Requesting used car price quotes online from your local area car dealerships is the best way to shop and compare prices on pre-owned vehicles. Used car quote sites have excellent search tools to make it easy for you to cast your net far and wide and then filter down your results to find that perfect used car.
While searching through used car listings, the price you see in the advertisement is just the dealer’s starting offer to get you to contact them. Dealers understand they must post their used cars online if they want to compete with the dealer next door. They also know you’re not only looking at the vehicle they’ve listed but several other used cars on their competitor’s sites as well.
The dealer is forced to be aggressive when pricing the vehicle when you contact them through one of these services. This means when you receive a price quote from one of these services it’s normally pretty good.
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Using online services like Ryde Shopper, Cars Direct and Motor Trend will allow you to define your search to the local area. You can sort used cars available in your local area by year, make, type, price, mileage, and even color.
These sites will even let you do side-by-side comparisons. You can even get more detailed in your search parameters by designating fuel type, MPG, engine size, transmission, or drive type. Searching this way will decrease your search results dramatically.
Requesting a quote on a used car through one of these companies puts you in direct contact with an Internet manager and cuts out the back and forth haggling you have to go through with a car salesman when you visit a car dealership.
Don’t limit yourself to just one service, it’s not uncommon to request multiple quotes on the same vehicle through different used car listing sites. Try them all and find out which one works best for you.
Ryde Shopper has everything you need to find a used or certified pre-owned car. They focus more on finding you the lowest price instead of providing other additional information that can be distracting and deter you off your goal of buying a nice reliable used vehicle.
Ryde Shopper is one of the easiest used car quote providers available on the internet. All you have to do is input the vehicle you’re considering, tell them a little bit about yourself and they’ll provide you with up to 5 local dealers that have the car in stock. Make sure you select all the available dealers so you have the upper hand.
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At Edmunds you can easily research, review and compare certified pre-owned used car programs by manufacturer. They also have hundreds of advice articles and helpful tips on buying or leasing a used car.
Search Edmunds Used Car Inventory >>
MotorTrend affiliated with Motor Trend Magazine. Their price quote service is one of the best kept secrets on the Internet. The site very simple and ensures it loads quickly. Once you know the car you want, just input it and select all the nearby dealers and wait for your MotorTrend price quotes roll in.
The MotorTrend’s price quote service homepage is very simple to use. Select the make, model, zip and click “get my quote.” Then select the vehicle trim you’re interested in, along with a little information and click “contact me.” Your goal is to get as many quotes from different dealers as possible.
View MotorTrend Used Car Pricing >>
CarsDirect has been providing new car, used car, and auto finance related services and information to car buyers online since 1998. With well over a million used cars listed on their site, you are guaranteed to find the vehicle you’re looking for.
CarDirect uses a very simple-to-use search engine to make finding the exact vehicle you’re looking for. If the car you want is not for sale they have an option for you to enter the criteria of vehicle you’re looking for and they will email you when the vehicle is listed for sale.
Search Used Cars at CarsDirect >>
While searching for a used car, prepare yourself with some questions to ask the dealer. These questions will help you make a good buying decision.
More car buying tips and tricks
Most dealerships are honest and ethical businesses. There are still many out there that may still try and take advantage of you. These unscrupulous dealers will employ a variety of dishonest methods to make a used car quote appear more appealing than it is.
Misrepresentation of the vehicle
The most common scam associated with used car quotes is the misrepresentation of the vehicle in the quote. This is a variation of the “bait and switch scam.”
Dealer’s are required to disclose certain facts about the vehicle by law even if they make the vehicle less appealing to the customer. An example would be a super clean vehicle that has a junk or salvaged title must be disclosed as having such.
Many times a dealer will wait all the way up to the point of you signing the contract on the vehicle before they disclose a discrepancy such as this.
A dealer may advertise the vehicle for sale and neglect to disclose a branded title. Even though the vehicle has been restored to 100% operating condition, the car will only be worth half of what it should be.
Always ask the dealer specifically about the title status of the car. They may provide you with a history report on the vehicle they have on file.
I recommend you spend the money and acquire a report personally. There have been many instances where a dealer ‘s staff has fabricated or “doctored” reports in their favor.
You can avoid this scam completely by running your own vehicle title history report by using the VIN from the vehicle.
Vehicle disclosure or fine print
This is an older car dealer scam but I’ve received emails that it still happens. A dealer will advertise a price on a used car and in the small print it will say, “Vehicle price is after $2,500 down.”
This would be more of the fault of the buyer (always read the fine print). This is not a good way to do business and should be illegal, it’s not though, just unethical and misleading.
The quote does not match the vehicle
Another scam an unscrupulous dealer may attempt is sending you a quote on a vehicle that’s close to the vehicle you inquired about. It may be the same year, make and model, but the trim is not the same. It may be as simple as the mileage being off a bit.
Make sure the vehicle identification number matches the vehicle you inquired about and the quote you received.
Dealer keeps calling me
To avoid this all together, if the quote request requires a phone number, use your cell number. Set your phone too silent and let the caller go to voicemail. You can then screen them at a later time.
When listening to the voicemails don’t only listen to the offer but also look for professionalism and customer service. You may be dealing with this individual when you buy a car. Also keep in mind, the salesperson might truly need to talk to you about the vehicle you’re looking at.
From my years of experience as an internet manager – My job was to follow up with every potential prospect until you tell me to stop. If you would like me to stop calling, respond to my call or email, even if it’s to politely tell me that you’re not interested, changed your mind, or just virtually kicking tires.
Once you tell me to stop, I’ll stop. It’s the right thing to do and it’s the law. You won’t hurt my feelings, I’m a professional car salesman, I deal with rejection every day.
The dealer sold the car and didn’t tell me
I get a lot of email telling me a dealer will tell them a car is available to get them to come to the dealership, sometimes from far away. When they get there, the vehicle is not at that location or they’ve sold the vehicle a few days before.
Use this tip if you’re looking at a vehicle that’s far away from your location or you just want to make sure the vehicle is still available before you drive to the dealer.
Proof a used car is still available
Have the salesperson write a phrase on a piece of paper such as, “Nice Sled” and the current date.
Ask them to put the paper on the car where you can see the VIN, take a picture and send it to you.
Make sure the VIN is legible in the picture so you know it’s the car you’re inquiring about. You may also want the salesperson to take a couple extra pictures with the note by the odometer stating the current mileage and on the windshield of the car.
This little trick lets you know the vehicle you’re looking at is still on the lot at the time you receive the pictures.
Quotes that say, "come on in!"
Some responses from the dealer may say something like “Come on down” or “If you want the best price you’ll have to come in.”
If you receive an email like this, send the dealer the following response. Feel free to cut and paste:
Thanks for the offer, at this point I don’t need to come to your dealership. However, I’m interested in knowing your best drive-out price on the vehicle. If you’d like me to do business with you, please let me know if the car is still available and what is your best price. Thank your time and I look forward to your response.
If they don’t respond, you most likely don’t want to do business with them in the first place. Don’t worry and just move on to the next quote.
