Should You Buy a Used Car From a Dealership or From an Individual?

If you had unlimited funds, you could walk into a car dealership, pay the sticker price for a new car, and own it outright. That option is beyond most people’s means. Your choices are either to finance a used car or else to buy the clunkiest of clunkers from a friend of a friend, or even from a stranger on Facebook Marketplace, and to hope for the best. Your best hope is to buy a car with the lowest mileage you can afford, and to finance it with an affordable loan, but in your situation, “beggars can’t be choosers” likely applies both to the condition of the car you find and to the terms of the loan. Buying a used car from a dealership seems like the safer option at first glance, but so many people have stories about getting ripped off when buying used cars from ostensibly reputable dealerships that the stereotype about used car salesmen being fraudsters persists even today. If you got defrauded when buying a used car, whether you bought it from a dealership or an individual seller, contact a Philadelphia used car fraud lawyer.

Buying From a Dealership Means More Pressure to Spend Money but More Clearly Defined Rights

Used cars at dealerships tend to be in better condition than those for sale by individual sellers, but the reduced risk regarding the car’s condition does not always protect you from unnecessary expenses. Car dealers can add numerous junk fees to the purchase price. Likewise, salespeople at dealerships have a financial incentive to get you to buy the most expensive car they can sell you, and they might do it by being pushy or sneaky. Your best defense against this problem is to know exactly which car you want to buy before you set foot in the dealership.

The good news is that, when you buy from a dealership, you sign a legally binding agreement that outlines the procedures for returning the car. The agreement also includes dispute resolution clauses, so you are on solid ground legally.

Buying From an Individual Means Less Red Tape but Potentially More Risk

Buying used cars from individual sellers seems, at first, like the cheaper but riskier option. Sellers are eager to sell, so they will accept a lower price. The problem is that, unlike with licensed dealerships, an individual seller can ghost you after finalizing the sale, and you can be stuck with a lemon and no legal remedies.

What you might not know is that, when you buy a used car from an individual, you are not limited to buying what you can afford with the money in your pocket. You can take out a personal loan from a bank or a peer-to-peer lender to finance the purchase.