, both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports rank the brand dead last for dependability out of 30-plus major automakers. The former found that Chryslers exhibited an average of 310 problems per 100 vehicles after three years, compared to the 190 average across all brands. The second-least reliable brand was Audi, which had 275 problems per 100 vehicles.

Consumer Reports, meanwhile, gave Chrysler a predicted reliability score of just 18 out of 100. While the Chrysler 300 scored a respectable 4 out of 5 for predicted reliability and the Pacifica scored a 3, the brand’s overall rating was dragged down by the Pacifica Hybrid, which scored a 1 out of 5.

“Our 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid has been at a dealership since the middle of November 2022,” wrote a reviewer from California in April 2023. “The battery pack and the transmission have been replaced and the car is still not safe to drive. There is no estimate as to when the car will be returned to us.

“We’ve racked up about $7,000 in credit card debt, assuming we’d get it back. We’ve also paid five car payments for a car that we cannot use, and may never be able to.”

According to Consumer Reports, the transmission is a common failure point on both minivans, but as you can see from the above review, the problems don’t stop there.

“Chrysler vehicles have so many more problems than just the transmission,” reported Sean Kim, a mechanic with extensive experience working on Stellantis vehicles. “Electrical problems and major oil leaks are very prevalent, even for lower mileage. It’s probably the most common brand that comes in our shop.”

» MORE: Chrysler maintenance: cost, plans and service schedule

How much does a certified pre-owned Chrysler cost?

According to a 2018 study by iSeeCars, Chrysler dealers used to charge an average of 3.4% extra (about $482) for CPO over the cost of a standard used Chrysler. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $600 extra in 2024.

As of publishing, CPO Chryslers tend to cost between $800 and $1,400 more than comparable used models.

To verify that number, we took a look at used and certified pre-owned vehicle prices on Edmunds and found that the true upcharge is probably somewhere between $800 and $1,400.

So, is it worth paying that much more for a CPO Chrysler? Probably not.

Chrysler’s poor reputation for reliability does justify the impulse to want as much warranty coverage as you can get, but CPO Chryslers only come with three extra months of bumper-to-bumper coverage.

The majority of what you’re getting is two years of powertrain warranty and roadside assistance. That two extra years of powertrain coverage is definitely worth something when you think about how many Pacificas and Pacific Hybrids have transmission issues, but there are other ways to get those benefits.

Do you need an extended warranty for your Chrysler?

If your heart is set on a Chrysler vehicle and you want to purchase the most dependable one possible, consider this alternative to buying CPO:

1. Find a great used Chrysler and order your own pre-purchase inspection before committing to buy it.
2. Purchase a Maximum Care extended warranty from Mopar, the official supplier of Chrysler warranties, for around $700 per year of added coverage.

That should get you more comprehensive coverage for about the same price, and you can maintain that coverage for even longer if you plan to decide to keep your Chrysler long-term. To learn more, check out our full piece on Chrysler extended warranties.

» FIND WARRANTY COMPANIES: Best Extended Car Warranty Companies