How much time to actually buy used car?

[Anonymous]

We've done all our research, test driven the model we want, identified a specific car we like and plan to pay cash. Neither my spouse nor I have ever bought a used car from a dealer and we've hardly ever bought a car period (current car was bought from a friend). How much time should we actually plan to spend at the dealership to get this done?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the dealership. Couple hours for sure.

Just some friendly advice, ALWAYS get an independent pre-purchase inspection. Any reputable dealer will let you do this before you sign anything.

[Anonymous]

We bought a used car back in February and we're there FOREVER. And we paid cash so it wasn't a financing issue. Mostly because they had to process our trade in (it takes some time for them to inspect and figure out trade in price). It also took longer than expected to get the car ready, because they'd only just got it in stock and they wanted to check all fluids, tires, etc. I think there was a backup with the shop as well, so a lot of the waiting around was for that.

We got there around 11:30 and left at 5. I very much regretted not picking up food before we went as we had to live off vending machine crap.

[Anonymous]

I bought a used Lexus GX SUV (that had been traded in) from Westlie Ford in Portland last year. I was inside the dealership for *literally* one minute. They had FedExed me the paperwork beforehand. I had signed and Fedexed it back in the addressed envelope they had enclosed.

I flew in to Portland with my whole family, texted the dealer that I was on the ground, took a taxi to the dealer, walked in *signed nothing*, was given the keys, walked back outside to my freshly washed car and drove my family to dinner. We road-tripped home.

Just tell your dealer this is what you expect.

[Anonymous]

We bought a used car in July. We test drove 3 cars for about an hour, went out to lunch to think things through and then came back to buy the car after lunch. I think it took maybe an hour and a half but we went through financing. No trade in. To expedite things, make sure you know your car insurance login and password because you’ll need to secure insurance before you drive off the lot. There was an also a bit of a wait for the car to go through the carwash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought a used car back in February and we're there FOREVER. And we paid cash so it wasn't a financing issue. Mostly because they had to process our trade in (it takes some time for them to inspect and figure out trade in price). It also took longer than expected to get the car ready, because they'd only just got it in stock and they wanted to check all fluids, tires, etc. I think there was a backup with the shop as well, so a lot of the waiting around was for that.

We got there around 11:30 and left at 5. I very much regretted not picking up food before we went as we had to live off vending machine crap.

This is the perfect DoorDash/Ubereats situation.

[Anonymous]

We bought a used Mazda from a dealer in June and start to finish it was like 6 agonizing hours. Pregnant and with a toddler. We weren’t intending to buy that day so we were woefully unprepared for the time. But we also did heavy negotiating that was worth it.

A few months later we bought out our lease. I did the pre qualification online and a sales guy texted me. I was upfront that by this point I was like 8.5 months pregnant and would have a toddler. He had everything ready and it was just under an hour.

[Anonymous]

Go to carmax, caravana and such for used cars. Not only it is an easier process but also you can return the car if you don’t like it.