Living in a city like Rochester can make you feel the need to own a car to help you with your road travels. Whether it’s a personal choice or not, choosing a car dealer might be a pain if you have little or no reference on that dealer. However, you can determine the legitimacy of a dealer on your own through research.
You have to pay close attention to everything that the dealer has to offer. Check this website to know more about the services that car dealers should know. You can scan through the website of the Vision Automotive Group in Rochester, and compare that to other dealerships.
Here are five critical signs that should tell you to walk away from a particular dealership.
- Unlicensed Dealer
Aside from a personal car owner, the car dealer should have a dealer’s license placed in his shop, where anyone can clearly see it. Different states have different rules on applying for a dealer’s license, and in New York, a dealer’s license isn’t needed for someone selling 1-2 cars a year.
If you’re choosing a car dealership with many options to choose from, you should seek their license first. Otherwise, it’s an obvious sign that you should walk away from that dealership. Although, it’s always best to communicate with the dealer and check their statements’ validity.
- No Title of Ownership
It’s not all the time that everyone will need a new car. Some people prefer to buy used cars than brand new because of their budget. When buying used cars, it’s not a dealer’s license that you should look for, but you should see and read in person the title of ownership of that particular car.
Other dealers might make excuses about the title, and this should tell you that it’s time to walk away from this dealer. Legitimate dealers are always ready to give you all the necessary documents to start the transaction without hassle. You should never even start seeing the car and make deals without seeing the title of ownership first.
- Missing Details In Quotations
Some dealers have an active website, where you can inquire about buying a car from them and get quotations. When you’ve got time to visit their shop to check the car and ask about the necessary transactions, you should recheck their prices. Some dealers won’t include additional fees in their online quotations, and this should be a warning sign for you that there may be other hidden fees.
Though not all the time, it’s best to ask them about it and clarify about the quotations you agreed online. If you think they’re dodging your questions, it’s no good to continue and close the deal with them. Moreover, if you find online dealers that are unresponsive on their site, you should also consider that they’re still legit but they’re just not active on their website, and you should visit them personally in their shop.
- Incomplete Paperwork
Some people pay big attention to the car’s prices, and many of them tend to back away after the final, legit quotations are made. If you’ve verified the quotations, you’re building trust on that dealer, until you see the important paperwork. When buying a car, you should always see to it that your chosen car has all the paperwork you need to know about it.
For brand new cars, you only need to check the car’s manuals, safety certificate, and Vehicle Identification Number that it matches that particular car. For used cars, aside from the documents as mentioned earlier, you should verify the history report and the car’s registration.
If anything is missing or not matching the report of the actual car, you should never continue with the deal. It might be even worse if there’s missing documents and the given documents don’t match with the actual car. You can always check the car for defects and other repaired parts for hidden damages.
- Poor Services
Every dealer has their own way of dealing with their clients, but there’s always distinct ways to determine a good one from a bad one. You’re left to your own judgment to decide which car dealers offer excellent services or poor services. However, there are common services that you should look for in a dealer.
- Test Drive. You should always test drive the car even for a short time to gather every bit of information that you need. You can verify its comfort, performance, features, or anything that you need to check for yourself.
- After Services. Every car dealer offers exclusive services after closing the deal with your car. This can be free annual maintenance, warranty, insurance, or any form of guarantees. This helps you to know that they will still look after your needs regarding the car that you bought from them.
- Sale Timing. Sales timing is important when dealing with clients. Car dealers shouldn’t push you too much to buy a certain car and shouldn’t let you wait too long for no reason. These signs may tell you that they may be hiding something else from you.
The Bottom Line
Finding a good car dealership that meets your needs isn’t an easy task. You should be patient in finding one as you don’t want to make rush decisions and suffer the consequences later. Know everything that you need to know, and always have a presence of mind in dealing with car dealers.
