Choosing a dealership used or new
Choosing A Dealership: Used Or New
With the availability of information today via the internet it is easy to check out a car dealer. Better Business Bureau reports are a mouse click away. Check out consumer complaints, which are available for 36 months, and they will indicate if complaints were filed against the dealership of your choice and if they were resolved in accordance with BBB policies.
A strong indicator the dealer is reputable and someone you may want to do business with is longevity. If the dealership has been around a while, they must be doing something right. They must surely treat their customers with respect and take care of the tiniest details.
Ask family and friends where they bought their vehicles. Get a firsthand account of their experiences with a particular dealer. They will be more than happy to give you their opinion. Word of mouth is the best form of marketing and the spoken thumbs up or thumbs down can be a powerful message. Not all dealerships are going to get glowing reviews, though. If you hear mostly positive reviews, chances are the dealership is worth considering.
Before deciding on a dealership, shop around. Visit a few dealerships in your area. Some dealerships might specialize in a particular vehicle or a particular service. They might be strictly a used vehicle business, a new vehicle business or both. Find out what their inventory level is. If their inventory is small, the choices will be very limited. If you are not very picky about what vehicle you purchase, this type of dealership might suit you just fine.
Check out the appearance of the operation. Some of the questions you should ask yourself are: Is the showroom neat and tidy? Is the sales staff polite and courteous and treat you with respect? Is the service area neat and orderly? Are the restrooms clean? If you answer no to any of these questions this probably isn’t the place for you.
An important question to ask is about services offered. If you buy a vehicle and need service or repairs, are they a full service facility? Or do they subcontract out some or any of the work? One question I always ask is who does the auto body work? I didn’t ask that question once and found out the dealer I picked to buy a car from because they were located near where I lived, sub contracted auto body work to a facility 50 miles away.
If you do your homework well, you will find the car dealership that is a pleasure to do business with.