The Used Car Blog
We want consumers everywhere to feel confident about their ability to engage in the used car process on their own terms. We’re going to be posting articles about every aspect of buying used cars, from giving you tips on how to judge the condition of a used car to knowing your way around financing options to what you should look for when test driving a vehicle.
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
People love to hate used car salesmen and used car dealerships. Heck, plenty of people like to hate new-car dealerships as well. Anyone who has ever felt like they got "ripped off" or pressured into something they didn't really need or want probably has a pretty low opinion of the car-selling industry. And this kind of begs the question - Aren't car dealerships becoming obsolete? The short answer is no. Here's why:
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Auto City vs Online Used Car Buying: A Head-to-Head Comparison
Younger people have a hard time understanding how people got anything done before the Internet and smart phones. In the digital age of the 21stcentury, more and more of life happens online. From communicating with friends and family to banking to all the things you can buy and have rapidly shipped to your home, it's incredibly convenient. In the rush to take advantage of all the opportunities for selling anything and everything online, we'd like to pause and recognize there are still some things best left to in-person, real-world transactions. We think buying a vehicle is one of those things. In this article we'll explain why we think you should avoid online used car buying.
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Does it Matter Where You Get Your Oil Change?
It used to be that you'd have auto service and repair done by the shop you bought the car from or your local mechanic. However, the more urban you get, you have many more auto repair shops to choose from. Increased competition does a couple of things that might surprise you. To stand out in a crowd of auto repair shops, all offering oil change and auto repair services, someone has to do something extraordinary to garner attention. Offering while-you-wait service, free loaner cars, or a great warranty are a few ways to stand out. After all, who wants towaitorworryabout something going wrong with the repair?
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Auto City Introduces Day One Credit for Bankruptcy Car Loans
Auto City has been helping people in the greater San Diego area fall in love with a different kind of car shopping experience for more than a decade. We saw every piece of the car shopping process that was broken and fixed every one of them. From haggle-free up-front pricing to a great selection of newer used vehicles to our 3-day money-back guarantee, Auto City has your best interests in mind. Then we decided we wanted to buy more of our cars directly from you, so we launchedDriveoas a better way to sell your car for more money than you'd ever get on a trade-in deal. Now we're launching another program to better serve our customers:Day One Credit, which specializes in bankruptcy car loans.
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Understanding Used Car Warranties
When you're shopping for your next vehicle, do you plan on examining the warranty that comes with it? If you're like most people, it's not something you've ever really given much thought. But if something goes wrong with your car soon after you purchase, you're going to suddenly want to know all the details about its warranty - if there even is one. And if you do have one, you could be in for a rude awakening about what's covered and what's not. This is one part of the used car shopping process you want to understand better for you buy, and this article will cover many of the basics you should know.
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Shop Auto Repair Quality, Not Price!
If we made the statement, "Auto repair is expensive," this would come as a shock to exactly no one. With our budgets stretched every which way, setting aside funds for auto repair and regular maintenance can be difficult. In fact, a recent study revealed that at least a third of American driversdo nothave sufficient funds on hand for an unexpected car repair. It's a good idea to set aside at least $50 per month for such unexpected problems. Otherwise, you might end up with one of severaladditionalproblems:
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Basic DIY Auto Repair Every Guy and Girl Should Know and Practice
Cars have indeed gottenmore complicatedover the years, and for the better. All this advancement has led to better fuel economy, more power, and higher reliability. At the same time, it's made it harder for the average DIY to maintain, diagnose, and repair their own cars. Still, an engine is an engine, and a tire is a tire, so many basic DIY auto repair and maintenance steps haven't changed all that much. Here are a fewbasic DIY auto repair stepsthat every car owner can take and should take. You don't have to be a master mechanic, just a driver who wants the best for their car and their family.
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More Affordable Car Insurance
In our previous article,How to Buy Car Insurance, we mainly advised that you pay attention to the amounts of different kinds of coverage included to make sure you have enough insurance but not more than you need, and then emphasized the importance of shopping around to get the best deal possible in a very competitive market. Think of all those commercials you see from different car insurance companies all saying they can save you money - it's worth checking them out and comparing them to each other. But there are other ways to get more affordable car insurance. The ones we'll cover in this article include the kind of car you're insuring and whether or not you should participate in one of those driving habit tracking programs some companies offer.
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Top 8 Reasons to Choose a Diesel Car in 2019
Most people don't realize just how popular diesel cars are in other parts of the world. In Europe, fully 50% of all new cars sold each year run on diesel. Meanwhile, here in the United States that figure is a tiny 3%. There are lots of reasons why diesel has yet to catch on in the USA, but a shift is beginning to take place. Yes, those Europeans are onto something! In this article you'll discover 8 reasons why you should choose diesel if you're going to buy a car in 2019.
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Why Used Car Reconditioning is The Single Most Important Thing when it Comes to Car Shopping!
When shopping for a used car, everyone wants to find one for a good price that's in great shape. One challenge is how difficult it is to compare different used cars, because each one is unique and different depending on how their previous owners drove them and cared for them. When you're looking at various used cars at a dealership, the most important thing of all is the reconditioning that went into preparing them for sale as it will ultimately determine the condition of that used car, its overall cost of ownership and how good or bad it is posed to serve its new owner. For this reasona lower priced used car does not always equal a better deal. A properly reconditioned used car may be more expensive initially but ii will surely save a lot more in the long run.
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