Auto sales are still big business in America. With the advent of the Internet, sales between dealerships, private sellers and buyers have never been easier or more possible over great distances. Imagine sitting in your home in Seattle and buying your dream car from a private seller in Montana or North Dakota, all without going out of the door. It sounds like a dream. In fact, what sounds like a dream often turns into a nightmare for countless Americans as they purchase their cars in good faith, only to find that they are buying a lead weight to dangle around their necks.
What’s the problem?
Online car sales are an amazing way for dealerships to grow sales, as well as for private sellers to open up their sale to a wider audience. The problem is how to know, as a buyer, that the car you’re looking at matches its glorious description and dazzling photograph. A seller can easily wash and detail a car until it looks like new in a photo, but that doesn’t tell you if the brake pads are worn, or the clutch faulty, or if the driver instrument cluster is working properly.
Founder of Nspectacar.com, Marvin Pope, recalls his first-ever client, who had purchased a car out of state from an online advertisement. Pope remembers “I went and looked at the car; it was falsely advertised. The tire was flat, the air conditioner didn’t work and it needed some serious repairs.” Marvin’s client is not an exception, it’s a common-enough sight.
What’s the solution? Pre-purchase Inspection
What buyers need to do is to have any car they intend to buy inspected by an impartial professional who will audit the car dispassionately and comprehensively, offering detail which the buyer may not be able to check for themselves.
Is an inspection really that important?
You might think that an inspection isn’t necessary in the age when quality seems to be assured by the fear of a bad customer review. This is not the case. Dealerships can deny responsibility, and private sellers don’t have to worry about reviews since they are one-off sales. The truth is that the seller may also have missed problems that only a professional would spot.
An inspection is crucial for a number of reasons:
- Pictures cannot reveal many problems
As nice and airbrushed as the photo may be, it cannot reveal anything more than the cosmetics of the car. It can’t reveal engine problems, transmission issues or tell you if anything is improperly aligned or making a weird noise when you start up the car.
- Creative advertising is misleading
The words in the car ad can be quite sneaky, to say the least. Remember that the key information in the ad is found in what they don’t tell you. For example, they tell you the car is a classic build — does that mean the engine is near death and will need replacing a month after you buy?
- Not inspecting will cost you, down the road
An inspection may just seem like an extra expense, but not spotting a critical flaw will cost you more greatly down the line, either in a huge mechanic’s bill, or an increase in your insurance premium.
- It helps keep the market in good order
When buyers have the habit of inspecting cars, it helps keep the market in good order. When sellers know that an inspection is coming, they will endeavor to be sure that any car they are selling is “inspection-ready.”
About Nspectacar.com
At Nspectacar, we are all about quality service and putting our expertise on cars to good use. We offer a comprehensive on-site vehicle inspection service that will check on the car you want to buy and make sure everything is above board and ship shape. You should expect nothing less from a seller, and we will ensure that are delivering it to you. We are an independent shop, not affiliated with any brand, thus we are not afraid to tell it like it is. No special favors; no flowery language — we only deal in the facts.
If you’re purchasing a car in the Seattle, WA area but haven’t yet had it inspected, contact us today and enlist our help!
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