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Used Car Buying Tips

At ABS, we believe a "used car savvy" customer is better equipped to find the vehicle that matches his/her needs, and will appreciate the way we do business. 

 
Is it better to buy from a dealer , person-to-person , or an individual ?


Benefits of Buying From a Professional Dealer - a dealer:

  • Offers a warranty and often an optional service contract
  • Will take your trade-in
  • Will, in most cases, assist you in getting financing
  • Has a reputation to protect
  • Knows his best source of new business is the referral of a satisfied customer
  • May have a service facility and offer the customer a discount
  • Can help you any time after the warranty period has ended by seeing that you get the best price on the repair by using his resources and contacts
  • In most cases will let your mechanic look at the car

You :

  • Are protected against being stuck with a vehicle that may later show up as being stolen
  • Are protected against odometer fraud


Risks of Buying a Vehicle Person to Person:


You :

  • May be dealing with a "curb stoner." (A person who buys and sells cars without a license for a profit)
  • Have no recourse if you buy a bad car
  • Forfeit most of all the advantages of buying from a dealer
  • Are stuck, in most cases, if you find the odometer has been tampered with
    Lose the car and investment, if the car you purchase later turns up as having been stolen, whether the seller was involved in the crime or not


Benefits of Buying From an Individual:

  • The only possible advantage may be the price

The 10 Most Important Things to Know When Buying a Used Car From a Dealer:

  • Check the dealer's reputation and complaint record by calling your local consumer affairs office.
  • Ask the salesperson for the names of three people who have purchased cars there in the last 90 days, and ask that he do it on the spot while you wait.
  • Ask the salesperson if their dealership is a member of the state dealer association
  • Ask the dealer for permission to take the vehicle to your mechanic to have it checked over.
  • Ask to see what repairs have been done since the dealer purchased the vehicle, and have explained to you ,in detail, what the dealer has done to insure to you that this will be a good, reliable car.
  • Find out all of the details about the dealer's warranty and repair policy.
  • Ask the dealer to explain his price and to support it by a book value.
  • Ask the dealer what percent of his business is repeat business and referrals. If he doesn't know, he may not care.
  • Avoid high pressure and "you must decide now" techniques.
  • When leaving a deposit, do so with any and all conditions of the sale spelled out on the buyers order with yours and the salesperson's signature.
USED CAR VALUES EXPLAINED...

I bet when you decide to sell your car, you look up the Kelley Blue Book value. Am I right? This is what most people do. It's all they really have to determine the value of their car. Is it right? Is it a good guide? Well yes and no. First of all, if you own a newer car, it tends to be high and if you own an older car, it tends to be low. But what about the 3 price points? There's Suggested Retail, Private Party Value and Trade-in.

Suggested Retail is supposed to be what I can ask as a dealer. I rarely can ask that much, unless it's an older car. Private Party is supposed to be what YOU the individual seller can ask/get for the car. But the individual BUYING from you wants a deal! They are taking all the risk, so they want a heck of a deal! If they buy from a dealer, they have a company, brick and mortar, to go back to and complain and demand their money back or get a problem corrected.

Trade in value is supposed to be the wholesale value. The amount you will get if you trade your car in at a dealer. This range of low to high is usually about right. After I appraise a vehicle and determine its value based on many different pieces of information, I check Kelley Blue Book trade in. I am usually somewhere in that range with my offer. But that doesn't mean I EVER just look up KBB trade to determine my offer. 

Here's the "catch 22" on selling your vehicle privately. You want MORE than trade in or wholesale for your car. The buyer wants to pay much less than he/she would at a dealer. I, the dealer, can't ask KBB Suggested Retail for my car because it would place my car at a higher price than the other comparables out there for sale. So my price is closer to Private Party. So your buyer is most likely going to want to be somewhere between trade and private party values. Keep in mind the pricing seems to be most accurate on middle aged vehicles but Suggested Retail is still too high.

The other catch is the time (and possibly money) you must invest in this process. You need to put your car on the web. You need to have it detailed or clean it really well - it's like selling a house! You have to be home when your buyer wants to come see it. They will keep you home on weekends, stand you up, offer way less than you are asking and ask if you will take payments! The nerve of them! All for a potential what? $500 - $1000? maybe? Will it sell? How long will it take? Some of my inventory sells in a few days and some takes many many months. You just don't know. All the while your depreciating item is continuing to depreciate! How frustrating!

Come straight to Auto Buying Service and you will get a fair wholesale offer for your car, truck, or van! If you owe money on it,  we will handle the payoff. You don't have to go to the bank with the stranger buying your car so they can watch you pay off your car and be promised a title. We won't ask you to leave your plates on the car just long enough for us to get it home. We will have your plates removed for you and give them to you in a bag so you don't have to touch them.

You get the idea. We are a small company, family owned and operated. We have about 12 employees, 4 of which are family, the rest just feel like family. :) We will offer you coffee, give you a comfortable place to wait while we appraise your vehicle / buy your car. The process of buying your car only takes about 15 minutes. Next time you decide to sell you car, think of Auto Buying Service in Merrifield / Fairfax.