How far would you travel...

[disneychrista]

to buy a car? Not a classic car or specialty but one that you would likely be able to get at your local dealer (but may have to wait)?

 

[low-key]

it depends, why would I be traveling far and waiting

 

[disneychrista]

it depends, why would I be traveling far and waiting

You travel and get it now. Or stay home and wait say 3 months. Either way you get the same exactly vehicle.

 

[JimMIA]

I drove 85 miles a few years ago, to save a good bit of money on a new car.

Last purchase was from a dealer 55 miles away, but they brought the car to me and picked up my lease return. The salesperson was actually so good that I'm working with her on a new lease.

 

[disneychrista]

Last purchase was from a dealer 55 miles away

My current car was from a dealer just over an hour away. I wasn't there to BUY the car but had decided to look at cars while I was there and at my daughters' urging ending up buy one.

 

[_19disnA]

Not sure why you would need to do that if buying a new vehicle. Inventories are viewable online and you local dealer will make arrangements to have the car shipped to them if another dealer has the exact vehicle sitting on their lot that it is what you are looking for.

 

[J'aime Paris]

My DH works in the auto industry, so the question doesn't directly apply for my situation.

But I'm all about instant gratification in most circumstances

 

[low-key]

You travel and get it now. Or stay home and wait say 3 months. Either way you get the same exactly vehicle.

Ill get another car

 

[ronandannette]

The time thing would influence me; I've never been in desperate need of a new car. We did travel to a city 3 hours away once to buy from a guy DH knew because he really wanted to give him the business. This was 15 years ago before cars could be purchased on-line and I wouldn't agree to making the deal over the phone without actually seeing what we were getting.

 

[Kittyblue]

I once purchased a car through the Costco program. The nearest participating dealer for the one I wanted was a couple hours away. So I guess that's about how far I'll go.

 

[disneychrista]

Not sure why you would need to do that if buying a new vehicle. Inventories are viewable online and you local dealer will make arrangements to have the car shipped to them if another dealer has the exact vehicle sitting on their lot that it is what you are looking for.

Don't know. But I know someone who flew from California to Nebraska to buy a Toyota Tacoma. No clue what made this particular truck so special, and I wasn't going to ask.

Ill get another car

That is my thought too. Or if I wanted that exact car - color, accessories, etc I'd wait. I certainly wouldn't fly half way across the country to get one.

But I'm all about instant gratification in most circumstances

That is the most likely reason.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

to buy a car? Not a classic car or specialty but one that you would likely be able to get at your local dealer (but may have to wait)?

To buy our car we went about 20 miles. But not because they had what we wanted, we wound up just "stopping by" when in the area and they had what we wanted.

And for our truck we went 40 miles. Our local dealer didn't have the model with the options we wanted.

Not far in this area.

Now, my sister & her husband went to Colorado (from California) to buy their last car.

 

[crazylady]

An hour is the farthest I would go.

My BIL once flew to Washington State from MI to get a car and drive it home. It was free though! And he enjoyed the cross country experience with my nephew.

 

[lovin'fl]

We drove almost an hour to a Carmax when there was a closer Carmax. But it had the exact right make/model with the right low miles and the right age and had all the right features I wanted. We would probably drive up to 3 hours. Especially nowadays when we've been stuck in our house for 7 months.

 

[Skippy918]

It depends. Do you need the car right away, or can you wait? When I bought my car, they didn’t have what I wanted in stock so they found one at the factory which I paid a deposit for. I got it 2-3 months later. I still had my old car I could use until the new one came in.

 

[barkley]

I once purchased a car through the Costco program. The nearest participating dealer for the one I wanted was a couple hours away. So I guess that's about how far I'll go.

we bought our last car through the costco program but while we had a local participating dealership they didn't have the car we wanted in stock. no problem-they got it from another dealership 2 states away (funny coincidence-the dealership they got it from was the one that had been local to us when we lived in that other state).


people must be willing to travel quite a distance for a good deal though-there's a car dealership in kellogg idaho that people fly into spokane to buy from constantly. the dealership has a free shuttle from the airport to take arriving purchasers to the dealership (about an hour or so away). it's rare to not see shuttles traveling back and forth daily.

 

[sam_gordon]

There's not enough information in the question...

1) How "desperate" am I for a car?
2) Is there a price difference (savings to go further) or finance difference?

We've gone two hours away to find a minivan we were looking for. We don't buy new, and the minivan had all the features we wanted and was $2k lower than anything closer. There's no guarantee we'd find something similar closer.

 

[Turn the Page]

Oh about an hour and a half I suppose. And that is really only because we live in a very rural area and the closest town of any size is an hour and an half from here. We do have a few dealerships in town, the big 3 and Audi. There is a Subaru dealer about 20 minutes from here but it it's pretty small and the dealer in the larger town tends to have better prices and options.

 

[NannyBeBe]

If the dealer wants to sell me the car, then they will have to deliver it to me at their cost.

 

[ronandannette]

If the dealer wants to sell me the car, then they will have to deliver it to me at their cost.

Yeah, when we bought from DH's out-of-town buddy the deal included delivery to us. Rather than transport it, they decided to have one of their lot guys drive it down (we agreed in advance to the added mileage). Problem was, on the way he took a huge rock to the windshield - a very common hazard on our highways. We waited 3 extra days while a local dealership switched it out.