Buying a used car in 2019

rhino_horn

I'm a car dealer - we source cars for our customers.

Loads of our customers buy cars from us before they've seen them. In fact one of our part exes has been paid for today without the chap coming down to look at it.

Tammer

Thanks for all the comments so far. Very helpful.

Can I ask a secondary question?

What do people use to assess the price of used cars? I have registered with Parkers so far.

TonyMMM

When buying used cars that are past manufacturer warranty age - the dealer is as important as the car for me.

I will look at a small number of dealers I know and have used before and found reliable, and are reasonably local to me in case of any issues.

I've found there is always room for a little haggling - but maybe not as much as there used to be.

I would never consider buying a car unseen, or at a distance, with no chance to examine it and drive it.

motorguy

Tammer wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments so far. Very helpful.

Can I ask a secondary question?

What do people use to assess the price of used cars? I have registered with Parkers so far.

Autotrader - enter the parameters required and sort by price.

MEM62

rhino_horn wrote: »

I'm a car dealer - we source cars for our customers.

Loads of our customers buy cars from us before they've seen them. In fact one of our part exes has been paid for today without the chap coming down to look at it.

We are almost talking brokering here rather than traditional sales. That requires a high level of trust in the dealer and, whilst it is quite possible to build that kind of relationship, most if the issues raised in these pages do not arise from working on this basis. They see a car in an online advertisement, up for sale at a dealer they have no prior relationship with (sometimes many miles away) and buy it based on the dealers description. Madness in my view.

I would have a good level of trust in the guys we purchased our last car from (I will probably go there for my next one) and they do source cars to request. However, I would still want to see the vehicle before parting with my money.

parking_question_chap

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I find that private buyers are 100% worse than years ago.

I research and list my private car for a realistic price only get get messages like;
"Best price"
"Final price"
or "whats the lowest you will take for it"...like I pick a price then I have to haggle with myself for the !!!! on the other end of the phone.....and offers of 50% less than advertised price, doesnt matter if its a £2000 price tag for a £4000 car or a £4000 price tag for a £4000 car, daft offers seem to come with the territory. Then there is folk who expect a brand new condition car that has been driven for 70,000 miles in 6 years....crazy.

Agreed, seems like there are a lot of this kind of buyer about. The best answer imo is "Sorry mate its sold".

Ectophile

Tammer wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments so far. Very helpful.

Can I ask a secondary question?

What do people use to assess the price of used cars? I have registered with Parkers so far.

I'm another one for using Autotrader. If the car is a common model, then there will be loads on sale if you widen the search area enough.

Tammer

My experience is that I went to see a car on Friday and tried to buy it but it had been sold while I was there - the buyer did it without seeing it. When I asked !!!!!!, the salesman said that it was bought on finance " so they can get out if dont like it".

At the same time I had enquired about another car through auto trader. I only heard from the dealership today 5 days later. They said "it's back in the showroom and available ". Could this be another sight unseen that the customer has got out of?

Is there a get out clause if you buy a car on finance without seeing it, or something else going on here?

motorguy

Tammer wrote: »

My experience is that I went to see a car on Friday and tried to buy it but it had been sold while I was there - the buyer did it without seeing it. When I asked !!!!!!, the salesman said that it was bought on finance " so they can get out if dont like it".

At the same time I had enquired about another car through auto trader. I only heard from the dealership today 5 days later. They said "it's back in the showroom and available ". Could this be another sight unseen that the customer has got out of?

Is there a get out clause if you buy a car on finance without seeing it, or something else going on here?

Could have been sold by another salesman before you got there but not updated on the system. Easier to tell you it was sold without seeing it.

"back in the showroom and available" could mean it was just in and had been away getting prep work done.

Maybe it IS a more common phenomenon than it was, but i've never really come across it out there in the wild as it were. I've probably sold several thousand cars over the years and other than the "i'm coming to buy it" or "if its as described i'll take it", i certainly never got confirmed, deposit paid purchases over the phone.

I do see some dealers offer "reserve this car now" type functionality. So unless they are maybe getting success with that.