Car finding agents - anyone used them?

Llyllyll

Exactly as title really. I've got another thread going about AWD/4x4 estates and one of the cars I'm most interested in seems to be quite rare to find.

Are these agents any good at what they purport to do?

Examples of such agents are:

http://www.thecaragents.com/used-vehicles/find-me-a-vehicle
http://www.big-cars.co.uk/
http://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/car-buying-service/

Thanks in advance.

Happytohelp

I follow a couple of guys on Twitter, both are car locators and they seem to get good reviews. You may want to have a look at their websites:

http://www.palmdale.co.uk/
http://clevercarbuyer.com/

I haven't personally used their services, just heard good things about them.

Good luck!

clevercarbuyer

Hello there

I'm not sure from reading your post exactly what 4x4 you're looking for, but we may well be able to help. We tend to specialise in BMW's, but are able source all makes and models. I would be very happy to be of assistance, please do drop me a line (and finding rare cars is a particular speciality of ours)!. Thanks a lot.

kind regards
Mark Barker
Clever Car Buyer

maninthestreet

SPAM - reported!

ashleywinston

Interesting to see a thread on car buying agents.

There are a few around, however you'll probably find that they all operate slightly differently. Pick one that is right for you and make sure that you are 100% positive such a service is suitable for you to use.

But the best advice I can give is to call up a few of them for a chat and just see how you get along with the staff there. When it comes down to it, you're trusting one of these companies with a large portion of your money, so you need to make sure you get on with them well.

Make no mistake, over the next few years using someone to find you your car will become a lot more common, as some of the bigger players move into this market.

How do I know so much about all this? Well, I run one of the companies listed above! I won't say which one, though, as I'm just here to provide an opinion...

forgotmyname

With the internet i think you must be very lazy not to find a car yourserlf.

Unless its a vert rare item that wouldnt get advertised in the normal ways.

Ebay, Autotrader, Gumtree, Online auctions and the old fashioned auction places. Most post lists online.

Llyllyll

forgotmyname wrote: »

With the internet i think you must be very lazy not to find a car yourserlf.

Unless its a vert rare item that wouldnt get advertised in the normal ways.

Ebay, Autotrader, Gumtree, Online auctions and the old fashioned auction places. Most post lists online.

So in what way is this any sort of useful reply to my question, 'Car finding agents - anyone used them?'?

It'd be a great reply if the question was ' Do you think I'm really lazy because I'm considering using a car finding agent even though there are there are a number of reasons why this may be a good and practical way for me to do it. Please feel free to post an ill-informed comment about circumstances you know nothing about’.

forgotmyname

It's useful in the fact i said.. EBAY, AUTOTRADER, GUMTREE, ONLINE AUCTIONS, SPECSAVERS, AND OLD FASHIONED AUCTIO HOUSES.

5 minutes of your time could be spent finding the car, Rather than trying to find if the company your going to pay to find you a car is genuine or not.

Who pays if the car turns out to be a lemon? Even experts get caught out sometimes.

newbutold

My friend has used the company below to source a used car for them before now. They were happy with the company.

http://www.fleetelite.co.uk/

DKLS

forgotmyname wrote: »

With the internet i think you must be very lazy not to find a car yourserlf.

I have used both a car and a house finding agent in the past and it worked very well i had a number of reasons for doing this and laziness wasnt one of them, at the time I was an IT contractor on a v generous day rate and working 7 days a week hence I was time poor, and after giving the agent a budget and spec they did the donkey work and found me 3 houses to view and the perfect car for me.

disco.stu

ashleywinston wrote: »

Make no mistake, over the next few years using someone to find you your car will become a lot more common, as some of the bigger players move into this market.

How do I know so much about all this? Well, I run one of the companies listed above! I won't say which one, though, as I'm just here to provide an opinion...

Like Ashley, I run one of the companies listed above, and can only endorse everything he said. One other thing to note is that some of the businesses listed above are used car dealers rather than car buying agents. It is an important difference, even if they are the best used car dealers around.

A car buying agent is not a dealer and does not sell vehicles. There are plenty of used car dealers who will source a particular car for you, but that does not make them a buying agent or broker. A car buying agent should always be acting exclusively for the buyer rather than the dealership.