Me too. If you want X brand car, you’re gonna end up at X brand dealership. They know that.
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Well, around here you have many options. For example, there are no less than 5 new car dealers for Honda within 20 miles. Twenty one of them within 50 miles. You can at least triple that for used car dealers selling multiple brands. Heck, you can see used Hondas for sale in front of the Toyota dealer’s used car lot and visa-versa. I bought a used Chevy Trailblazer from one of the local Subaru dealers. Came with a lifetime power train warranty. Warranty verbiage was one small paragraph with no small print. If you buy a new car from them, free service for two years, new tires for as long as you own it…They do ZERO advertising. It’s all through word of mouth and they are quite successful.
A years or two we bought a 2010 camry with about 40K on it for 12K in SF bay area. I think the lead was from Craigslist. You should look in a well to do area because they don’t care as much about getting the last dollar. In my case it was a foreign born engineer who did not drive much and wife did not drive. Sometimes elder residents of assisted living don’t drive much and finally sell their car and they are low milage. If you are just supplying leads that’s one thing. Just make sure the car is taken to a mechanic trusted by the person buying it. They pick the mechanic - then if the mechanic makes a mistake what can the buyer say. If you help them find a mechanic then then must agree that you are not responsible for their recommendation. But yes asking for trouble - just depending on the buyer’s demeanor if there is an issue after recommendation to buy.
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My girl friend just bought a car from a dealer that was off-lease. Got a recall letter and discovered there had been THREE recalls that were never taken care of. Of course it was free but we had to make a 2nd trip when they got a part in and we live 35 miles away, so big hassle. But other than that at least the 1st 6 months have been good.
Totally agree. Get Carfax, even if you have to pay for it yourself, AND get it inspected. If she won’t do that, talk to a trusted mechanic about a model under serious consideration. My girl friend backed off a model we both liked when an independent mechanic told her she’d be lucky to go over 40K without transmission problems. It had 45k on it.
I hear ya on traveling about an hour away to the dealership for a recall. The closest Mazda dealership to me is 35 miles away and I’ve had to make a couple trips back there for recalls.
There is a Ford dealership just up the road from it where I bought my Mustang and finally got around to getting it in for an oil change down there as I was given 1 free oil change at that dealership when I bought it- the rest will be done at my local Ford dealership.
It was worth the hour drive though, $150 for an oil change is nuts(10qt oil), but thankfully it’s only a once a year thing.
Also, there are horror stories with off lease vehicles where the original renter didn’t take care of the car because they knew they weren’t keeping the car for more than 2 or 3 years. So it’s no surprise to us on this board that the previous owner didn’t get the recalls done.