1. Define Your Budget
Having a clearly-defined budget for your purchase is the all-important first step to picking a used car you can afford. Create an upper and lower range of your budget for your purchase. This will allow you to list the pros, cons, and tradeoffs for higher versus lower-priced used vehicles.
Make sure you account for maintenance and fuel costs. You’ll need this amount defined beforehand to choose a used car with gas mileage that meets your budget and affordable repair and maintenance costs.
2. Large Selection
It’s easy to get excited when deciding to buy a used car. Unfortunately, get too excited, and you’ll choose a vehicle that exceeds your budget. It’s not uncommon for people to work backward by using the added features of a used car to justify the car’s price and exceed their budget.
The best way to avoid this situation is to list must-haves and likes. Your must-haves will be those features you cannot do without. Your list of likes will include features you can take only if they don’t force you to exceed your budget.
3. Buyer Beware
Nothing is more frustrating than buying a used car from someone only to find out your purchase is nothing like you expected. Unfortunately, this happens more often than people think regarding used cars. However, this is not a going concern at Marthaler Chevrolet of Glenwood.
Our complete line of Chevrolet Certified Pre-Owned vehicles has gone through an exhausting and full 172-point vehicle inspection. We back this up with two warranties. The first is a 12-month, 12,000-mile extended bumper-to-bumper warranty; the other is a 6-year/100,000 miles extended powertrain limited warranty.
4. Clear History and Service Record Report
Far too often, people buy used cars without a thorough and complete review of the vehicle’s service record and history. If the used car was in a serious crash, its structural integrity might be compromised if the repair work was shoddy or less than professional.
We understand this concern well and provide all buyers with a Free CARFAX® Vehicle History Report and Experian AutoCheck Report. These tools provide an overall score for the car by providing information on its history, performance, whether it’s been in an accident, mileage, and service record. You’ll also have plenty of information to plan future servicing.
5. Pricing
Haggling back and forth on price often backfires. Either you pay too much for the car or lose the vehicle to another buyer. We provide you with our best price upfront, so you’re never concerned about whether you’ve paid too much for your purchase.
We back up our price with real-time market pricing through TradePending, an independent pricing model that compares our price to the price of thousands of other cars nationally.
6. Flexible Payments Options
One of the drawbacks of buying a used car from someone is having to pay cash upfront. This often makes the entire transaction a risky proposition. Ideally, you want to have multiple flexible payment options. The finance team at Marthaler Chevrolet of Glenwood scours various banks to get you the lowest possible finance options.