Carfax question

I would question the dealership and make sure they are being honest with you. I buy on average a car every year and if they are used I will get Carfax reports if they are not provided. In all of the reports I’ve looked at over the years I have never gotten a used car from a dealer that showed the dealership as the first owner. Maybe if they used it as a demo or company car for the GM they have to register it. Sounds a little off to me and I would ask for a truthful answer. If it was a loaner car I would not be too thrilled about it. If it truly was the GM’s personal car I’d have no problem with it

Carfax can sometimes be wonky. My wife bought a camaro brand new in 2012. She paid it off after we were married and her name changed. And now the carfax shows it as a 2nd owner car. Which is false.

So....best you can do is ask what the story is. Maybe they titled it in managers name ?

If they are selling it as a CPO, I would guess that it's been sold before, otherwise it wouldn't be "pre-owned"...

And also, they can be idiots... one of our cars hit a deer. It went in for repairs. It had 72,000 miles on it. When I traded it in, there was an issue, since the service before the damage showed 70,000 miles, and then when they fixed it, it 'showed' 8300 miles... In order to get it fixed, you had to jump through hoops.

Carfax is extremely hit and miss and good luck getting it corrected. Just remember if you are ever a claimant in a collision you are entitled to diminished value depending on state. It may not seem like much at the time, but come trade in time and the dealer drags out the carfax you will be wishing you had pursued it.

The bank owns it. It was more than likely just a demo car and those get taken out of service normally around the 2500 mile mark. The dealer I work for does the same thing with those and loan cars. You still get the full warranty and a big discount.

I've been using an app on my phone called myCARFAX. You enter your VIN number and it gives you a full service history of the car and allows you to track mileage versus service needed..ect.. You can also add notes on the service you have done yourself.

Huck is correct-- if they are referring and selling as a "CPO" -- that stands for Certified Pre-Owned. Ive been an auto dealer for 35 years and I/we have never titled a demo into an employees name. The best way to check is to ask to see the title or MSO. If its truly just a demo,then it will have an MSO and be classified as a NEW car. If it has a title in a name of a private individual the it would be a USED car and hence the CPO moniker.

By the way-- MSO stands for Manufacturers Statement of Origin, also sometimes an MCO Manufacturers Certificate of Origin. Hope that helps.All new vehicles start with one of those in the dealers name. ie. NEW car. Once its titled to a company or individual it becomes a USED vehicle .No way around that.

Not to hijack the thread or put you on he spot but...since you are in the industry...can you give us average suckers some advice about dealing with a vehicle purchase at a dealership? I expect the dealership to make a profit. It has to...I get it. When I buy an apple I know how much it costs and that's what I pay. A vehicle purchase is far more complicated. Most of it is explained by method of financing, credit rating, trade-in value, etc. From my experience there is also the "buyer ignorance" factor. "How much can we pad the bill before the sucker backs out".

I guess my question is; is it possible to identify a dealer that focuses on making his margin versus trying to maximize profits by taking advantage of us suckers?

Well Plow--- Ive jumped in a few other car threads to spout off my advice. You can probably search my posts for it---and believe me its all good stuff lol. From financing to my favorite and highest quality pieces. In a nutshell, most stores/management are very aware that the consumer is armed with more info than they've ever had. So that means MOST dealers are now pretty reputable and above board with the negotiation process these days. Back when I started in the biz, pick up trucks came with NO window sticker (MSRP). YIKES!!! The dealer priced them to fit their own market condition !! Obviously those days are long gone. My best advice is to steer clear of leasing (except in a very few cases) do your own financing, Do diligent research on your trade (and print out your findings) as well as researching fair prices for the model youre looking for, and take those findings with you too. Believe me , all dealers want to move the inventory as quickly as possible. We don't like long drawn out negotiations either. The money you're spending tonite ,we would love to spend tomorrow on another vehicle. I'll take a skinny ,quick deal EVERY time.

Lol...you nailed it (for me and my approach). I have my own pre-approved financing, I know what my trade-in is worth (it's not gold or I wouldn't be trading it). I research prices in my area. I also tell the salesman when we get to his cube..."if you get up to go talk to your manager...I won't be here when you get back. If you can't make the deal, get me someone who can". Am I wrong in assuming that every salesman knows the bottom dollar on every car on the lot?

Thats a difficult question to answer accurately.But Im going to say that most salespeople do NOT know the bottom line. In todays dealerships there are so few sharp ,quality salespeople that the vast majority of them are nothing more than a Home Depot or Best Buy kind of sales person.(no offense to those people) These type need as much manager involvement as possible . BUT, every store also has a couple (or handful,based on the size of the store) of top notch, high quality Pros that can handle a customer from hello,thru the negotiation process and into F&I and delivery. These ones have the ability to write their own deals and also know the parameters of what they can do before calling in a manager. (these are the ones making the 100-200k/yr) . My best advice is to arm yourself with as much info as you can--and most people do these days-- Go in with a pre-conceived number of where you'll buy. If you make it reasonable and make it known upfront, you'll be surprised how quick, easy,smooth and almost pleasant buying a vehicle can be. A lot ,if not most large stores these days pay the average salesperson a small salary and a flat commission based on volume ,not a percentage of gross profit, so the salespeople don't care much about holding out for the last dime on any particular deal. They are looking to do deals quick and painless and go on to the next one. And THATS why good managers and GM are even more important than they used to be ,lol.
One last thing, even as much info available as there is today, in buying guides /website inside info,etc,etc the general public will STILL not know exactly what a dealer is paying for their cars. There are so many hidden factory incentives these days that only a small handful of dealer personnel know the "real" bottom line. Some are based on volume,some are based on floor plan percentage , some are even based on volume sold of a particular model during a particular time frame,lol. So.... research as much as you can, find your "happy purchase" number, make it known and make it happen. For consumers, it shouldn't be as hard or as aggravating as it used to be.