Why/When should I hire a broker?

• If you don’t want to look on your own
  • you don’t have time
  • you don’t want to jump through all the hoops at the dealership
  • you have looked, but can’t find the car you want
  • you tried it and now you’re sick of it
• you want a fair price for the car you buy
• you want a fair value for your trade in
• you need advice because you’re not sure what to buy
• you don’t want to get overcharged on financing
• you don’t want to pay the dealer handling fee (usually $400-$600 depending on dealership)

How to choose a good Auto Broker or Car Buying Service?

More and more people are discovering that using an auto broker or automotive consultant is a significantly better way to buy a car than going through all the hassles at the dealership. But how do you choose the right broker?

EXPERIENCE & KNOWLEDGE: find out how much experience as a BROKER she has. Prefer someone with NO dealership experience and/or training, so that you have a broker without the dealer sales tactics.

AVOID PLACES WITH LARGE INVENTORIES. You want a broker who will find you exactly what YOU want, exactly what is right for you. Not someone who will push a car on you that he's had too long and is paying a lot of interest for. Most "inventory brokerages" train their sales people on "Switch Cars" so they can push you into cars they want to get rid of, rather than finding you the car that is right for you.

REFERENCES: a good broker should have no shortage of glowing reviews from her many customers.

Accessibility: your broker should be AVAILABLE not only during the buying process but afterwards as well should you need anything.

Do you take trade ins? 

We have several buyers who bid on trades.  If you want to trade in your car, we will conduct a thorough appraisal and then get bids from those buyers.  You get the highest bid for your trade. 

How do I get enough for my trade?

Often people look up their car using the wrong blue book.  Products that cater to consumers sometimes quote higher values.  The professional edition of the NADA guide is what is used within the industry and also buy all financing sources.  The buyers we use for bids, rely heavily on the professional dealer auto actions.  Data from the auctions is updated several times per month and more current that the “blue book”.  If they can buy a car just like yours for $8000 at the auction, they won’t bid $9000, even if that’s the number the “blue book” gives. 

If someone offers you much more than market value for your trade, be careful.  Dealerships may offer you more for your trade, but they tend to add the money to the purchase price of the new car, or make it up in hidden fees somewhere else. 

What about those push-pull-or-drag-in deals?

Appraising a trade is fairly sophisticated process and the trade value doesn’t fluctuate that much.  If someone offers you much more than market value for your trade, be careful.  Dealerships may offer you more for your trade, but they tend to add the money to the purchase price of the new car, or make it up in hidden fees somewhere else. 

Where do you get the cars?

For used cars we have many sources consumers don’t usually have access to, such as wholesalers, who only deal with brokers, the official dealer auctions, trade ins from other brokerages, etc.  We get special broker pricing, so you can be assured of the best deal.  We only use reputable sources, who adhere to our strict quality standards, so you get a good car.  For new cars we have access to fleet sources, we can even go out of state on a hard-to-find or high-demand vehicles.

Should I buy New or Used?

People tend to buy new cars for several reasons, such as not wanting to have mechanical problems (or just that new car smell).  The downside is that on average, you loose 20% when you take possession.  On a $20,000 car, you just lost $4000.  In addition, those $3000 you may get as incentive or cash-back, trickle down and you loose that when you sell or trade the car. 

For that amount of money you can fix a lot of things on a used car.  Plus, used cars that are 3-5 years old don’t usually need a lot of work.  Those tend to be where you get the best value.  We only use reputable sources for the cars we show you, and you can purchase extended warranties.  Since you can never rule out all risk with a used car, so it would depend on your risk tolerance and how you want to spend your money whether you buy used or new.  If you want to talk a little more, contact us.

Buy or Lease

When you lease a car, the leasing company tries to predict the depreciation the car undergoes throughout the lease period.  With recent economic challenges, cars have been depreciating a lot faster, and the leasing companies had to adapt to that.  The fast depreciation and general unpredictability results in leasing being more expensive.  A car that depreciates faster will cost more to lease, for example a domestic SUV like a Ford Explorer will cost more to lease than a Subaru or Toyota.  It’s a good idea to get quotes for both leasing and financing, and compare carefully.  There may be other factors such as tax write offs if a car is used for business.  If you want more information contact us.

affil./dlr. : the car guy