Buying Cars Without Seeing What You Are Buying

[JohnGBUK]

People currently buy cars using places like eBay on Buy It Now, without first seeing what they are buying, so can the wider motor trade network pull off the same trick?

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1182554/...

[sjg]

The article is about new cars I think, so no issues of assessing wear/damage.

I'm going to get my fourth new car on lease soon, pretty much all arranged over email then it just shows up on a transporter. I haven't had to do any of the traditional car buying things to get them - no traipsing to a dealer for a brochure, no pointless 10 minute test drive in a car that's not quite like the one I want, no insulting trade in offers, no haggling "I'll have to ask my manager" theatrics, no hard sell of gap insurance or paint protection, no cringeworthy sheet-pulling ceremony at the dealership.

I've also bought a used car from Japan and even that worked out fine remotely because there's a trustworthy auction system that inspects and documents the condition of cars before they go through. That plus someone local to do a quick inspection was fine and I was happy with what I bought. If we had the same here I'd be totally fine with not seeing it beforehand.

I don't think I'll ever buy a car again the "traditional" way from the motor trade ever again.

[JohnGBUK]

sjg said:

... no haggling "I'll have to ask my manager" theatrics, no hard sell of gap insurance or paint protection....

That made me smile, as we had to endure all this crap recently. I went along with my step daughter to buy a £10,000 car (VW Golf). I said to the salesman that he ought to think about changing the front tyres or provide some discount so my step daughter could put some money towards new tyres in a few months time. OMG it was like pulling teeth. He had some mechanic out with an electronic device measuring the tread depth and continually reciting company policy. In the end, he saw sense (or at least his manager did) and the car was discounted to reflect the purchase of two new tyres at a later date. The actions of the company could have lost them a sale, but I guess some people just cave in to the B.S. of the sales staff.

Don't get me on every kind of insurance they offered including paintwork and interior protection, depreciation insurance and wheels insurance. Oh, and the usual warranty at the customer's cost... None of which was purchased.

[Dave Hedgehog]

sounds like what tesla are already doing

apart from the very short notice 'your cars here' and the ball ache of selling your PX and paying them in 3-4 working days from notice to collection its a much better experience than going through a stealer, so much better