[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Christien

I used to be a partner in a retail used car dealership, and as such did everything from cleaning floors to selling cars to buying inventory to marketing. I learned quickly that you can't sell cars by being completely honest. Not that you have to lie, but you have to conceal certain things and frame others a certain way. There are 2 reasons for this: 1. the other guy down the street is doing it, and the customer (for whatever reason) usually believes what they want to hear, regardless of reality, meaning that everything being equal between 2 cars, the customer will go with the one he's told is the better car, 90% of the time, and 2. the vast majority of used car buyers are unrealistic - they want a brand new car at used car prices.

I saw both as huge problems within the industry, but #1 propagates #2. I was lousy at sales, because I can't be dishonest with people. I learned that honesty doesn't go very far in used cars.

Not true, you make your money when you buy them. I periodically buy cars that need a little TLC, fix them up right, drive them for a bit, then sell them. I'll probably have $4k invested in my '88 911 before I'm happy with it and therefore ready to sell, and it will be a top notch car. I don't cut corners, I keep excellent records, I write detailed and honest advertisements, and I take a ton of high-res photos. I've sold multiple cars sight unseen, several to Pelicans, who always report that the car is nicer than expected. But I'm also not selling a Camry, therefore not competing with every sleazy used car dealer in town.