Used cars: Dealership or car lot? (Richmond: for sale, buy, inspections)

[castaway365]

I'm in the market for a used car and was just wondering if most people go to a dealership or used car lot?
My first year in VA I bought a used Land Rover from a used car dealer off Midlothian Turnpike and it turned out to be a lemon; quite the nightmare situation actually! Since then I have ignored the idea of stepping foot on any lot unless its a dealership and have had a bad taste from any kind of used car dealers. Is that something I should stand by or has anyone had any good experiences. If so, if not, please recommend me a dealer where they had a good experience. Thanks!

[Pruzhany]

I buy from dealerships due to them being held to a higher standard by the manufacturer they represent. This doesn't mean you need to purchase a Chevy from Chevy dealership. For example, I have a Toyota that I purchased from a Ford dealership. So originally all my service offers come from Ford. I have it serviced by a Chevy dealership as I've had bad experiences with both McGeorge and Haley. Thus now all my service offers come from Chevy. If I have an issue the Chevy dealership can't do then I will take to either Lexus or Priority. As to dealerships, when they prep a car for sale they will do the bare minimum to pass inspection. Problem is that they do the inspections themselves. So after purchasing this Toyota, I took it up to Lexus and had them to a re-inspect without pulling the sticker off. They failed it on two counts (both items were not items that could go bad overnight). This is where accountability comes in. If Lexus does the repair, then the Ford dealership has to pay for the repair and the inspection that Ford did gets reported as a faulty inspection (state police gets called in within a day). Or Ford does the repair and re-inspects it themselves but will get it right this time around. Ford did the repair with Toyota parts.

So which dealerships are trustable for purchasing? None of them. Which are trustable for service? It depends.

The best thing I can tell you is find the car that interests you, make sure it's a one owner vehicle and get the service history. If all works well, buy the vehicle and take it a dealership that sells that family of cars and have it inspected.

So I can answer your question for ones that fail on both counts: McGeorge, Haley, Colonial, Sheehy. Which ones fail on one of the counts: Universal (no longer has that name and is now under Richmond but has same staff as before), Whitten, Pearson, Moore.

As to your Land Rover it depends what company owned it at the time. If it was Ford and anyone before them then it had a bad track record already. When Tata purchased them, the quality got better year after year.

[castaway365]

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

I buy from dealerships due to them being held to a higher standard by the manufacturer they represent. This doesn't mean you need to purchase a Chevy from Chevy dealership. For example, I have a Toyota that I purchased from a Ford dealership. So originally all my service offers come from Ford. I have it serviced by a Chevy dealership as I've had bad experiences with both McGeorge and Haley. Thus now all my service offers come from Chevy. If I have an issue the Chevy dealership can't do then I will take to either Lexus or Priority. As to dealerships, when they prep a car for sale they will do the bare minimum to pass inspection. Problem is that they do the inspections themselves. So after purchasing this Toyota, I took it up to Lexus and had them to a re-inspect without pulling the sticker off. They failed it on two counts (both items were not items that could go bad overnight). This is where accountability comes in. If Lexus does the repair, then the Ford dealership has to pay for the repair and the inspection that Ford did gets reported as a faulty inspection (state police gets called in within a day). Or Ford does the repair and re-inspects it themselves but will get it right this time around. Ford did the repair with Toyota parts.

So which dealerships are trustable for purchasing? None of them. Which are trustable for service? It depends.

The best thing I can tell you is find the car that interests you, make sure it's a one owner vehicle and get the service history. If all works well, buy the vehicle and take it a dealership that sells that family of cars and have it inspected.

So I can answer your question for ones that fail on both counts: McGeorge, Haley, Colonial, Sheehy. Which ones fail on one of the counts: Universal (no longer has that name and is now under Richmond but has same staff as before), Whitten, Pearson, Moore.

As to your Land Rover it depends what company owned it at the time. If it was Ford and anyone before them then it had a bad track record already. When Tata purchased them, the quality got better year after year.

Great advice! Thank you! I do most of the work on vehicles myself. I never thought to take it to another dealer to check up on inspection.