Preowned Car Shopping Sources-“Where do I look for my next car or truck?”
Shopping for a preowned car can be a very overwhelming task if you let it. There are millions of vehicles for sale at any given time, and it easy to get caught up the vastness of choices. The good news is that you no longer have to go driving from car lot to car lot looking for a vehicle. The internet has changed the way people buy cars for good, and hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks are sold daily via the internet. This has been a complete game changer in the past decade and a half. The business of selling automobiles transformed from a localized customer to a world wide customer virtually overnight, with great success. Some dealers and used car lots do most of their business on the internet, and it has made the used car business much more competitive over the years. This is good for you the consumer, but where do you look for that car of your dreams? Well, I am going to provide you with some answers to help streamline the process for you.
1.Autotrader.com®
This was the first company to see the potential in an online market place for selling cars and trucks, and in the process became the biggest name in the business. There are literally millions of vehicles at your fingertips, and you can search from the comfort of anywhere. This is such a powerful tool and can save you untold amounts of time. Simply key in your desired car or truck including make, model, trim level, color, price, mileage, distance area, etc. and press search. The results will be displayed with vehicle, seller, distance from you, photos, and a price most of the time. This makes shopping so easy and enjoyable and much less of a headache driving from dealer to dealer.
2. Cars.com™
This is also a very strong market leader in the online automotive marketplace. They also have millions of cars and trucks available on their site. The site is extremely easy to navigate, and they also provide many other helpful car buying and selling tools. I always use the advanced search tab because it allows you to customize the search in greater detail. This allows you to get very specific about what you are looking for, and display only those results. When searching you may find the same vehicles for sale on both sites, because many dealers and sellers use both platforms for greater reach and exposure.
3. CarsDirect.com®
This is a relative newcomer but is gaining exposure quickly. They have approximately 1 million vehicles available in their database. The process is pretty much the same except it automatically defaults to a 75 mile search, and is make and model specific only on the first search. Once the search results display, then you can refine the search on the left side of the screen to be more exact.
4. New Car Dealerships
New car dealerships often have a large selection of preowned cars and trucks for sale for you to choose from. If you are like most of the buying public you would have found the vehicle online, and went there or called specifically for that vehicle. These new car dealerships often have a number of preowned cars, and certified preowned cars for sale. Certified preowned cars have been serviced according to stringent manufacturers protocol, and them deemed certified. This normally carries additional warranty for an extended period of time over the original new car warranty. In my experience, I have found that preowned cars from new car franchised dealers, tend to be better quality than the smaller independents. They normally have greater resources to properly service the vehicles and get them front line ready. The sheer volume of new car sales normally drives the aquisition of preowned cars. This allows them to keep the best of the best, and send the rest to auction. This usually leads to a better quality of car or truck, that has been serviced properly. Most dealerships will not want to risk their reputation and new car sales by selling sub par automobiles. In short, they normally spend more money than the little guys making the cars nice.
5. Large Preowned Superstores
These are very large preowned used car superstores that usually have hundreds of cars on their lots. There is a good chance that somewhere around you there is some type of larger preowned superstore. A couple of the bigger names in this arena are CarMax® Used Car Superstores and Autonation®. They usually have nicely appointed modern facilities, and a very large selection of vehicles to choose from. Carmax® utilizes a “no haggle” pricing strategy, so it makes things easier for those who do not enjoy negotiating. However, if you have a trade you will have to negotiate that part of the transaction.
6. Medium/Small Car Lots
There are literally hundreds of these smaller lots in a 30 mile radius of where you live. These are usually medium to smaller size lots with varying levels of pricing that they specialize in. These dealers aquire their inventory from auctions, or through wholesale buying from larger dealers. There are a good many dealers who operate at this level, and have built a loyal following and great reputation. There are a good many cars available from these lots, but just be aware that many of them came from larger dealers who chose not to retail them for various reasons. It does not mean they are bad or troublesome in most cases. It just means they may not have been up to the standards of the larger dealers. It is important to remember, that when you are shopping for “low priced” vehicles(under $10,000) that you have to set your standards accordingly. They are generally going to be cars with higher miles and have some cosmetic issues. This is just the nature of the business these days, and they cannot make them perfect in that price range.
7. Ebay Motors
I am sure almost everyone has heard of Ebay, and probably been on the site at one time or another. There are millions of purchases made on EBay every day. What a lot of people do not realize, is that Ebay has a marketplace called EBay Motors where vehicles are available from all over the world. This can be new vehicles, as well as preowned cars and trucks. It is an auction marketplace, do you can bid on a vehicle you like and hopefully get it for the price you are willing to pay for it. The downside is that unless the vehicle is close by, then you are buying it sight unseen. In this case, you have to trust the sellers decription of the item and go by the photos of the item. Ebay uses a feedback rating system so you look at the sellers feedback and get an idea what people are saying about them. This keeps the sellers honest, and usually the description is accurate to avoid any negative feedback. The presence of negative feedback is detrimental to future sales, so most sellers take it very seriously.
8. Craigslist
This is another site that almost everyone knows about and uses on a regular basis. Craigslist has become the largest classified ads service in any medium, and garners billions of page views every single month. It is ranked as one of the top 50 websites in the world. This is a great place to look for preowned cars and trucks, with many private owners and dealers placing thousands of ads every month in your area. There are some really good bargains to be found here, and you can do a keyword search for what you are looking for specifically. The only thing I can say here is to use caution when buying from this site. There are millions of legitimate sellers on the site but just as with anything else, there are a few bad apples in the bunch. There are many scam artists that operate in this medium, so be sure to read the disclosure at the bottom of the page about protecting yourself and avoiding scams. Also, I strongly recommend to NEVER go alone when looking at a car, because there have been instances of foul play over the years. There have been many instances of buyers being lured to a place by someone placing an ad and then being robbed, beaten, or even murdered in some cases. It is imperative that you do your best to meet in a busy area, and bring someone with you. I would also suggest letting someone know where you were going as a backup. There are some cities and towns that are creating Craigslist safety zones, where people can meet under the watchful eye of cameras and law enforcement. I would check with your local police department, to see if these exist in your area or that of the seller.
Having said all that, these are isolated incidents and can happen in any selling medium. This is in no way the fault of Craigslist themselves. They take numerous steps to inform and protect theirs millions of users, from the dangers that may be lurking by others who use the site.