In order for a car to be Acura Certified Pre-Owned, does it have to be bought at an Acura dealership?

Q: I just bought a used 2005 Acura TSX from a used car dealer that is NOT an actual Acura dealer. They told me the car was Acura Certified Pre-Owned and even charged me an extra $3,000 or so. The 'maintenance required' light turned on the other day so I guess I have to take it in to get checked out. However, while searching for an Acura dealer close to where I live, I ran into an article that made it sound like only ACURA DEALERSHIPS can sell pre-owned certified Acuras. I hope I just mis-interpreted the article or else I'm not going to be a happy camper. If you have any knowledge on this please help!!!!!!

A: While everything everyone has said about CPO is on spot. I just wanted to inform you that the "Maintenance Required" light is NOT the same as a Check Engine Light. All Honda's and Acura's have a Maintenance light and a Check Engine light. MR light comes on at certain intervals such as 10k, 20k, 30k, 35k, 40k ETC to alert you that your car will need a "recommended" tune up (oil change/belts/filters/etc) comming up. For example my honda has 44k miles on it and my MR light came on because my car has a 45k mile tune up that Im suposed to do. A Check Engine Light, is what you need to be concerned with. That means something is wrong. But if you just have a Maintenece Req light, pull out your manual if you have one and look up your mileage in the Maintenence part and it will tell you what should be done. Probably just change the air filter or something like that.

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