Difficulty in Buying a Used Car

Do you know what this image is?

No it’s not a second hand phone store, or a Nokia testing facility it’s the back room of a local car dealer in Israel and this is called the Yad2 desk.  It is from  banks of phones like this that many used cars are listed in the private section of the Yad2 catalog by commercial retailers .

Disclaimer – Yad 2 is a great tool and the folks there have put into place controls in an effort to supply the public with accurate and relevant information but there are ways to circumvent these controls.  One of the controls is the limitation of 2 listings per private customer.

Some, not all, dealers have found ways to post their cars in the private section of Yad2 to increase the possibility of an inquiry.  This is accomplished by maintaining numerous personas represented here by the phone bank.   Each phone shown represents 2 listings by a commercial dealer of used automobiles in the private section of the catalog; what does this mean for you?

First, it means that when calling off of the site’s information you are not sure who you are talking to.  Second, the information that is listed may not be 100% accurate, embellishment does occur.  How many of us have called about a vehicle listed on the site, upon further investigation, found that the km, ownership, condition, or history is not as described in the ads?   Or worse, that a listing does not represent a car that existed or one that was just sold 3 hours ago, but lucky us the advertiser has another one just like it for 4,000 NIS more that is in better shape?    This is why we affectionately call Yad2 the comics or funny papers.

So whether you are using Yad2 to locate a car or get your bearings on what a particular used car may cost, keep these things in mind.

Selling Your Car

This does not only affect you when buying a car it also has an impact when you are in the market to sell.  When you are advertising your car for sale you can find yourself in a position of competing with similar cars that have their stats enhanced.   Here are a few tips when you attempt to sell your car.

Don’t forget to post a sign in your car that it is for sale.  You may hate to have a sign on the window or feel cheesy, but you never know who will see it and call. Of course notify your friends and family that it is for sale they will talk it up for you. When posting on Yad2 be as precise as possible your potential buyer will be pleased it’s exactly as described.  

When setting a price don’t round the number off.   For instance if you’re asking 60,000 shekels for your car obviously 59,900 looks better but go one step further.   Advertise it for 59,927 shekels, the odd number will catch the eye of persons scanning the page.

Even though selling the vehicle privately has its challenges and is time consuming it is the preferred course of action as opposed to trading in. That is a topic for another day but suffice it to say trade-ins are considered as a service for which you will pay.

If you would like to talk to the car professionals at iAnglo here is a contact form or navigate to the top of the page for more page choices.