Hyundai has become the latest auto brand to launch a certified used car program, joining the likes of Toyota, Nissan, Renault, Subaru, Skoda, Volkswagen and a range of premium brands.
In order to be eligible for what’s now officially known as the Hyundai Promise Certified Pre-Owned Program, vehicles will need to have travelled less than 120,000km, be under five years old, have a complete dealer service history, pass an 118-point inspection, have two keys and pass a Digital PDI system check.
Should a vehicle meet all the requirements, it will be deemed certified and offered with an extra 12 months of factory warranty and roadside assistance once the fifth annual service is completed within the Hyundai dealer network.
“Hyundai Promise mirrors the experience of buying a brand-new Hyundai by bringing protection and peace of mind to the purchase of high-quality Certified Pre-Owned vehicles, as well as giving customers additional factory warranty and Premium Roadside Support,” said Hyundai Australia CEO, Ted Lee.
The move sees Hyundai claw back some ground on sister brand Kia in terms of aftersales care, at least in the used market, given the latter offers an extra two years of warranty coverage from new (five versus seven), which as with other brands stays with the vehicle regardless of how many times it changes owners.
Kia Australia hasn’t given any indication yet whether it will follow Hyundai’s lead, but there’s no guarantee of that just because they are sister brands – and launched their respective connected services apps within weeks of each other – since there are key differences in their market strategies.
While the largely share product hardware, the two Korean marques differ most notably in their aftersales programs but also their philosophies; Kia has a local chassis tuning program while Hyundai now generally takes global tunes (which it helps develop), and the former typically yields more dynamic results.
There’s also very little overlap between the two brands in the more niche parts of the market; for example, there was no Hyundai rival for the Kia Stinger, while Kia doesn’t have an answer for Hyundai’s combustion-powered N portfolio.
Another more recent example is Hyundai’s newfound hybrid push, whereas Kia is content to stick with diesel for the foreseeable future.
carsales has contacted Kia Australia for a definitive answer as to whether it plans to launch its own pre-owned certified program.
Meantime, Hyundai has launched a dedicated Promise landing page for customers to browse its certified used vehicles nationally, of which there were 58 at the time of writing.
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