How to Shop for a Car Without Visiting a Dealership First

Costco and other DIGITAL PLATFORMS CUT DOWN ON DEALER FACETIME

If you’re like most people, you dread going to the car dealership to shop for a car. It’s time consuming, frustrating, and never fails to take up at least one entire weekend. 

In fact, most consumers say that they would avoid the dealership if they could. In a January 2020 study of 2,000 consumers by Cox Automotive, nearly 1 in 3 respondents said that they were “very unsatisfied” with the dealership experience. That’s no surprise since historically, dealerships have a reputation for taking advantage of consumers’ lack of knowledge about product, pricing, and financing.

Fear not, however, there are plenty of options you can choose from if you want to avoid the dealership experience when shopping for a car. In fact, many states have loosened up restrictions to allow consumers to shop online. “Doing the process online and concierge service is here to stay,” Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst for Autotrader. “ They are not going back and I think that will be transformative.”

But not all dealers have the practice down to a science. 

Anna Mansor just bought her first car online. “I’ve been driving Lincolns for the past 10 years. I needed something bigger than my MKC, so I was trying to shop around,” she says. Anna lives in suburban Detroit.  “I emailed and left voicemails, but more than half of those went unanswered.  I would cite specific stock and model numbers, tell them what I wanted in a lease.  All I needed was the quote, but it was like pulling teeth. “ 

Anna drove across to town to test drive a Jeep.  Chevy brought an Equinox to her house for a to drive.In the end, she got the Chevy Equinox.”

Like all car shopping, knowing what to expect will simplify the process. Here’s how to do it right.

Understand the Difference Between Shopping for a Car Online and Shopping in Person

There are a few differences between shopping online for a car and doing it at a dealership. As Ron Montoya reports for Edmunds,  internet sales associates are incentivized differently than those who work in a dealership. Those that work to sell cars online are generally incentivized to sell volume, rather than make a maximum profit on a specific car. That means that you can generally get a better price for a car when you shop online. 

Visiting a dealership can have its perks too, if you get a knowledgeable salesperson, and if you want to test drive a vehicle on the same day you visit.  It can pay to visit a dealership if you are interested in a specific new vehicle or want to see the car in person before jumping online to shop prices. 

You may also think that you can’t test drive a vehicle that you shop for online, but that is not the case. Many online services, dealerships and car buying platforms offer different types of test drives. You can read more about test drives below. 

Shopping for a car online might sound like an intimidating process, but in reality, it’s quite easy. 

Figure Out What Vehicle You Want 

First things, first: Know what vehicle you want. It may seem obvious but, since you won’t be visiting a car dealership where you can peruse the latest vehicles on the lot, you’ll need to narrow down your search online. There are a variety of ways to figure out which vehicle might be right for you. 

If you need some help narrowing down your choices, Le Car’s experts are here to help. Answer a few brief questions about your aesthetic preferences, your driving habits, your budget, and what you enjoy doing with your vehicle and our experts will suggest the perfect vehicle for you. It can help narrow down your options and give you a good idea of what might fit your lifestyle.

Once you know what you want, it’s easiest to visit manufacturer sites and build the vehicle of your dreams.  Whether you want an SUV from Lexus or a sports car from Jaguar you can quickly narrow down your choices to decide on your perfect car.

If you happen to be a member of any business or group like AAA, Costco or USAA, you can also narrow your search through their platforms. You can also purchase a car online through Walmart. These platforms all work directly with local dealerships to get a discounted price for their members. When you shop online for a vehicle with AAA, Costco, or USAA, they connect you to a local dealer and essentially guarantee the pricing you see on the site. To use the Costco Auto Program, AAA or USAA programs you have to be a member. 

They get discounts because they direct large numbers of consumers to specific dealerships that they have relationships with. For consumers, services like these take the haggling out of the process of buying a car. 

If you want to shop totally digitally there are new platforms like Carvana, Vroom, and Shift, that offer online shopping, financing, and purchasing through their platform. With these three services you never have to set foot in a dealership. The vehicle you choose and buy is delivered to you.

Find Your Perfect Vehicle in the Virtual Lot

Once you have narrowed down your choices you can shop the virtual lot. Essentially this means locating the right vehicle for your needs. If you use a car concierge or a car buying program like those offered through Costco or AAA, the concierge you work with will do their best to locate your perfect vehicle at one of the partner dealers. 

If you shop on a platform like Carvana, Vroom or Shift, the inventory changes based on where you are located and what is on the market at the time. The catch with Carvana, Vroom, and Shift is that they only offer used cars for sale, so specific inventory, color and packages can be a bit harder to locate.

Test Drive Your New Car

You may assume that you won’t be able to test drive your new car if you purchase online but car buying groups like Costco, Walmart, USAA and AAA work with local dealerships to supply the vehicles and offer test drives. If you purchase through one of the above platforms you will work with the car buying group to find out where you can test drive the specific vehicle you are interested in. 

If you are interested in a specific new vehicle at a particular dealership, you can arrange a time to head to their location and test drive the vehicle. Some dealerships will even bring the car to your home or office to test drive. 

Since platforms like Carvana, Shift and Vroom, only sell used cars, they offer options like a seven-day test drive, or a scheduled test drive for a shorter period,  once you have gone through the purchasing process. Vroom and Carvana offer seven-day test drives but, there are limits to the distance you can test drive a vehicle and you must go through the complete purchasing process before you get to test drive, so be sure to double-check the fine print. Shift offers you the ability to do a short test drive on a day of your choosing at a location you pick. 

Purchase and Drive Away

Many times you’ll need to head to a brick-and-mortar location to complete the paperwork to purchase a car. Some dealerships and car-buying platforms allow you to complete the bulk of paperwork online, but you’ll still need to coordinate a physical location to take possession of the vehicle. As dealers have adjusted their policies to work around social distancing protocal. “Michigan and Pennsylvania were last hold outs. You can do the whole process online and can get pick up and delivery,” Michelle Krebs says. 

Car buying services like Costco, AAA, and Walmart require that you go to one of the dealers to complete paperwork and take delivery. On platforms like Carvana, Shift and Vroom you can complete the transaction online and the car will be either dropped off to you or you can pick it up at one of their brick and mortar locations. 

Regardless of how you choose to shop, starting your search for the perfect vehicle online is definitely the easiest way to find a vehicle that is right for you.