You probably know that not every place selling used vehicles is a great one. There are hundreds of them in your state and thousands of them in the country. All of them are not offering great cars and some of them even have terrible service.
Before you start looking for a dealership that is going to get you a great used vehicle, you need to pay attention to a few details. In this article, we’re going to share the 5 steps with you about how to locate the best place there is. Follow up and see what they are!
1. Do the research online
Living in Greece, NY, means you have a lot of dealerships around. You probably saw some of them while going to work or traveling to some other place in the area. They all offer previously owned cars that most often looks amazing. See what’s important in a used car here.
Just like in the marketing business, everything’s flashy and shiny until you buy the product – then you realize the flaws and downsides. It’s the same here.
The first thing you need to do is make a list of dealerships that are around. See which one is the closest to you. The ones being the closest will have the biggest advantage in your deciding on where to buy the next car from. When you do this, move on to the next step.
2. Read previous customers’ reviews
When you open the internet, find customer review sites about used cars in the search engine. Make sure the list a web page offers you include the companies working near you that you have found in the previous step.
When you do this, start reading the reviews. You’ll notice that all dealerships are ranked differently based on the different opinions people have about a certain place. For example, some place offers great cars, but have terrible service and rude employees. They’ll rank lower on the list.
Another place has terrible cars and amazing employees, they’ll rank the same as the previous ones. It’s up to you to decide what’s more important for you. Of course, the best place is to find the perfect of both sides – great vehicles and excellent employees, but in this case, the prices will be higher too.
In a way, you’ll need to make a decision that’s most important to you. If you have no problem that someone gives you an attitude for no reason and you’re able to ignore them, then this place is the best. You’ll get an excellent car for a fair price but during the process, you’ll face a person who’ll jump and dance on your nerves.
3. Find some recommendations
Sometimes, the internet is not going to provide relevant information. A dealership may be ranked the highest, but only by 5 people including the owner of the place. They’ll all give straight 10s and the auto shop will be on top of the list.
This is why recommendations from friends are important. Sometimes they might have insight information about a place, or have friends of friends that will share some info about the place which will be highly helpful.
After all, dealerships are run by businessmen who try to make more profits for them, the employees and their families. They do everything they can to help them, not the clients. Click here to understand what a businessman needs to cope with and how they need to act to run a great shop.
4. Compare prices
As we said previously, many factors depend on how much the margin will be moved for the people running the shops. This makes the final price and how much you’ll need to pay for a car.
Since you’re the customer and your only two goals are to find an affordable and well-preserved vehicle, you shouldn’t care too much about their problems.
What you need to do is compare the prices of different dealerships. See who’s has a lower price on their products and make sure you take into consideration the other factors we mentioned, like attitude, location, etc.
5. Ask for warranty
Not too many places will offer a warranty on used cars, but some auto shops are selling relatively new vehicles that were bought brand new and were driven just a little. These cars are going to be sold with a warranty for a few years maybe. See more on this here: https://www.progressive.com/lifelanes/on-the-road/5-important-things-know-car-warranties/
If the original company making the vehicle gives a warranty on their product, and a person who has driven, let’s say, 50.000 miles with it, you still have a good distance to go under this warranty. Sure, the price will be a little higher than those who are older models and with more mileage behind them, but it’s always good to have back up, right?