Every year, millions of used cars are passed on in the United States. With eight out of every ten people buying a used vehicle as their first, it makes sense that there seems to be a used car dealership on every corner.
However, almost everyone has also been exposed to the age-old adage that many used car dealers are sharks who lie, cheat, and steal and will do almost anything just to make a profit, including selling lemons (cars with significant issues or defects) to unsuspecting customers.
So, with all the potential for fraud, how does one find the best used car dealerships nearby? Although we can never guarantee that you will find the highest quality dealership, we can give you some of our best advice for increasing your odds.
With the help of search engines and some quick research, and by defining your location, how far you’re willing to travel, and taking note of online and Better Business Bureau (BBB) reviews, you may be able to more easily find the best used car dealers near you fairly quickly and easily.
Let’s take a closer look at the steps you should take to find the best used car dealer near you!
Defining Your Search
When you first begin your search for a reliable used car dealership near you, it can be overwhelming. The search results for “use car dealership near me” may yield hundreds of results in some more populous areas, and not every result will be a trustworthy one or even one close enough to be worth the travel time.
To narrow your search parameters to yield better and more relevant results, you can specify “within x miles of” and your zip code or address. Sometimes you can specify when you are using your active location services on your device that you’d like the results within “x miles” of your current location as well.
Many times, search engines will provide a map of results to show where each dealership is located in relation to you; to reduce the area (or expand it) as you desire, you can click into the map and adjust the borders. Once done, your search results should be more relevant to your current location and the distance you are willing to travel.
After setting your location, you can take a look at some other factors that matter to you and include those in your search results. If you have already done your research on what specific type of car you are searching for, you can specify, for example, “use maker within x miles of” your location to further reduce your search results.
For instance, if you search “used Ford within 10 miles of my home,” you will return results primarily of used car dealerships that carry Ford vehicles and which are located within ten miles radius of your home address as input to the search engine.
The final step in defining your search will be to sort by reviews. Once you have clarified within your search how far you are willing to travel, which make of vehicle, and any other parameters you would like, you will need to sort by “highest rated.”
This feature allows you to see what other customers of that dealership have rated the business on a scale (usually of one to five stars, with one star being terrible and five being amazing). This is a very valuable sorting function and will help you with the next part of your journey to trying to find the best used car dealerships near you.
Sorting Through Reviews
After you have sorted by highest rated, you will be able to read written reviews of each business. This will allow you to see what others say about the dealership. These results usually include both the good and the bad aspects of each business, so the key is to look for recurring statements and trends as well as what matters specifically to you.
If you are looking for a used car dealership that offers in-house financing, pay close attention to the “pros” of the location to see if the terminology you are searching for comes up several times. Look for keywords that indicate the business is a reliable one, such as trustworthy, honest, or helpful. Make sure that there are plenty of reviews for the business; if many people say the same things about the dealership, it is more likely to be true.
Equally, you will want to pay close attention to the negatives of each business to make sure you are not looking into doing business with a place that has recurring reviews that have claims by customers with negative experiences. Some of the keywords you will want to pay close attention to if they occur many times are cheat, lemon, rude, terrible, or awful.
A final checks that will help you on your journey to the best used car dealership near you are to go to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website and to the Dealer Rater site and search for the dealership. There, you will be able to read more reviews as well as see the overall rating (on a letter-grade scale) of the business to determine if it is a trusted one.
When you have defined your search radius and type as well as any other features you are searching for, sorted by rating, and read through the reviews to skim for keywords that matter to you, you are ready to visit the best matches for you. Although there are never any promises that you will find the absolute best match this way, these steps will be likely to help you locate some of the best used car dealerships near you and, hopefully, your next dream ride.