Choosing a Car Dealership
If you are in the market to buy a new car you may consider both buying privately or from a dealership. The advantages of a dealership are clear they are likely to have given cars a much more thorough check for safety and come with a warranty. With a private deal you are paying less but have no guarantee of the quality of the car or of its safety.
There is still a big difference though between car dealerships, some will leave you with a car you know won’t let you down, others will offer little more than a private deal and some tricks and cons could leave you worse off.
The warranty is a big reason for going to a dealer, make sure you are getting one and compare it to others at other garages: what does it include and for how long, some warranties only cover some problems so may not cover things like tracking, entertainment systems and air conditioning. Some places will only give you a basic warranty and charge more for an extended warranty, this still may be good value though compared to somewhere with much more expensive vehicles to cover the cost.
Check what level of inspection they give a car as well before selling it to you, this includes things like checking if it has ever been in an accident or ever been stolen. Many garages say they give a certain number point check, generally the higher the number the better but it would be easy for a garage to be wily and put the number up, for example checking type pressures going down as 4 points, 1 per wheel.
Jun 7th, 2011