Buying a used car can be a bit more stressful than purchasing a new one. While it is possible to get a quality pre-owned vehicle, it requires a bit of patience and vigilance. However, you will want to be aware that there are some outdated but still prevalent strategies out there that may not give you the results you want.
Recently, we’ve seen a number of used car buying tips circulating from fairly respectable outlets like CNBC and Yahoo Finance, informing buyers on how to get the most for their money on a pre-owned car. While I strongly agree with some of the points, like understanding your budget and getting pre-approved for financing, once they start getting into the details of the shopping some of them miss they mark a bit.
Here are what I consider the top three errors that a lot of used car buyers make.
Don’t Rely On The CarFax
CarFax and other vehicle history report services like Autocheck can provide valuable information such as maintenance history or whether or not the car has been in a wreck. These data points can be good filters as to whether or not you want to pursue a car further.
However, these reports have shown to present inaccuracies or incomplete information. Sometimes accidents don’t get reported and therefore don’t appear on the report, and often it will seem like cars had more owners due to it being sold from one dealer group to another.
For the most part, this is common knowledge, but then you read something like this via CNBC:
You should also ask for the vehicle identification number (VIN), says Ricart. It’s a 17-digit number that’s assigned to every vehicle in the U.S. and allows you to pull a Carfax vehicle history report.
The report will cost about $40, but “is worth paying for,” he says. It provides key information about the car, including service and repair information, vehicle registration and reported accidents.”
While these reports do reveal some solid info you should not have to jump through hoops to get it—nor do I suggest paying for it. If you are researching multiple cars there is no reason to shell out $40 per report when the vast majority of dealers have these reports linked to their ad. And if a dealer doesn’t link a history report on their ad, that can sometimes be a red flag, so buyers should always request a copy from the dealer.
Don’t Trust The Dealer’s Inspection Process
There are a number of dealers that do their best to make sure they are selling a quality used car. Then there are other stores just looking for a quick buck. Both dealers will tell you that they have fully inspected and reconditioned the car prior to selling it, so who is telling the truth?
There is only one way to find out, and it’s not popping your head into the service area as CNBC’s expert says:
“If the dealer or seller claims they have inspected the vehicle, ask them where they do that... It’s good to actually see where the technicians are working on the car.”
I’m sorry to say most people probably won’t know what they’re looking at when they go into a service bay.
The best course of action is to have the car independently inspected by someone other than the dealership. Even if a car is a “certified pre-owned” model that supposedly meets a certain reconditioning standard, these inspections can be crucial. Technicians can miss things and some dealers play a little fast and loose with the certification process.
I was working with California client who wanted a BMW wagon, and I located a CPO example with low miles in Pennsylvania. Despite the fact that the car seemed pretty legit on paper, we used a local shop to inspect the car. The owner of the shop found that the car had a brake issue when slowing down from higher speeds. After some back and forth with the dealer, they agreed to replace the brake components prior to the sale.
Of course some dealers are going to put up some resistance on having their car sent out for an inspection, but usually, this is an indication that the dealer doesn’t want to be bothered with the effort and it doesn’t automatically mean the car is problematic. If that happens, there are a number of remote services than can send people to the dealership to provide an inspection and a report.
Don’t Negotiate In Person
I’m still amazed that in 2019 there are people that still insist that you negotiate a car deal like it’s 1999. Your time is valuable, and doing the marathon of back and forth with a dealer on a car deal only to maybe get to your goal is not a good use of your energy.
When it comes to negotiating a used car deal, Yahoo Finance cites a James Goodow , President & Managing Partner at Fennemore Craig, P.C.
According to Goodnow, you should make the first move. “In general, it’s best for you to anchor the parameters of the negotiation by making the first offer,” Goodnow said. “Dealers will generally not want to bid against their own prices, so don’t be afraid to put in an offer at or below the dealer invoice price.”
He conjointly aforementioned patrons ought to be ready for a few back-and-forth before the dealer reaches his final supply. “It’s nice to suppose that a dealer can move the chase,” Goodnow aforementioned. “But the fact is most won’t. It’s too deep-seated within the car-buying culture.”
Goodow is Associate in Nursing professional, not a automobile employee or a automobile shopping for skilled. however you talk terms a legal dispute may be a bit totally different than coming back to a value on a automobile. 1st of all, there's no “dealer invoice price” on a second user automobile. The invoice is what a dealer can pay the manufacturer on a brand new automobile. Some dealers might have noninheritable that pre-owned automobile low-cost via auction or even even “overpaid” a touch for someone’s trade to sweeten the deal for a brand new purchase. In either case it doesn’t very matter what the dealer purchased it. What matters most is what comparable vehicles ar commercialism for.
Making a low-ball supply on a second user automobile goes to line you up for a world of frustration as a result of I actually have aforementioned it time and once more that the margins on pre-owned ar tighter nowadays than the general public notice. If the dealer thinks you're too way apart, they're going to typically dig their heels in and not even counter-offer. However, if you'll be able to notice an identical automobile available for a lower cost which will be a leverage purpose.
But the negotiation shouldn't have to be compelled to happen personally. Use a mix of emails Associate in Nursingd phone calls to induce wherever you would like to get on the value and continuously get an itemized out the door in writing before you arrive as a result of some dealers ar a touch ill-famed for adding during a bunch of garbage fees. This technique permits you to interact in multiple negotiations quickly and you'll be able to simply kill a spoken communication with a store that's uncooperative.
All this work is long and nerve-racking, that is why outfits like CarMax, Carvana, and roar have mature in quality as a result of they claim to require a number of the strain out of it. However, by selecting those avenues, customers can be commercialism convenience for worth, and there's no guarantee that the inventory on their tons is considerably higher than anyplace else.
Source jalopnik.com
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