3 ms·

They are "used" cars. I hate it when marketing departments try and manipulate the language. I hate it worse when everyone else just goes along with it.

mschulkind 1y ago
Except generally pre-owned is short for certified pre-owned like it is here, which means you get a much better warranty than buying on the used market.
- barbazoo 1y ago
  I remember a time when it was "certified used".
- patwolf 1y ago
  Most dealership websites in the US list cars as New, Pre-Owned or Certified Pre-Owned, meaning Certified is distinct from Pre-Owned.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  You're paying for that warranty though. If you really want one, you can buy one yourself from one of several competing aftermarket warranty companies. Used car dealers suck, in every way. They add zero value other than having a selection of cars in one place, and possibly a selection of lenders for financing if you need that. They also know every trick in the book to get you to pay more for the car than it is really worth. Best way if you have a little time to do research and watch the local market is to buy a car from a private seller.
  - dmix 1y ago
    The car websites will also clean/inspect the cars and ship the car to your house which is nice if the car you want is not near where you live But yes generally my experience with https://clutch.ca https://clutch.ca was they push you to some expensive financing deal through their people.
    - SoftTalker 1y ago
      Do they really though? I asked a used car salesman once, "what do you do to these cars after you get them" and he said "nothing." They get them from the auction and put them on the lot. Now maybe some dealers do a little more. I am a bottom-feeder when it comes to cars. But stands to reason that any money they spend on the car is less profit for them when they sell it.
- add-sub-mul-div 1y ago
  But that nuance wouldn't allow them to get outraged about something trivial.
codingdave 1y ago
That is completely standard wording. Has been since the 90s.
- BiteCode_dev 1y ago
  It's doubleplusgood language and perfectly cromulent.
- tclancy 1y ago
  That doesn't undermine their point though.
SkyPuncher 1y ago
Not really sure what you're targeting with the language. My guess is the "certified" part of pre-owned. It's basically just the labelling they give to lease vehicles that come back without excessive damage or wear. These vehicles generally have lowish miles, low wear on pretty much all components, and have been reasonably well kept by the leasee. My wife and I have found certified pre-owned is sweet spot for price-to-value. We get a vehicle that's basically brand new - but with a massive cost reduction.
Spivak 1y ago
Pretend for a minute that this naming scheme was successful, that sales of cars called pre-owned were higher than cars called used. Neither term is deceptive, both accurately describe the situation. What this tells you is that the problem isn't the cars, it's the existing negative connotation attached to the word used. The car industry picked a blank slate term for themselves and how people feel about the term pre-owned will be in line with their feelings about the cars and nothing else. The fact that this term has been in use for a long time and still (by assumption) carries a positive connotation means that people are having positive experiences with used cars. This to me is actually the opposite of deceptive. The used car industry took a risk by asking to be judged on their merits because pre-owned could have been synonymous with garbage in short order. There was little anchoring it to any particular connotation.
- pessimizer 1y ago
  If you create a new term for something that there was previously a common, unambiguous term for, people's animal brains assume that there's some sort of difference between the new and old thing, even if the words literally mean the same thing (if you use the actual meaning of the words in technical or industry jargon to determine their meaning, you will usually be wrong.) In other words there's an "existing negative connotation," although you attach this to the word (is it the sound of the word or the ugliness of the letters that creates this connotation? It is a mystery) rather than to the actual thing that the old word denoted. This is entirely deceptive, and nothing else. It is a change solely made to confuse people about the validity of their past experiences, and to sucker them into disregarding them when making very expensive decisions about their futures.
  - kube-system 1y ago
    Are people deceived by the term "pre-owned"?
    - pessimizer 1y ago
      People in this thread are deceived by the term "pre-owned." They assume that it means that it has a higher warranty protection than something that is simply "used." They think the classifications are "new," "used," and "pre-owned" rather than "new," "pre-owned," and "certified pre-owned" (which is a special warranty type.) So when they see "pre-owned" they think it is short for "certified pre-owned" which means that they're pricing in a warranty that they are not getting.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
dang 1y ago
We don't like euphemisms, bowdlerisms, or corpspeak either, and consider them loosely included under the word "misleading" in: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). I've made the title say 'used' instead of 'pre-owned' now.
- apparent 1y ago
  Sorry, I just literally copied the title, which I didn't find to be misleading. Can you help me understand what is misleading about "pre-owned"? Isn't that just a well-known synonym for "used"? If submitters are supposed to change the wording wherever marketing corpspeak exists, there will be a lot more changed titles, and perhaps not always for the better.
  - dang 1y ago
    Oh I agree. This is a fine-grained nuance and what you submitted was just fine. I didn't mean to imply otherwise and am sorry if it came across that way! Sometimes it's only when the commenters start reacting to a title that we even find out that there's an issue.

mschulkind 1y ago

Except generally pre-owned is short for certified pre-owned like it is here, which means you get a much better warranty than buying on the used market.

barbazoo 1y ago
I remember a time when it was "certified used".
patwolf 1y ago
Most dealership websites in the US list cars as New, Pre-Owned or Certified Pre-Owned, meaning Certified is distinct from Pre-Owned.
SoftTalker 1y ago
You're paying for that warranty though. If you really want one, you can buy one yourself from one of several competing aftermarket warranty companies. Used car dealers suck, in every way. They add zero value other than having a selection of cars in one place, and possibly a selection of lenders for financing if you need that. They also know every trick in the book to get you to pay more for the car than it is really worth. Best way if you have a little time to do research and watch the local market is to buy a car from a private seller.
- dmix 1y ago
  The car websites will also clean/inspect the cars and ship the car to your house which is nice if the car you want is not near where you live But yes generally my experience with https://clutch.ca https://clutch.ca was they push you to some expensive financing deal through their people.
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Do they really though? I asked a used car salesman once, "what do you do to these cars after you get them" and he said "nothing." They get them from the auction and put them on the lot. Now maybe some dealers do a little more. I am a bottom-feeder when it comes to cars. But stands to reason that any money they spend on the car is less profit for them when they sell it.
add-sub-mul-div 1y ago
But that nuance wouldn't allow them to get outraged about something trivial.

codingdave 1y ago

That is completely standard wording. Has been since the 90s.

BiteCode_dev 1y ago
It's doubleplusgood language and perfectly cromulent.
tclancy 1y ago
That doesn't undermine their point though.

SkyPuncher 1y ago

Not really sure what you're targeting with the language. My guess is the "certified" part of pre-owned. It's basically just the labelling they give to lease vehicles that come back without excessive damage or wear. These vehicles generally have lowish miles, low wear on pretty much all components, and have been reasonably well kept by the leasee. My wife and I have found certified pre-owned is sweet spot for price-to-value. We get a vehicle that's basically brand new - but with a massive cost reduction.

Spivak 1y ago

Pretend for a minute that this naming scheme was successful, that sales of cars called pre-owned were higher than cars called used. Neither term is deceptive, both accurately describe the situation. What this tells you is that the problem isn't the cars, it's the existing negative connotation attached to the word used. The car industry picked a blank slate term for themselves and how people feel about the term pre-owned will be in line with their feelings about the cars and nothing else. The fact that this term has been in use for a long time and still (by assumption) carries a positive connotation means that people are having positive experiences with used cars. This to me is actually the opposite of deceptive. The used car industry took a risk by asking to be judged on their merits because pre-owned could have been synonymous with garbage in short order. There was little anchoring it to any particular connotation.

pessimizer 1y ago
If you create a new term for something that there was previously a common, unambiguous term for, people's animal brains assume that there's some sort of difference between the new and old thing, even if the words literally mean the same thing (if you use the actual meaning of the words in technical or industry jargon to determine their meaning, you will usually be wrong.) In other words there's an "existing negative connotation," although you attach this to the word (is it the sound of the word or the ugliness of the letters that creates this connotation? It is a mystery) rather than to the actual thing that the old word denoted. This is entirely deceptive, and nothing else. It is a change solely made to confuse people about the validity of their past experiences, and to sucker them into disregarding them when making very expensive decisions about their futures.
- kube-system 1y ago
  Are people deceived by the term "pre-owned"?
  - pessimizer 1y ago
    People in this thread are deceived by the term "pre-owned." They assume that it means that it has a higher warranty protection than something that is simply "used." They think the classifications are "new," "used," and "pre-owned" rather than "new," "pre-owned," and "certified pre-owned" (which is a special warranty type.) So when they see "pre-owned" they think it is short for "certified pre-owned" which means that they're pricing in a warranty that they are not getting.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

dang 1y ago

We don't like euphemisms, bowdlerisms, or corpspeak either, and consider them loosely included under the word "misleading" in: "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). I've made the title say 'used' instead of 'pre-owned' now.

apparent 1y ago
Sorry, I just literally copied the title, which I didn't find to be misleading. Can you help me understand what is misleading about "pre-owned"? Isn't that just a well-known synonym for "used"? If submitters are supposed to change the wording wherever marketing corpspeak exists, there will be a lot more changed titles, and perhaps not always for the better.
- dang 1y ago
  Oh I agree. This is a fine-grained nuance and what you submitted was just fine. I didn't mean to imply otherwise and am sorry if it came across that way! Sometimes it's only when the commenters start reacting to a title that we even find out that there's an issue.