Shopping at the Right One Makes Car-Buying a Pleasant Experience
Being in the market for a vehicle can be exciting or scary, depending on your situation. Maybe you’re looking for the car of your dreams, or an inexpensive ride to get you from point A to point B. Either way, you don’t want to end up finalizing your purchase at a dealership that is less than stellar.
Before you start Googling “used cars near me” or throwing a dart at a map, you need to do a bit of background research into the types of places that might just have your next vehicle. You need to identify a reputable car dealership to shop at, so you don’t get taken advantage of or end up with a car, truck, or SUV you hate.
Here’s how you can do it!
Ask for Recommendations
Your best bet for finding a car dealership you can trust is to ask your friends, family, and coworkers for their recommendations.
The odds are good that you know someone who has purchased a vehicle recently, and they are willing to share their opinion of the dealership they visited. And if for some odd reason, you don’t know anyone who has purchased a car, the people you know will know someone who has.
Ask them to find out whether the people they know had a good experience, and where they went to buy a new or used car.
Good Online Reviews
You can verify whether a dealership is trustworthy by reading their online reviews on websites like Google or Yelp. These reviews are from other customers who have shopped for a new or used car at the dealership you’re considering.
Even if there are some less positive reviews, look at how the dealership responds to them to help make it right. Dealerships who want to do business with customers and treat them well always strive to be the best they can be.
Be wary of dealerships with positive reviews that all sound the same, or lots of negative reviews. If all the reviews sound very similar, it could be falsified reviews to inflate their ratings. And of course, the majority of negative reviews tend to mean you may not have a good experience there.
Start by using your favorite search engine with the term “used car dealerships near me” or “new cars near me” and see which dealers are in your area. This will make it easier for you to find their online reviews.
Verify Fair Prices on Kelley Blue Book
Reputable car dealerships sell new and used vehicles for fair prices. They still want to make money off every sale, but they don’t overcharge their customers or force them to haggle to get a fair price.
To verify whether a car dealership’s prices seem fair, you can do two things. You can look through online listings of cars for sale and compare prices based on features, model year, and odometer readings. Or, you can pick out a few cars on the dealership website and enter their details into the Kelley Blue Book website.
When making price comparisons, be sure you’re using the same information as the vehicle listed for sale. For example, a Ford F-150 with a V6 engine is going to be cheaper than one with a V8 and more capable transmission, and a fully-loaded sedan will be more expensive than one with the bare minimum of interior features. You should be able to glean this information from the description on the dealership website.
No Pressure Salespeople
It’s stressful enough to buy a vehicle at a car dealership, so a salesperson who puts too much pressure on you to hurry you through the process just to make a sale is the last thing you want to encounter.
Smart salespeople know that they can help you toward making a purchase without making it a hassle to shop. The ones who are pushy and borderline rude probably aren’t the best at their jobs, so they aren’t going to focus on you during the process and ensure you get what you want. Their focus is solely on getting commission from the sale and padding their own paycheck.
A no-pressure salesperson will offer you the information you need about a vehicle, let you test drive it, and help you compare and contrast any vehicles on the lot that you’re considering. They’ll let you come to a conclusion on your own, and talk to you like you’re a human, not a source of income.
And remember, if a salesperson is pressuring you or making you uncomfortable, you are well within your rights to leave and find a more welcoming new or used car dealership.
