Car buying service? this must have the dealers worried....

[adam_passo]

I've recently been searching online for used cars and came across this site http://www.carsbydesign.com.au. They offer a service called Auction Assist, it enables a member of the public to purchase a vehicle at the same price a dealer would pay for it...

Has anyone heard of services like this? and why isn't everyone using it, if you can get a car so cheap?

[curtis73]

These are sort of just coming up in popularity in America. They are basically an auto broker, wholesale style. You used to have dealers that got what they could and sold them as high as they could, and brokers who could locate a 69 corvette at a premium price. The ones I've seen just found your car, bid on it wholesale and tack on a flat fee. You get the near wholesale price, they get their profit, and everybody's happy. I think they work off of volume.

The ones I've seen looked a little shady, but probably legit. Since its an auction and you are not provided with any history or information it kinda seems scary to me.

[The_Penguin]

I used a buying service in '95 to factory order a Jeep. I got it for $3000.00 less than the best deal I could get at 2 different dealers.
They got it thru a dealer in another city (obviously a buying service can't directly factory order)
I suspect they have a working releationship with some of the dealers.

[illusion123a]

where can i find one of these in the us? I live in Pa