Car dealers masquerading as owners

[Longhorn]

have been looking at used car ads in sgcarmart. called a "direct owner" selling his car and turns out he is actually a car dealer. what a turn off. looked closer at some "owner" ads and some seems to be dealer as well (eg. offering trade-in, loans, etc).

 

why these people pretend to be owners? should i have any concerns buying from them? my initial reaction is that if he can't even be open about who he is and his company name, how can i feel comfortable buying a car from him....

[Ken4555]

many ppl think buying direct from owner is cheaper mah... no need to pay middle man.... and less fears of getting con by a salesman...

 

but the fact is... getting a good buy is totally on the buyer...

[Fedup-camry]

actually some are genuine owner sellers

 

the loan tie in was offered by some finance companies with a rebate for the seller if the buyer takes the loan too

 

the loan / finance companies actually trolls this sgcarmart website and BOMBARD the direct owner seller with offer of financing to the buyers, offering high % commission / rebate ...... they are desperate for biz too

 

when i advertised on sgcarmart, i got endless sms from these finance companies too

[Longhorn]

oooh i didn't know this... thanks!

[Fedup-camry]

many ppl think buying direct from owner is cheaper mah... no need to pay middle man.... and less fears of getting con by a salesman...

 

but the fact is... getting a good buy is totally on the buyer...

 

 

the fact is, with internet and many websites on cars, direct owner sellers will also price competitively.....perhaps one or two S$k cheaper than a dealer at most

 

this has been useful for all, even if you are buyer now, eventually you will still need to sell you car

 

in the old days, many have to rely purely on CATS, which is now not useless though.....

 

important thing is : learn to bargain

Edited March 2, 2010 by Fedup-camry

[Qr25vet]

well direct owners are always better cos the car usually has some "haoliao" inside as compared to those car dealers cos its kinda silly to sell yr car with all the goodies inside when the guys takes in yr car @ only paper value and sell it at alot higher for a profit...hek he may even use those goodies 2 jack the price further up or even sell it outside...

[Zyrofillica]

all the people i know who get rid of cars to dealers will try to sell off the aftermarket parts first, return bone stock. All the dealers will then try to sell off the leftover aftermarket parts and sell car as even more stock. Hao liao all gone and the worse thing is you dunno what kind of replacement 2nd hand or reconditioned "stock" parts the previous owner or dealer will put back in.

[Felipe]

i once sold my car to a direct buyer who turned out to be dealer! i saw my car one week later advertised on car mart. but as the price was alright, i didn't bother.

[Picanto]

oooh i didn't know this... thanks!

 

 

 

they still have many tricks up their sleeves. these people you dun play play with them.

[Thaiyotakamli]

actually i was offered by a salesman to sell my car not through his dealer but through direct owner and if i managed to sell the car, i will give him commission...