Are factory "certified" cars worth it?

[Emilio Lizardo]

I am in the market for a used car, and am wondering if the factory "certified" used cars found at the dealer lot are worth looking at. They seem to be more expensive than traditional used cars or private party transactions. Do the n-point inspections (where n is a suitably large number) actually provide you with a car that is more likely to be long-term reliable, or is it just a marketing scam?

[DaddyTimesTwo]

It's a large part marketing, but I think it would be less risky to buy such a car than from a private party or a non-certified used car. So it depends on if you want to spend the extra cash for the perhaps slightly lower level of risk. The Car Talk guys have this (http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns/Archive/2001/May/02.html) to say about it.