How do you choose a car

[carEnthusiast1]

Hey everyone,
I'm trying to make the decision of choosing a car easier for potential buyers.
We're just starting out and don't have anything to sell, but want to
make sure we're building something that actually helps.
I've only ever come at it from my perspective and I'm having a hard time
understanding how it all works from the owner/customer perspective.
I know you are passionate about cars and could really help me cut
through the fog.
Do you have time to chat?

Thank u

[beshannon]

How do you choose a car

List my requirements
Research online
Visit dealerships
Test drive car(s)
Research pricing
Make final decision

[pizzaman09]

I have only bought one car in my life thus far.
My requirements were
Late 80s, 90,s or early 00s BMW with a stick shift.
Had to be in pretty good mechanical condition, with no body rust.
Must be able to test drive it before forking over the money.

If you are talking about running a dealership, my number one thing with dealers, if they are pushy and only seem interested in getting your information so that they can mail me or call me about offers on cars, I really don't want to deal with them. A chill cool salesman that is more then willing to let you take a car for a test drive even if you are several months out from actually choosing a car is awesome. I had two experiences this past weekend where since the sales man didn't see a potential sale in the near future, they were very hesitant to let me test drive a car.

The Cadillac dealer that I bought my 02 M5 at was a dream to work with. No bull crap, willing to let me test drive the car and even take it for a day, and they were polite and waited on me without acting like a praying vulture.

[BimmerBreaker]

It sounds like you opened a business without a clear goal on what this business should be about. Should your car dealership sell high-end cars or are you targetting a younger demographic? Do you want to sell to baby boomers having a mid-life crisis, or blue collar workers looking for reliable transportation? Do you want to try to appeal to everyone? If so how are you going to approach the design of the dealership and the location and what is the dealerships "culture" going to be like? Professional, respectful type or personable and fun?

You need to figure out what demographic you are targetting before you can look at what products (cars) to stock. Same as any business. In the car business, customer service is extremely important, you need to build a rapport with your customers to stand any chance of staying in business long-term. Car dealerships tend to snowball, you start off with 1 customer but they are happy and tell their friends, next time their friends need a car they come to you, you get another customer, he tells his friends, etc... you need to make your customers happy enough with your service to want to recommend people come to you. You'll also want to utilize social media for advertising.

[Matt Cramer]

1. Figure out a total price that I can spend on it. (Note that this has nearly always ruled out buying anything new.)
2. Decide what my priorities are.
3. See what I can find in that price range that fits the priorities.