Buying a second-hand car is good for so many reasons: it’s better for the environment, it will save you money while giving you a wealth of choice, and you will save on associated expenses such as insurance and so on – but how can you be sure that you won’t fall in with the wrong used-car salesperson and become one of those cautionary tale statistics? Here’s how you can spot a trustworthy used-car dealer so that you can hit the road in your new-to-you car in a short time and with peace of mind that your car is in great condition and legally, your own.

Disclaimer: This post is a collaboration

Ask Around

If you have family or friends who have recently bought used cars, ask them for some recommendations. Even if you don’t buy your car directly from the same place they did, they might be able to offer tips and advice about what to ask about when choosing a vehicle.

Read Reviews

Once you’ve narrowed your choices down to a couple of second-hand car dealerships, read reviews on the businesses before you go and kick the tyres. Choose reviews from places which guarantee their impartiality, and don’t be put off by one or two bad reviews. Instead, read the bad reviews and ascertain whether those customers were upset because of a misunderstanding or unexpected happenstance, that shouldn’t actually reflect on the business – a storm closing the business for a day, for example, is not something that could have been prevented!

You will get a feel for the reviews after a while, and if they all seem too uniformly complimentary about the business, it is possible that the ‘review site’ is actually a paid advertising site in disguise… However, this will be reflected more widely over the internet – genuinely good reviews will appear in more than one place, whereas paid reviews are often only on one site.

Top-rated used car dealers: such as KAP Motor Group, for example, will appear on several sites recommending used car vendors, and the reviews will all be worded differently, making it clear that all the happy customers have different levels of education, different dialects, and value different things in their new purchase.

Good Online Presence

The best used car dealers will have a strong web presence. This means not only a website detailing their location and some (if not all) of the vehicles for sale, but also a ‘contact us’ section with phone numbers to call or text, an email address or a contact box, and they will respond quickly to any messages, answering your queries honestly and without a push to an urgent hard-sell.

Finally, reputable used car dealers tend to have stood the test of time and will have longevity on their side, with long-established premises and carefully formulated sales policies and techniques. And the advantage of those is that you will feel welcomed and taken care of, from the moment you walk through the door until you drive off the lot in your new-to-you car!