Vehicle Purchase Online

Finding Value in Vehicles Purchased Online

By Debra L. Karplus

You bought your current preowned vehicle several years ago and you’ve promised yourself that you’re not putting any more money into repairing it.  Now it seems that day has arrived.  The world of retail buying and selling has changed considerable since you last purchased a car, small truck, or SUV.  You’ve seen TV commercials touting the ease and numerous benefits of online car shopping.  How nice it would be to save time and sidestep the daunting task of facing a pushy salesperson at a local car dealership haggling over the price.

Buying a used car online has never been easier.

A vehicle purchased online gives you many advantages, especially if you live in an area with few dealerships or if you simply desire a greater number of choices for quality vehicles for sale.

Search online and you‘ll discover several online dealerships with topnotch consumer reviews that make the process of replacing your current vehicle with a preowned vehicle relatively effortless.  Their websites state that the vehicles they sell have been thoroughly inspected.  Most of these dealerships offer similar options and services including delivering the car you purchase right to your door.     

Carvana.com, for example, allows you to shop their inventory online using filters such as financing choices, make, model and year, body type such as sedan or SUV, features like sunroofs, color, fuel efficiency and more.  Vroom.com has similar features for online vehicle purchases and trade-ins.  They work with a variety of finance companies to give you competitive loan options.

Additionally, most online car vendors allow you to trade in your current vehicle including receiving a firm dollar amount on its trade-in value, having it picked up locally, and giving you cash immediately upon receipt of your old clunker. 

The vehicle that you purchase online will come with some kind of warranty, typically 90 day or 6000 miles.

And what happens if for whatever reason, you simply don’t like this car and don’t want to keep it?  Most places allow a 7-day or 250 mile refund option, so you don’t have to feel “stuck” with an undesirable car, giving you time to bring it over to your buddy who works on cars and knows his way under the hood, to spot any “irregularities” with your new purchase. After all, like vendors selling any kind of product online, places that sell vehicles online want happy customers and great 5-star reviews.

New cars can be purchased online also.

Lucky you!  A few raises and bonuses at work and some frugal living habits that you and your family have embraced at home have put you in a situation financially, where you can finally purchase a new car. That new car smell and an odometer with a number in only two-digits has always just been the stuff in your dreams.

In addition to preowned vehicles, some of the online dealerships such as Truecar.com, Carsdirect.com or Cars.com also sell new cars.  Looking online you’ll discover others, many of which exclusively sell new vehicles. 

If you already have an idea of the model or even just the make of a car you want, such as a Honda Fit, you can peruse the website of your local Honda dealer and explore options.

The process of buying a new car online is not unlike buying a preowned.  You select your make and model, year and features, arrange for financing, and negotiate an acceptable deal on your trade-in, and then arrange for delivery.

Purchasing a vehicle online may simply not feel right to you.

One woman, totally perplexed about purchasing her next vehicle went to chat with her previous car salesman and asked “tell me some reasons not to buy a car online”.  He said  these days, the Internet has transformed car buying into a more transparent process; about 85% of  people buying new cars  have already done some serious research online and know what they want and exactly how much they ‘ll be paying.  He claims that most dealerships will match the price you find online for the identical car; so buying a car from a local dealer is the best option because you get the same value plus superior customer service than you would buying online; you get to test drive the actual car you’ll be buying, and if you have a problem with your new car, it’s easily resolved.

Used cars, however, are a very different story, he states.  Because no two used cars are identical, especially in terms of condition and mileage, there’s no real way to compare.  You just have to find the car you want and definitely read all the fine print very carefully.