If I find a vechile on this website and have to travel, how do I know that the vechile will be there when I arrive and that the dealership won't sell it.
2 Answers
There is no way of telling. I have heard stories like this of people driving like 10 hours to go look at a car (after speaking to the dealership none the less) and have the car sold out from under them. While I can understand the dealerships reasoning for watching their bottom line. That seems wrong to tell someone you have it and they drive that far and then its already sold by the time they get there.
Jekimopie. As someone who has negotiated over 7500 new vehicles over 18+ years, I can tell you there are a few things you can do to up the odds of getting the dealer to hold a vehicle for you, although there are no guarantees. Bear in mind a dealer wants to sell the vehicle for as much as possible, so if someone comes along while you're on your way and offers more for it, they have no reason to not want to sell to that person instead. That being said, here's what you can do to minimize the chance of that happening. Have a dealer send you a buyer's order (by fax/email) with the exact VIN (vehicle identification number) and description of the vehicle in question on it, so it's made a clear a specific vehicle is to be held in your name. Also, offer to give a deposit (by credit card) to hold the vehicle. Giving a deposit is a sign you are a serious customer, so they have an incentive not to sell it to someone else who might walk in the door in the interim while you are on your way. The deposit should be measured in 100s, not 1000s, however, and put on a credit card so you always have the option of cancelling/disputing it if there is a problem later on. There is an article on car buying in the "advice on car buying" menu header on our site that goes over the entire car buying process in detail, if you need it for reference. Hope this helps! Mike www.fromcartofinish.com