The Pros And Cons Of Buying From A Car Dealer

For many people, the thought of having to go and buy a car can fill them with dread rather than excitement! The simple truth is that a lot of motorists feel intimidated by those that sell cars for a living, and even by some private sellers. There are even some organisations that you can pay to buy a car for you, based on your requirements – as crazy as that sounds!

If you prefer to buy a car yourself and use the extra cash towards fuel or car insurance, for example, you might be wondering whether you should be buying your next pride and joy from a car dealer.

In this blog post, I will discuss the pros and cons of buying your next car from a dealership as opposed to buying privately – or even using a car buying service!

Pro: lower risk of getting a lemon

Unless you are visiting the showroom of a shady used car dealership, there is a significantly lower risk of getting a lemon. In case you don’t know, a lemon is a car that has many problems, and is usually one where the seller conveniently “forgets” to inform you about said problems!

Various laws prohibit car dealers from knowingly selling you a car that is not fit for purpose, is unroadworthy, doesn’t have verifiable mileage, or has some major problem. If there are any issues with the car, they have to tell you about them.

Con: you don’t always get the best deal

If you are after a juicy bargain, you will find it tough getting such a deal from a car dealership. To be honest, if you wanted to buy a banger, I doubt you would take the time to buy one from a dealer.

Pro: you can arrange finance on your next car

Unlike with private sellers, car dealers often have finance facilities on offer.

That means if the car you want is worth a few grand, but you don’t have the full amount of money available to buy the car in cash, you can finance the balance and pay it off over affordable monthly instalments.

Regardless of whether you visit the car supermarket, or a small local dealer, you will be able to arrange a finance plan that suits your requirements.

Con: less room for negotiation

The art of haggling is one that few people have the confidence in doing, and car dealers know this only too well.

If you are a determined haggler and you refuse to pay the full price for most things in life, you are probably going to hate visiting a car dealer because they will be just as tough as you when it comes to negotiating a good deal!

That’s not to say that car dealers don’t have room for negotiation because they all do. But if you try to negotiate on a specific car that leaves them with very little margin to make, such as a model that has been hanging around for a while, you might not get much money (if any) knocked off the price.