Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In this day and age, I can't believe dealers still exist. I do think the service and showcase function of a dealer should continue to exist but not the selling part.
The few online car buying sites I have been to are nothing but brokers. Why can't we buy directly from the car manufacturer or large dealers who have instant prices online?
Do you buy cars off the Internet like you buy books from Amazon? Please tell me your experience.
Legal reasons (based on anti-trust laws) make it so that car manufacturers have to sell through independant dealers. You cannot order directly from the manufacturer for this reason. Any internet sales will be through those independant dealers or through brokers.
Basically the reasons Merc outlined. Even then if you buy through a dealer "online" you really can't "complete" the transaction solely online do to the contracts that need to be signed. You can do it solely through the mail, but the law requires physical signing and exchange of certain documents.
Basically the reasons Merc outlined. Even then if you buy through a dealer "online" you really can't "complete" the transaction solely online do to the contracts that need to be signed. You can do it solely through the mail, but the law requires physical signing and exchange of certain documents.
I don't argue with that. :-)
I think dealers can cut down inventory significantly if they just use their facility as show room and order cars as the customers place their orders. Just like Dell Computers. Everything is made to order.
Basically the reasons Merc outlined. Even then if you buy through a dealer "online" you really can't "complete" the transaction solely online do to the contracts that need to be signed. You can do it solely through the mail, but the law requires physical signing and exchange of certain documents.
My mother just bought her car without stepping into a dealership once. I think there was heavy use of a fax machine, though. She didn't even go to pick up the car.
I'm assuming we're talking new here. I have not purchased a car online, but I have friends whom have done 100% of the haggling online so that the purchase of the car was an in-and-out affair of maybe a half hour of paperwork signing. It worked so well I plan on doing the same if/when I ever purchase another new vehicle (which won't be anytime soon).
For used cars, I use the internet extensively. I've never purchased one sight unseen (a la ebay), but I have used a comabination of ebay, craigslist, and autotrader.com to find the vehicle.
I think dealers can cut down inventory significantly if they just use their facility as show room and order cars as the customers place their orders. Just like Dell Computers. Everything is made to order.
In concept yes, it's a good idea. The problem is people are very much inclined to only buy the actual car that they test drive or can drive home that day. It would seem that a dealership that simply stocked a variety of display models and then ordered what the customer wanted would be the way to go, but there are several reasons why that doesn't work, mostly tied to how the industry operates:
1. Less than 5% of sales at a dealership are "custom orders". Basically 95% of sales are on the spot delivery or dealer trades. Since customizing basically boils down to which option groups you want to select and color, the vast majority find what they are looking for on the lot.
On top of that most customers will go so far as to forego getting say their first choice color just to have the new car today. So, people really do want to drive the exact car they are buying and they want to take it home right then. Toyota found this out the hard way when they introduced the new Tundra. Dealers only had a few variants on the lot and expected customers to order the exact truck they wanted. It didn't work out so well and Toyota had to change the sales model.
2. Manufacturers would lose a ton of flexibility. Production runs are set at a certain mix of options and colors based on dealer orders and demand with only a little bit of flexibility for adding more production. Basically, cars are way more complex then computers given the large number of parts from various suppliers that go into them. It's not as simple as putting a 500GB hard drive in place of the 300GB hard drive, a difference as minor as nav or no nav, may involve a completely different dash assembly and the line needs to be tooled and stocked for each run.
So, the manufacturer is building cars based on what the dealers have ordered, that's the key...what dealers have ordered. The entire industry is predicated on dealers buying cars from the manufacturers. This also means that on the manufacturer end slow selling models or unpopular options that are produced (since in most cases there is a minimum that must be produced) can then be forced down the throats of dealers to dispose of them. Oh you want, 200 hot selling X's, well you need to take 10 slow selling Y's.
Dealers would love this arrangement as it would eliminate a huge chunk of their overhead, but it would simply push that back on the manufacturer who would have to build all of the models, store them and then hope the dealers want them.
There was a similar thread topic that touched on some of these issues as well and my explanation/comments were more detailed:
My mother just bought her car without stepping into a dealership once. I think there was heavy use of a fax machine, though. She didn't even go to pick up the car.
It's not the common way at all, but is becoming a more frequent occurrence. Today you can in fact conduct the entire transaction online, over the phone and by fax machine. Many times the dealer will even deliver the car to your door if you want them to, but at that time there is still physical paperwork that needs to be signed to complete the deal. What I was disputing was the concept of buying a new car off of an internet site where everything is done with the few clicks of a mouse and then a car shows up at your house. There are specific things that must be legally done face-to-face and with physical signatures.
It's not the common way at all, but is becoming a more frequent occurrence. Today you can in fact conduct the entire transaction online, over the phone and by fax machine. Many times the dealer will even deliver the car to your door if you want them to, but at that time there is still physical paperwork that needs to be signed to complete the deal. What I was disputing was the concept of buying a new car off of an internet site where everything is done with the few clicks of a mouse and then a car shows up at your house. There are specific things that must be legally done face-to-face and with physical signatures.
I conducted the entire transaction of my Corvette over the phone and through fax and it went smooth as butter. This is the first time I've ever bought a car sight unseen even thought I had my brother inspect and test drive it. I'm not sure if I would purchase a vehicle without having someone I trust to look it over; pictures often can't display imperfections and small chips that the human eye can detect.
It's nice to be able to walk into a dealership, physically touch and drive the vehicles, and then negotiate the price over the particular vehicle you've tested. I still like being at the dealer in person but I could see where internet transactions are becoming much more important to sales.
I have purchased on line.But would never completed the deal without actaualy test driving the actual vehicle.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I conducted the entire transaction of my Corvette over the phone and through fax and it went smooth as butter. This is the first time I've ever bought a car sight unseen even thought I had my brother inspect and test drive it. I'm not sure if I would purchase a vehicle without having someone I trust to look it over; pictures often can't display imperfections and small chips that the human eye can detect. 
