I know Carfax and us dealers all say to inspect the vehicle on your own before buying. That is all great, but people are busy and don’t want to travel to see a vehicle they think is an awesome condition car at an awesome price, so that statement runs a little hollow to most consumers. Here are a few tricks of the trade for you consumers.

If you are looking at a website where some of the inventory has View the Free CARFAX Report, and some of the inventory has Get a CARFAX Record Check, odds are really high that the Carfax is ugly when it is not free. That is often a dealer obfuscating known information about the car.

FULL DISCLOSURE HERE. You will find on our website some vehicles with a manufacturer’s buyback branded title. The Autocheck is available, and if you click on the Carfax there is no free report, but instead you must pay for it. Not our fault. We have pleaded with Carfax to show this Carfax to our customers – we paid for it – but Carfax says they turned it off on branded titles because most dealers did not want it shown, and they cannot turn it on for just us. What does that tell you about our industry? Not something of which we would be proud as a member of the industry. Still, you can’t miss the information because it is on our site and available from the Autocheck report. A simple email to us and we will provide the Carfax report to you as well since we paid for the report and have it available to give you.

We will not smear any competitor in particular, but we checked out the Autochecks on a competitor’s inventory where a Carfax was NOT available for free (and others were available for free), and we found more often than not at least an accident reported, if not unibody/frame damage reported at the auction. In those cases you must absolutely ask the dealer “Show Me the Carfax” since you are reasonably confident they can get it to you for cheaper than you will get it yourself and you have high probability something important is in that report.

Don’t be fooled into thinking an Autocheck is better than a Carfax. They both have holes in their reporting. We have seen plenty of times where the Carfax report is ugly and the Autocheck report is spotless. We see many times the opposite. That provides opportunities for some dealerships to provide only an Autocheck, no Carfax, and buy vehicles with clean Autochecks and dirty Carfax reports. So while we have little love for the way Carfax has portrayed our industry in commercials, you should probably ask those Autocheck only dealers about a Carfax report or purchase the Carfax report on your own. Carfax does provide lots of quality information on vehicle history.

Carfax has an exclusive agreement with Cars.com and AutoTrader, so if you shop there and run across a car with only a Carfax, that is not our choice. You will need to come directly to our website to see the Autocheck report we are providing to consumers.

Do we have lots of vehicles with original paint and squeaky clean Carfax and Autocheck reports? Absolutely. But I have seen some minor damage on Carfax versions of the same cars and liked the minor damage car way, way better. Why? The paint work was done very well and was unnoticeable, and the interior was immaculate. And some of those perfect Carfax/Autocheck report cars do have blemishes. What was the difference many times? The Carfax accident car had a police report when the damage occurred on a public street. The perfect Carfax/Autocheck report had the same damage in a driveway of someone’s home. And even better, the Carfax accident car is $1500 cheaper – for the same car! And all because of a report.

So what is the summary of all of this?

1) Be wary of vehicles without free Carfax reports (and with no Autocheck report) on a dealer website where other vehicles do have free Carfax reports.
2) Seeing both Autocheck and Carfax reports on a vehicle does not eliminate, but does greatly reduce your odds of buying a vehicle without knowing about previous damage or accidents.
3) Even if accidents exist, don’t treat it as a Scarlet A for the car. Accident does not always mean the car was crushed. The spectrum is hugely wide.
4) Cars.com and Autotrader have locked out Autocheck from their websites due to an exclusive deal with Carfax. Autocheck is available on our website for our vehicles.
5) You can’t outsource doing a good job of shopping to third party reports. Email the dealer with questions about items of concern. We love when customers educate themselves about what they are purchasing.

-PD

DealerRater

We prefer this one. First, DealerRater requires a user login to post a review. Second, DealerRater forbids reviews from the dealership’s IP address and hammers any dealer it finds posting false reviews about its dealership (employees up to no good). Third, all negative reviews with certified DealerRater dealerships have a minimal interaction requirement by the customer so dealerships know the customer is legitimate and not a competitor attacking the business. You can’t leave a poor review and disappear off the face of the earth. By and large, the scores of the reviews on DealerRater are a little higher because negative reviews are first brought to the attention of the dealership to give the dealership and the customer an opportunity to resolve whatever disappointed the customer.

Don’t think this is just a pro-dealer site. We have been slaughtered in some reviews on DealerRater, but at least in those cases we knew we deserved it. The other bonus from reviewing dealers on this site is that you are really confident the dealer will see it and get a chance to resolve your complaint.

http://www.dealerrater.com/company/overview.aspx

Google Reviews on the Places Page

Google reviews drive us crazy. The enhancement where Google now requires a Google Plus account to leave a review is a huge improvement. I have looked at some dealerships and really questioned the legitimacy of those past reviews. You can tell just by reading them. I think many of them were created by people associated with the dealership or by outside companies in an effort to boost the review score. Dealerships also get attacked by competitors on Google reviews. We have been lucky on the negative review side. There have been one or two suspicious negative reviews where we couldn’t figure out who the person was or what the person was talking about, but most of our negative reviews, while not always a fair representation of the situation (though sometimes we screwed up and they hit it on the head), are actual customers with actual complaints.

What drives us mad is that Google reviews disappear and reappear. We have crafted responses to every review, but sometimes we look at Google reviews and see none of our responses – they have disappeared.

http://www.seroundtable.com/google-maps-reviews-gone-15531.html

I think Google is headed in the right direction on Google reviews, especially by making sure reviewers have a Google Plus account to assure some level of legitimacy. I would take “A Google User” reviews with a grain of salt though not completely discount them. Read them and look for specifics that might indicate a real reviewer. The Google Plus account reviews will be more legitimate.

Better Business Bureau

A high grade with the BBB shows the customer is serious about resolving a customer’s complaints. The number of complaints is often associated with the volume of business the customer does. For instance, Carmax has 798 complaints on its BBB account. Does that make them a bad business? We don’t think so, and the BBB gives them an A+ just like us with 9 complaints. But they are significantly bigger. Likewise, a small dealership with 50 cars is going to have far fewer complaints than us since we have 400-500 cars and lots more transactions. You want to see that the dealership cares about a customer’s complaint. The BBB score is about eliminating businesses that carry higher risk. See this link for details on the BBB’s rating system. As noted in this link, the BBB accounts for size when grading the business on complaints. They will tell you on the BBB page for the business what lowers and raises that specific business’s rating.

http://www.bbb.org/business-reviews/ratings/

Cars.com

Cars.com has been beefing up its reviews on dealerships, and there is a decent sample out there for many dealerships. It is probably worth looking at it.

Yellow Pages, Citysearch, Yelp, Merchant Circle, etc.

Occasionally you will see a dealership with a lot of reviews on some of these. I have never seen a dealer with a good Merchant Circle review. I think this where people complain – or in the case of one dealer, add a really positive review and then advertise a flooring company that will work on your house. We have some poor reviews sitting out there on Merchant Circle – a few of them I would say are not true, and a couple of them we were wrong. In fact, we helped out a few of those customers that complained without it being noted after the fact or the review redacted. In addition, there hasn’t been a review there in a couple of years. So why did we bring it up? We’d rather not be accused of writing a blog entry that is dishonest. We freely admit we have made mistakes with customers over the years. We are really proud of the changes we made with each mistake to prevent those poor customer experiences from repeating. That is really all we can do. Citysearch and Yellow pages can be decent if there are enough reviews there, but with most dealerships the sample size is pretty small. Yelp is geared more towards restaurants, and we have no reviews there, but we are on Yelp.

At DonohooAuto, we have policies for our employees. No employee is to speak badly about another dealership. We would like to know if you ever hear one of our employees do so. We will correct it. No employee is to create a positive review on any review websites. If you ever see a suspicious positive review, please let us know. We want reviews to be an honest representation of varied customer experiences with us.

We are happy about how we are represented online. Mistakes we have made are out there for people to see. We make mistakes. You should probably be suspicious if there are no negative reviews. That seems unrealistic or the company hasn’t been around long enough. Length of time in business is pretty important in the used car business. We have heard about dealers shutting down bad reputation dealerships and opening back up under a different name, then repeating after the new name gets a bad reputation.

We have way more happy customers that have published reviews on their experiences. In addition, our own feedback mechanisms where we actively solicit feedback from our customers tell us we have lots of happy customers. We survey and call our customers after they purchase. We want to know how we did. We love feedback – positive or negative. And we have turned many a negative customer experience into a positive one by soliciting feedback and addressing the concern.

One of our key initiatives is excellent disclosures about vehicle history. We provide both Carfax and Autocheck and even make customers aware of paintwork that no other dealer would bother disclosing – of course most paintwork issues are merely cosmetic and inconsequential to the value of the car – that’s another blog entry. We have improved our disclosures consistently every year we have been in business, and we think that helps minimize poor reviews and makes for satisfied customers.

Here are some helpful articles about reviews. We hope this blog entry helps you in your next vehicle purchase.

Here are some links to some good articles about reviews.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/249770/yelp_alternatives_which_user_review_services_matter.html

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/10/06/7-ways-to-spot-fake-online-reviews/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html

-PD

Guests can enjoy live music, food, cocktails and animal encounters while viewing the elephants on exhibit. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. To purchase tickets call 205-879-0409.

We hope you’ll come join us in supporting a good cause while having a good time!

The Junior League of Birmingham is celebrating 90 years of community service. Help them continue to provide outstanding programs to the Birmingham metro area women and children. DonohooAuto is proud to sponsor Bargain Carousel again this year.

The ability to rationally grade a car has become totally flawed on the retail market. Why you ask? CARFAX and AutoCheck. These are data collection sources, not professional vehicle inspection services. The question is, how much are you willing to pay for that prized report? What is a clean CARFAX worth and what does it actually mean? Well, to us at DonohooAuto it means very little. In fact, we would rather have a CARFAX that shows minor damage reported or a minor to moderate accident. Why would we want that? Simple, clean CARFAX vehicles are overpriced… That’s right, I said it, overpriced. Week in and week out I watch dealers fight over average grade vehicles with clean CARFAXES. They will sometimes pay retail prices for them. I will watch the vehicle that has had a rear bumper repainted (minor accident) and a grade 4.7 rating (highest is 5.0) get one bid for $3,000 less than the 3.0 grade clean CARFAX car that has been painted with a paint brush and smells like a mule. Man, I would hate to be a retail customer that refuses to buy a vehicle based on a data collection resource. People, buy a vehicle based on its GRADE, its integrity. Buy from someone you trust, someone with real market savvy. You are not putting this car in a museum, you are going to drive it, day in and day out. Wait, let me digress and play some devil’s advocacy….

Not all accidents are the same, some accidents required unibody or frame repair which can worry the easiest of carefree shoppers out there. Again, this is why you concentrate on professional grading, we like the Manheim grading system and try to incorporate it into all cars we buy, regardless if it is from an individual or through a wholesale auction. So next time you talk to a salesman at a dealership, ask them about the grade of vehicle you a acquiring, get the CARFAX and get the AutoCheck, but don’t rely just on the findings, it might cost you a few thousand dollars.

-CD

Am I saying that buying a used vehicle is a crapshoot? In a way, yes. But there are ways you mitigate your risks. The vehicle history reports are valuable points of information. If you are looking at a vehicle at a dealership like DonohooAuto, look carefully at the information online in its website listing. We have vehicles with no accidents on Carfax or Autocheck but include a statement about paintwork we found during our incoming inspection. Have a trusted third-party mechanic look at the vehicle for you. You may pay $100 for a thorough review, but you have mitigated your risk by getting another data point. In the end, there is no guarantee when purchasing a used vehicle. You are taking a risk – but you are generally saving a lot of money and getting more car. No risk, no reward.

Can I tell you DonohooAuto has never missed a mechanical or paint and body problem on a car and sold it to a retail customer? If I told you yes, I doubt you would believe me. I am pretty confident we are not perfect. But we do our best.

-PD

Here’s a good video explanation about the importance of Autocheck and Carfax reports as well as the extra security a consumer can benefit from when have a third party inspection performed on a car.

On a fun side-note, asked how he registered for the contest, he told us he scanned the QR code that was on the Egg in our lobby while he was at the dealership car shopping.

“Two of the best values in the used car market right now are BMW 335 and 535 series 2008 to 2010.  These vehicles are overcrowding BMW service shops because of a HPFP (High Pressure Fuel Pump) recall.  In California, where consumer friendly buyback laws are the strongest, BMW 335 and 535 vehicles are being returned and labeled “Manufacturer Buyback/Lemon Law” vehicles.  Are we as consumers and dealers to believe that California BMW’s are made in the special California lemon factory and these are inferior vehicles?  Of course not. These vehicles are the same as the laundry list of other wounded HPFP Beemers all across our the country.  The difference is these “California clean” Beemers were ruled academically ineligible to play for the Duke’s and Stanford’s  (Franchise BMW and Carmax’s).  They must go to the South Florida Bulls or Louisville Cardinals (Donohooauto or other savy highline independents)  to finish their careers…  Okay, enough of the NCAA basketball comparisons..  Allow me to digress…

BMW’s come on the market in a five ways: lease return, local trade in, corporate sale, private seller and manufacturer buyback or trade assist (basically a buyback that escaped the wrath of having lemon juice squeezed all over it and demonizing its glorious existence).

Lease returns are offered to franchised BMW dealers first (at a really high rate). Depending on quality and market conditions they end up at physical auctions for dealers to fight over and pay top dollar for a vehicle that has been passed over a few times already. These vehicles are usually at the bottom of the food chain and are probably or most likely the lessor quality of the five brackets.  A lease return is basically a vehicle that was rented for three years.

One owner local trade vehicles are usually of high quality and very desirable, unfortunately there just is not the volume out there to support all of the dealers so most dealers keep a vehicle like this and sell it.

Corporate sale vehicles are a great buy and are held to very high standards by the factory (in this case BMW).  Usually, they are not allowed to be smoked in and have less than a year’s worth of driving.  However, market conditions can drive a very high premium for these vehicles and they can bring near new car pricing which defeats the purpose of saving on a used one.

Private seller is in my opinion the greyest area. You have zero accountability from the seller, so you better do your homework.  However, if you find the right one, it can be a great way to buy a vehicle.

And now, drum roll please… Ba Ba Ba Ba….  Ta daaa !!! Manufacturer Buyback Lemon Law BMW’s!  These vehicles are one owner or even better, two owner (get to that in a minute) BMW’s that did not make it through the beach blazing, high desert cooking, surfs up California high standard automotive academia. What do you mean, Chris?  Are you saying these vehicles are not lemons?  No, not really, California calls it a lemon, its their state, their laws, so, yes, it’s a lemon.  My answer to that is: so what?  Define lemon for me please?  I’m listening.  Oh, the high pressure fuel pump is bad and the engine is stuttering?  Wait, isn’t that same problem happening to the same 535’s and 335’s in Birmingham, AL,  and Topeka, KS,  and Dallas, TX and Newark, NJ, Anytown, USA? YES! So what about all these wounded Beemers coming out of Tinseltown and the Bay City?Stamp a lemon in the door jam and sell them for 75 cents on the dollar.  Sound like the admirable thing to do?  No, it sounds like the silly thing to do and who better to take advantage of silly consumer friendly lemon laws than savvy BMW customers who want to drive the solidly engineered twin turbo models BMW offers for far less than the going rate!!!

If you are not excited yet than let me let you in on a little known secret.  These vehicles are usually ONE OWNER vehicles, not one owner off lease I don’t care what happens to this car I am turning it back in vehicles, but cars that were bought and owned and cared for like only OWNED vehicles can be.  If you are lucky, you will find one that was a two owner vehicle and Certified Pre-Owned by BMW of North America, why other than the obvious that it is a superior used vehicle…  2^nd drum roll please..Da Da Da Da…..   Ta Da!!!  Free extended warranty!!!  Yes, you get the same benefits of the CPO warranty as the consumer that paid retail money for a CPO car.

Allow me to analogize.  You walk into the stadium to watch Derek Jeter’s 3000 hit.  You are about to approach the ticket booth so you can buy a ticket to sit in the nose bleeds for $300 when you are approached by a rich snobby guy who says “Derek Jeter did not sign my ball, I don’t want my $1,000 ticket behind home plate, you can have it for 300 bucks, I am leaving”.  So there you are, sitting behind home plate watching Derek Jeter launch his 3,000 hit into the left field stands for a fraction of what the disgruntled fan paid and everyone else around you.  Well, same thing when you are wizzing down the road in your “Buyback” 335 or 535.  I should not have to sell you on Certified Pre Owned gig.  It does not take a genius to figure out that if the vehicle was certified four months earlier that it is probably not a lemon, instead,  likely a problem with the technician working on the vehicle or a recall that was forthcoming but unknown at the time.

In closing, lets put this in simple terms.  I am going to use the median price of $34,995 as the price the vehicle should sell for on the open market given it is the same vehicle and same quality.

Lease turn in Certified at the local BMW dealership                                      $37,995

Local trade in at reputable dealer                                                               $34,995

Coporate sale vehicle sold closed to BMW dealers only                                 $36,995

Private seller just wants to get rid of it                                                        $34,695

For giggles I will throw in a previously wrecked vehicle                                  $31,995

Manufacturer buyback Lemon Law                                                               $28,995

There is your spread.  As you can see, you get the same quality, if not sometimes better, with the buyback for a fraction of the price and usually the same benefits if not better benefits.” – C.D.