When you thinking of buying a Nissan, you can choose to make your purchase from a professional dealer or from a private seller. Buying from a private seller has its advantages—like lower prices and the ability to buy a car without dealing with the stress of pushy car salesmen.
However, buying a car from a dealer is usually a better option in the long run. Here are five reasons why you should buy from a dealer if you want a smooth buying process and a high-quality, reliable car that will keep you happy for years to come.
1. More Choices
If you choose to buy a car from a private seller, your options are pretty limited. Most private sellers only have at most a few cars to sell at a time. You might spend weeks or months searching for a reputable private seller that is offering the model you want. When you buy a car from a dealer, you can visit the dealership and browse through a much wider variety of vehicles to find the model that works best for you.
Plus, there are more reputable dealers than there are reputable private sellers. It’s also easier to determine the reputation of a dealer than it is to judge the trustworthiness of a private seller. If you take a chance on a private seller, you run the risk of making a transaction with an untrustworthy seller and not realizing your mistake until it’s too late.
2. Financing Options
Most private sellers only accept the full price of a car on the day that you buy it. Even if a private seller is willing to work with you to set up some sort of payment plan, the agreement you make will be flimsy and can put you in danger of encountering more problems down the line—like exorbitant interest fees and even full-blown scams.
If you don’t have the money to pay the full price for a car up front, a dealer is likely a better option for your budget. Most car dealers offer multiple financing options to help you pay for the car you buy over time rather than trying to scrounge up all the money right away.
3. Post-Sale Service
Private car sellers have no obligation to provide any service to you once you purchase a car from them, and the vast majority of private sellers won’t want to hear about any problems you have with your vehicle after you take it off their hands. This can leave you in a lurch if you run into problems with your new car.
Dealerships, on the other hand, offer a variety of post-sale services to make sure you’re happy with your car after you take it home. Most car dealers are happy to communicate with you and do what they can to make you as happy as possible with your vehicle purchase; their reputation depends on your satisfaction. Many dealers even offer warranties that include free or discounted repairs or replacement parts for your car for a certain period of time after you buy it. These warranties protect you and prevent you from having to shell out more money if your car starts malfunctioning or needs a new part soon after you buy it.
4. Less Paperwork
When you buy a car from a private seller, you and the seller are solely responsible for all the paperwork that comes with transferring the title and registration of the vehicle over to you. This mountain of paperwork can be a major waste of time and a frustrating inconvenience.
Filling out all the paperwork for your vehicle purchase by yourself or with a private seller also leaves much more room for error than completing paperwork with the help of a dealer; professional car dealers have helped countless buyers before you successfully fill out the same exact papers. In fact, most dealers do all the confusing parts of the paperwork for you and just mark a few places for you to sign on a dotted line. Always make sure you read the papers you’re signing carefully, even if you’re buying from a professional dealer.
5. Legal Protection
In terms of legal protection, buying a car from a dealer is unbeatable. No matter how carefully you plan a private transaction, you won’t get as much legal protection from it as you would from an official sale at a dealership.
Buying a car—whether new or used—is a huge purchase and it is crucial to protect yourself against scams and deceit. It is much easier and more likely for a private seller to lie to you about the history of a car or con you into buying an undisclosed salvaged car. Dealerships have to worry about their reputation as a company, and they won’t be able to stay in business for long if they offer low-quality service or are misleading about the cars they sell.
You’ll have better luck trusting the official paperwork and certifications of a reputable dealer than trusting the word of a private seller you found on Craigslist. As stated earlier, many dealers even offer warranties for the new and used cars to offer you legal protection for months after you drive your car off the dealership lot.
