How to Buy a Car Like a Dealer

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Most people buy a car from a dealer, paying for a markup in return for various services. Dealers act as middlemen between the consumer and wholesale distributors. Many wholesale distributors sell vehicles in dealer-only auctions for prices far lower than the general public can find at any location. In this wikiHow we'll look at the basic steps to take in order to purchase a car at or near wholesale cost.

Steps

1. Know the difference between a dealer-only wholesale auction and a public, repossession or other retail auction.
   
   • A dealer-only auction requires a car dealer license in all 50 states and is the main way dealerships rotate excess inventory. Unlike public auctions dealer-only auctions tend to offer close to new cars, new cars, recent trade-ins or just off-lease vehicles. In addition, many vehicles are detailed, have existing warranties and are carefully rated as to condition.
     
   • Public car auctions are open to anybody, including savvy dealers, so the prices may not be as low as the hype suggests. You see these advertised all over the place including online and in the backs of newspapers.
     
   
   
2. Decide which car you want, the options you need, and the condition for which you are willing to settle. Be as flexible as you can as you will be buying at auction.
   
3. Use an independent source to determine the wholesale and retail values of your target vehicle. The two most frequently used sources for this are the NADA guide and the Kelly "Blue Book".
   
4. Settle on a budget. Do not forget that your final price will include taxes, registration and other fees.
   
5. Decide that you will not exceed this budget under any circumstances; a key aspect of buying a car like a dealer is not to let emotions cause you to spend more than you decided to.
   
6. Get access to wholesale auctions using one of these methods:
   
   • Locate, research and retain a proxy buyer or proxy dealer who has access to wholesale auctions. A proxy buyer is an individual (sometimes a group) who has a legal dealer license and runs a service where he or she attends wholesale auctions to buy an individual car for you.
     
   • Acquire a dealer license. This is typically a time-consuming and expensive process that is not practical unless you plan to buy and sell cars as a business. States rely on taxing dealerships for income, so there is little or no incentive for a state to grant a license to an individual who does not plan to operate as a car dealer.
     
   
   
7. Research local auctions to find out times, locations and get a list of available vehicles. Once you have found one that has the vehicle you want, make arrangements to attend the auction or have your proxy buyer attend the auction.
   
8. Make any necessary financial arrangements. Each auto auction will have its own terms; verify these in advance make sure that you have the correct payment options available if you win the car.
   
9. Stay in close contact with your proxy buyer while locating the car you want through purchase and delivery.
   

Tips

• Check out the CarFax and recall list for that particular car you are searching for.
  
• Check for the value of the vehicle on websites such as KBB.
  
• Follow the same guidelines you would for buying any new or used car.
  
• Compare proxy-dealer services carefully, including fees, availability of warranty and any other factors.
  
• Buying at wholesale often includes an original manufacturers' warranty. It is a good idea to select this option.
  

Warnings

• Make sure you are working with a reputable proxy dealer who won't disappear after your purchase.
  
• In most states it is a misdemeanor offense to buy or sell too many cars per year without a dealer license. This number varies by state, so be sure to know what your laws are.
  
• Beware of traditional car dealers who offer a wholesale or proxy service. Why would they do this? If something is too good to be true, it probably is a ripoff.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Become a Wholesale Car Dealer in California
  
• How to Buy the Perfect Car
  
• How to Buy a New Car
  
• How to Buy a Used Car
  
• How to Buy a Used Car from a Private Party
  
• How to Decide Whether to Lease or Buy a Car
  
• How to Buy or Lease a Car when You Have Bad Credit
  

Sources and Citations

• http://www.ThatsMyNewCar.com
  
• http://www.NADA.com
  
• http://www.CarFax.com
  
• http://www.KBB.com
  
• http://www.used-car-find-it.com/used-car-auction.html
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Buy a Car Like a Dealer. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

What we learned from our huge ordeal

So we went in to speak with the big boss at Colliseum Lexus of Oakland and didn't get total satisfaction, we got a lot of double speak and a lot of bull. So out of all our complaints we walked away with them repairing our bumper and throwing in a free 10,000 mile check up. But it left us with a huge bad taste in our mouths because we feel totally lied to.

So what is the best piece of advice to get from all of this. Make sure you read the sticker on the car. No matter what the salesman tells you, if it ain't on the sticker, ts not in the car, and the dealer wont do anything to compensate for a lying salseman. Do yuor homework people and never trust a car salesman, especcialy at Colliseum Lexus of Oakland

A negative review with Coliseum Lexus of Oakland

In my first two posts I discussed our new car the 2008 Lexus RX350, while we love the car and are glad we have it we are disgusted with the service at the dealer where we bought it. So while I would still love to continue to buy Lexus cars in the future, I will never buy one from Coliseum Lexus of Oakland, I will go else where.

What are my list of complaints? Here they are, they are many.

#1. After my wife and I purchased the car and before the paperwork was settled, I had to leave to tend to my puppy. The dealers took this opportunity to aggressively sell my wife the clear coat protection for the front and rear bumpers as well as the locks on the doors. They told her it would protect against bad parking drivers and in the Bay area there are many of them. They told her she had to decide one way or another right then and there and there was no changing her mind either way once the decision was made. She couldn't get a hold of me and decided to get it. It takes a long time to apply the clear coat so I took it in, they gave me a loaner and it took over an hour to do this simple exchange. I asked them to wash the car which they told us was free car washes for life with purchase. I pick up the car the next day and hadn't noticed they didn't wash the car or apply the coat on the rear bumper. I was there once again for over an hour and the experience was very negative.

#2. My wife called to complain about the clear coat and wash and the GM said that the service department had made a mistake and that they would schedule an appointment to have it done, which they never did. They then tried to tell my wife that the clear coat usually doesn't go on the rear bumper. So which one is it? The service department made a mistake or it doesn't go on the rear bumper, and if it doesn't go on the rear bumper why did they tell my wife it did? Which is the only reason she decided to purchase it.

#3. We leased the car and we made a one time payment for the total amount of the vehicle. So a few weeks after we purchased the car, we get a statement saying we owed our first of 50 something payments. We called to try and get it resolved and got the run around. So when we didn't send in the payment we didn't owe, we grew very concerned as that could affect our credit rating.

#4. We went in wanting to buy the car and didn't put up much of a fight on anything, and it still took us over seven hours to get a deal done. That just isn't right. This complaint is with the salesman in general. We wanted a fully loaded car and the salesman assured us, other than the optimal audio package which he didn't recommend, the car was fully loaded. When we got home and started to read the manual we got excited about the things the car was supposed to have, like height maneuverability and a special cruise control that automatically adjusts itself with the distance of other cars, and Sirius satellite radio which we have a lifetime membership for and wanted to transfer to this new car. The car had none of these things. So how is it fully loaded? When we called to complain the GM once again told us it was because the salesman didn't know the features of this vehicle. How can he sell a car he doesn't know about? The salesman assured us that he had to be checked out on each vehicle to be a Lexus salesman. This came up because before we looked at this car we went to Volkswagen to look at the Touareg because they wanted to buy my wife's 200 Jetta with 30,000 miles and we experienced a salesman who knew nothing about the car.

#5. The GM or the big boss lies to us. We call and complain and the GM tells us he can't do anything for us and he would have the head big boss call us within the hour, which she doesn't. We call the next day and the GM tells us the same thing and no call back. He assures us he directly handed our info. to the boss and he would have her call us back immediately which she didn't. The next day and the same thing happened. So finally on day four we get a hold of the big boss and she tells us the GM hasn't given nor told her anything about our complaints. So who's lying?

#6. To make things worse which doesn't seem possible is someone hit our car in the parking lot scratched the bumper and cracked a light which we were told is a thousand dollars to replace and it wouldn't have happened if the clear coat was applied to the bumper like it should have been.

We have an appointment to go in on Wednesday to try and resolve these issues, wish us luck. No matter the outcome we won't be buying anymore cars from Coliseum Lexus of Oakland and you shouldn't either unless you want this type of headache.