Buying used Car from Dealership vs Private

Either one you could be getting scammed. There are some good dealerships if you do research. You can not really research private sellers though.

Someone correct me if wrong: with a dealer you probably have more options under lemon laws versus from a private seller.

A dealer may offer some sort of warranty.

Either way I would recommend getting the car checked by an independent mechanic.

Also, if buying from a private seller have them meet you at your bank for the transaction (assuming you need a loan). The bank can issue a cashier's check so they know it is good and you are not carrying around thousands in cash to meet someone somewhere. (I had a friend who bought a motorcycle from someone and had them meet them in front of the local police station---he felt like that was pretty safe if something went down).

Buying a car from a private seller will be cheaper but more work for you and more risk.

A dealer has a shop that should have the vehicle inspected. You have have at least a minimal warranty and they can set up the registration for you.

It's easier to do multiple trips to a dealer than to a number of private sellers.

If you have to ask then you can’t afford it. My advice is to buy a low cost reliable new car.

The risks are about the same no matter who you buy a used car from. You may end up buying a car that breaks down before you get home. You may get a great deal or you may over pay for a piece of crap.

Know what price you should pay based on the mileage and condition of the car. Kelly Blue book online is a great source. Understand how to judge the condition of the car. If you can’t judge then take a friend who can and buy him a case of beer afterwards. Dealers do a great job of making a crap car look good. Beware of this. Know how to tell if a car has been in a wreck. If you don’t know how then take a friend who does. Be especially wary of too good to be true deals. Whoever is selling the car knows what it’s worth. If it’s supercheap then there’s probably something majorly wrong with it.

I bought my nicest car for a bargain sight unseen from a craigslist ad across the country. Paid up right away to make sure it wasn't snagged by anyone else as soon as I saw the ad, then picked it weeks later. Obviously risky, and I don't recommend it for people who are not car savvy, but I know what I'm doing with certain cars (know all the things that fail) can tell a lot from what is said and not said in ads, and had been watching the ads across the country for months.

I've been influenced by some of the YouTubers that I watch, who also buy a lot of cars sight unseen (Hoovies Garage, Mighty Car Mods)... with varying success.

Don’t buy a used car that is from a part of the country that has recently flooded. It’s highly likely that the car was flooded. There are sublte ways to tell but you need to know what you’re looking for. For instance, if the interior of the car looks practically brand new but there is an evenly distributed layer of brown residue caked in between the ridges on the brake and accelerator pedals then it was probably flooded.

I just sold a car on Craigslist and one of the things I put in the advertisement is that we will both get value by eliminating the dealers/middlemen. And we did. A dealer would have taken $1,500 to $2,000 out of the transaction we did.

If you do your research for what the car is worth, and you test drive it, check the sellers repair records, maybe even have your own mechanic look it over, you will save a nice chunk of $$$$ by buying straight from a private party.

Lingua wrote:

I just sold a car on Craigslist and one of the things I put in the advertisement is that we will both get value by eliminating the dealers/middlemen. And we did. A dealer would have taken $1,500 to $2,000 out of the transaction we did.

If you do your research for what the car is worth, and you test drive it, check the sellers repair records, maybe even have your own mechanic look it over, you will save a nice chunk of $$$$ by buying straight from a private party.

I’ve spent a while watching videos and reading articles of buying privately successfully. I know how to find the big issues (blown head gasket, structural rust, and frame damage). I want to know are there any issues that can be unrecognizable through inspection?

tubeguy wrote:

Lingua wrote:

I just sold a car on Craigslist and one of the things I put in the advertisement is that we will both get value by eliminating the dealers/middlemen. And we did. A dealer would have taken $1,500 to $2,000 out of the transaction we did.

If you do your research for what the car is worth, and you test drive it, check the sellers repair records, maybe even have your own mechanic look it over, you will save a nice chunk of $$$$ by buying straight from a private party.

I’ve spent a while watching videos and reading articles of buying privately successfully. I know how to find the big issues (blown head gasket, structural rust, and frame damage). I want to know are there any issues that can be unrecognizable through inspection?

Do some research here:

tubeguy wrote:

What are the pros and cons?

Unless you are a mechanic or have a car checked out by a mechanic first, I personally would NEVER buy a car from an individual, ESPECIALLY if I didn't know them (I mean, I did once buy a car from my parents when I was in college).

Why would I never buy a car from an individual? Because people suck. Too many of you humans are lying, cheating a$$holes. A dealership has less of a chance to knowingly rip you off, because they would like repeat business, whether it's to buy a car or have it serviced.

I’ve done plenty of both. I have a good friend that works at a dealership, so I trust him when buying used. I also frequent car message boards, so I’ve purchased from posters with high reputations and never had an issue.

If you do your homework, you can be have success with either route.

tubeguy wrote:

What are the pros and cons?

I can think of 29 cars that I've bought, only two were new. Two were private sales. Both had big problems right away. Three that came from dealers had problems right away. One dealership totally blew me off. The other two fixed the problems with no questions asked. These days most dealers have checked their cars out and fixed what needs fixed. I'm sure Lemon Laws are a big reason as well as things like Yelp. But a private sale will almost always be cheaper for a comparable car.

HRE wrote:

tubeguy wrote:

What are the pros and cons?

These days most dealers have checked their cars out and fixed what needs fixed. I'm sure Lemon Laws are a big reason as well as things like Yelp. But a private sale will almost always be cheaper for a comparable car.

True, mostly. Dealers (branded franchises) usually are only putting new-ish cars on their lot. They have no interest in selling clunkers. They flip those trades at auction. They don't want a bad rep so, if they sell only newer cars, the risk is low.

So, buying from a legit dealer is usually safe. There are exceptions. Even my last car had a warped rotor. Price was right so I didn't argue. I don't think many dealers really do any intensive inspecting except for certified used but again, they're 30K mile cars, what's going to go wrong? On average, I mean.

If you're buying a car old enough to rust, lol, you takes you chances all around. But just make it clear to private sellers that you expect all known flaws (of note) disclosed.

The forum content you share is really useful to me, I will follow up with the next posts from you. Thank you for sharing.

HRE wrote:

tubeguy wrote:

What are the pros and cons?

I can think of 29 cars that I've bought, only two were new. Two were private sales. Both had big problems right away. Three that came from dealers had problems right away. One dealership totally blew me off. The other two fixed the problems with no questions asked. These days most dealers have checked their cars out and fixed what needs fixed. I'm sure Lemon Laws are a big reason as well as things like Yelp. But a private sale will almost always be cheaper for a comparable car.

You've bought 29 cars? Wow. Do you collect cars, or do you not own most of them now?

I'm 54 and I've only owned 9 cars, and those include cars that my wife drove and I hardly ever drove.

h jmc wrote:

HRE wrote:

[quote]tubeguy wrote:

What are the pros and cons?

If you're buying a car old enough to rust, lol, you takes you chances all around. But just make it clear to private sellers that you expect all known flaws (of note) disclosed.

This will be my first car and I don’t want any car loans, so it will be an old beater. I figured that I could get a nicer car from private sellers because they are cheaper and not many dealerships are selling old cars with manual transmissions(a feature that I will not compromise on). If I go private sale I would like to buy from an older person (idk, but they seem more trustworthy).

I only have one car now. I've had two on rare occasions. I've been driving 52 years so that's bit less than two years per car. Some of them just rusted away in short time.

It really depends on what kind of car you're looking for. So many people don't try to sell their cars themselves anymore that there isn't a lot of choice unless you buy from a dealership.

So if you can find what you want private party, it can be the best deal. But you'll probably be forced to go to a dealer.

Figure out the exact car you want. Look at every car within 100 miles of you that is that model and a 20k mile range around the mileage you're looking for. Price them all out, adjusting for mileage (it will be something like 800 bucks per 10k miles, but depends on the type of car).

If you have enough data, you'll see out of 30 or 40 vehicles, 3 or 4 will stand out as much better deals. Theyll likely be from the same dealership, or maybe two dealerships. Those are the rare dealerships that advertise a "real" price, rather than an inflated price you have to haggle down.

Use those cars as your baseline to call other dealerships and try to haggle even lower. You'll quickly discover either you can't, or that you barely can haggle lower.

Now you'll have your best possible price and can buy a car.

Of course, this method only works if you are picking a fairly common car. If you're buying something that didn't sell a lot, or if you're in the middle of nowhere 100s of miles from any real population density, it gets much harder, since you'll have much less data to put into your formulas.

Shopping right now,

Dealers have minimums on the brakes, tire wear, belts, and some other items, and will often come with new on those items. (Brand name dealers in my city don't tend to be in the business of selling lemons) . They often also only take used cars with provable histories and often have cars back from people who had service plans. Some will offer a short warranty.

On the other hand, dealers play dealer games on price just holding your attention and will bother you with off track stuff to sell you something other than what you want.

Private sellers can be emotionally attached to the price, and stubborn for a long time. They lie about a lot of stuff so you must verify carefully. Don't believe any that offer any kind of warranty.

With private sellers, Look for a proveable one owner deal with a service record or stay away from it unless you are o.k. with more risk for your deal. Be willing to pay between dealer and the low end of private if you find a really good private seller car. If they are smart enough to take care of the car , give them credit for knowing the value.