Have you been curious as to the typical process when purchasing a vehicle with us? Paul Claborn, the owner of Wholesalecars.com, wanted to answer some of the questions most used car dealers get asked.
Interviewer: When someone is looking to buy a used car, what are some things they need to consider? What is most important?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: The most important thing to consider when buying a used car is number one, the mileage; number two, the vehicle history report. How many owners has it had? How many times has it been serviced, and are there service records? Does the vehicle have a warranty? Those are the most important items. At WholeSaleCars.com we pretty well cover all those. Sometimes customers want a car that’s red and has 100,000 miles, and skip over another one that has half the miles because they liked the red car better. People need to consider that instant gratification isn’t a good thing when they want a reliable car that will last a long time.
Interviewer: How does a potential customer get that background information on a vehicle?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: We offer Carfax to disclose all information about the vehicle someone is interested in. Our salespeople will even read it to the potential buyer over the phone in case there is something in it they don’t like. I tell my salespeople not to waste anyone’s time and read it to them if they’re coming in from 20 minutes or more away. All of our cars have lower miles and a warranty. And once a year we have a customer appreciation event where one customer is randomly chosen to get their vehicle paid off up to $10,000. It’s a no-brainer to me – why wouldn’t anybody choose to get their vehicle from us? (laughs)
Interviewer: A lot of people think the car buying process is too long and something they have to do when they’ve set aside an entire day for it. Is there a way to shorten the process?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: A lot of times it's self-inflicted by the customers. It's how long they take to make a selection, and they don’t always bring all the information we need. But we're trying to streamline the process and get most of it done online now. We require 10 references, which the customer has to fill out their names, phone numbers and their addresses. At other places they need to secure insurance typically, but we already offer Collateral Protection Insurance so securing that is not a problem.
Interviewer: So WholeSaleCars offers online applications too? Can they get started and make it faster that way?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: Yes. And we offer off site deliveries to where they never have to come to the dealership. Customers fill out an online application, a short five-liner. Once that five-liner makes it through and they’re approved, we show them three to five cars that they’re approved for. And we do an express checkout, which is more than a five-line credit application. Now they really got to get in depth and give us their job time, their job references and employment records. We pull their credit and then determine how much money down they will need. They never have to come to the store, and we deliver to them.
Interviewer: What if they don’t like the car that they've chosen after they drive it? Can they try another one?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: Yes. They can bring it in or contact us and say, “I don't really like this car. It's not what I thought it was.” We'll pick it up with no problems, give them their money back, or they can swap it out for another car.
Interviewer: What's the process to get somebody in a vehicle?
Paul, Wholesalecars.com: Typically customers come by way of the internet, or they contact us by phone, or one of my sales team members contacts them by phone and tries to set an appointment to get them to come in. The time process for coming in is typically two to three hours if they have everything we need. But if they do it online, they can be in and out in five minutes.
