My grandpa once told me to never buy a car off of a close friend because if that car breaks, so will your friendship...

My grandpa once told me to never buy a car off of a close friend because if that car breaks, so will your friendship. But I have a buddy who works at a used car dealership. I'm looking at purchasing a used car so would it be a good idea to go to him first and see what kinda deals he can hook me up with? Or stick with the advice my grandpa gave me and go elsewhere?

He's right. Your friend's number one goal is to make money. They probably buy shitboxes from auctions that aren't worth anything. Buy a mint one from a private seller.

If your buying the car at a dealership, unless your friend owns the dealership, you are not buying I "off" your friend. You are buying it from the dealership. Your friend does not own the cars if its not a personal vehicle you are buying from him directly.

If the car you want breaks, how is that your friends fault. You can be mad at the dealership you bought it from but that is not your friends fault.

Your friend didn't manufacture the car. Your friend didn't inspect the car and give you a 100% clean Worry free warranty.your friend is only going to see a small portion of your money as commission. It's not your friends faultnifnit turns out to be a shit. How can he know? How is it the salespersons fault? Does he have a crystal ball that tells him when every car is gonna shit itself.

You are buying a used car from a used car lot. It will be AS IS. they may even offer you a warranty that will cover little to nothing when it breaks. None of this will be your friends fault.

You pick the car you want, you decide what price you will pay. You know its used. You know there is no warranty. You take responsibility.

That's what I was afraid of. I feel like he'll get angry with me if I don't go through him because he missed out on a sale and then he'd say "I could have hooked you up with a deal, etc". I went through a private seller once before when I helped my gf get a car but I like the fact that a dealer gives warranty unlike the private. I'm not sure how good the warranty is since it's a used car but still I feel more secure. I suppose I could just follow the .jpg in the sticky and take it to get a PPI somewhere and I wouldn't need a warranty

Is it the car In OP? don't get a convertible Z

That is all very true. But then why do people prefer a dealership than a private seller? Is it because you can workout a loan with the dealership? Can't you just do that with a bank and have the money for the private seller all the same?

Former used car lot mech here.

Buy private party but take it to a mechanic for inspection first if you are not one.

A private seller needs the money and isn't dealing with overhead.

I've bought vehicles BEFORE they made it to the lot, but I helped drag them back from auction and helped collect the parts to finish them. If you aren't a mechanic, go private party.

Worth noting is dealers have very little personal contact over time with what they sell unless they drove that particular vehicle for a while.

>But then why do people prefer a dealership than a private seller?

Image. Customers who aren't tech literate go to dealers, and many dealers will finance what banks might not. Remember financing is profitable. Some dealers merely take payments and don't "charge" finance charges, but the time to repay is already reflected in purchase price with no discount for early payment.

I do like the look of the coupe better but a convertible 2 seater would be so cool.

What car are you looking for?

>if you aren't a mechanic, go private party

Is this because you're saying that the car will be in worse condition at a dealership?

Do private sellers usually get mad if you tell them you want to take their car to a mechanic to get it inspected? I once went with my gf and bought a car from a private seller last year and all I did was literally follow the step by step .jpg guide in the sticky to self inspect it and bought it and a year later, thank God, it's still fine. Also how much does a PPI at a shop cost?

convertible 2 seater. Stuck between a miata, a 350z, and s2000

Get a Solstice.

Budget? Cash or financing?

under 15k and financing

looks cool, i'll look into it thanks

i second this, i recently bought from a used dealership and not only did i practically overpay, i sunk over 1k in repairs in the first two months of owning the vehicle. yeah i shouldve taken it to a mechanic first but i was stupid and needed a car. ive had bad experiences with both dealership and private party but at least with private party you can get a way better deal and haggle a lot more. when i say i literally see cars 4 or more years newer with nothing seriously wrong with them that cost the same as what i paid for my car, i am serious

I heard to never buy a GM car because they are shit

Miata. That's all you can afford. You should just save and pay cash.

damn man you're right. I guess even if my buddy does work as a salesman he still is trying to make money off me so I probably wont get as good of a deal as I would get from going private. I'll definitely go to a mechanic to get it inspected. Should I go to more than one mechanic to get it inspected, in case he knows the guy well and purposely looks over things? I feel like more than 1 PPI may be overkill

Some miata styles look kinda girly for my taste. I'll have to keep looking. If I save up that much money then it'll take too long cause my car is old and about to shit the bed, that's why I want to finance

Dude just ask your friend if it's ok bringing car to a shop for an inspection, I'm sure he'll give you a better deal than any other stranger if you really are friends

The Solstice looks way too bubbly, just like the eclipse. Not a very masculine look imo

Everyone is telling me to go private but I guess it doesn't hurt to hit him up and see what he's got. Like you said, I'll take it to a shop so even if it's a shitbox then at least we'll see together

So you don't make a lot of money. How about be responsible and fix your current car. Then save 5-7k for a miata.

You're right. What year miatas should I be looking at for that amount of money?

Na or nb

Save your cash by buying private. Use that saved cash to invest in a third party warranty if you so wish, and if your friend is such a faggot that he will bitch that you "skimped out" or "let him down", pay him some commission from what you saved by buying private.

Saturn Sky is the same car, not as bubbly. The redline model is like the gxp.

Some people use dealerships for convenience, I had to do a lot more running around to my CU a couple times, Triple A, etc, etc when I was buying my used car from a private seller. Plus driving to LA to pickup the car while she just got one at a local dealer.

Some people also prefer dealerships because if you have the money it's the only way to get a car you want absolutely perfect if you build it and have it delivered. If you buy used there's possibly one or two options you wouldn't have wanted.