Tag Archives: online car buying

Buying a repossessed car

The Different Places to Buy Repossessed Cars

Are you in the market to buy a car but don’t have the cash on hand? A repossessed car can be a great fit! Repossessions are vehicles that have been taken from their owners by the bank. This happens when the owner doesn’t make the payments on their loan. The bank then sells the car to recoup some of their losses. Repo cars can be sold in a number of places. Let’s take a look at where you can find a repossessed car of your own!

Car Dealerships 

Car dealerships sometimes sell repossessed cars that they acquire from trade-ins or auctions. This is a fast and easy way to get a repo car and save some money. However, don’t expect to get as much of a deal. Since dealerships often tidy up and repair these vehicles, they raise the price. If you want a “true” repo, you’ll likely have to go to an auction. 

Banks and Lending Institutions

A better option is to buy your repo car directly from a bank or lender. Many will sell their repo inventory to the general public to recover their losses. However, this approach can be time consuming as you have to visit each bank’s website and see if they have any inventory on hand. To make things easier, RepoFinder offers a directory of websites that link to banks and credit unions. This is much easier than having to go to individual websites, and you can place a bid directly through the website. 

Online Auction Websites 

If you prefer to shop for repo vehicles online, you can also check out online auction websites. You can use the filters to find the vehicles that match your needs without having to leave the comfort of home! It’s important to read the terms and conditions for each site, as most charge fees and this can get expensive. RepoFinder Pro is just $4.95 a month and you can cancel anytime. You get unlimited searches, no ads and no sales fees or commissions. 

Government Agencies

When state agencies upgrade their vehicles, they’ll often sell off their old inventory at heavily discounted prices. As with other used cars, some of the vehicles are in great condition and others need a lot of maintenance. You can participate in the auctions online, in person or by mail-in bid. 

Salvage Yards

Visiting salvage yards or junkyards can be an option, though you may have to check back often. On occasion, salvage yards get repossessed vehicles and put them up for sale. It’s worth checking with local salvage yards in your area to see what they have available ! 

Now that you’ve learned more about where you can find repossessions, you can choose what fits your needs best. To learn more about RepoFinder, visit us today and start searching for your repo car! 

online car buying

Is the Online Car Buying Model Dead?

The end of 2022 wasn’t the best year for Carvana, an online used car retailer based in Arizona. Yahoo Finance called Carvana “Worst Company of the Year” after polling more than 5,000 readers. The online car-buying company also has concerns over its debt load, and had its stocks drop by 98 percent. 

So is Carvana going out of business? With numbers like this, it’s hard to know what the future holds. But one thing is likely to stay the same: online car buying. 

Online vs In-Person Car Buying 

Carvana and other online car buying platforms like Vroom and CarMax offer car shoppers a pretty great way to shop for vehicles. Instead of going to the dealership, negotiating with a salesperson and spending hours waiting for paperwork and financing to go through, car buyers can handle the entire transaction online. 

While some people still prefer the in-person shopping experience – being able to actually see and test drive a vehicle – there’s enough people who prefer to do their car shopping online. This will likely keep the online car buying model alive and well. That being said, this can be an expensive business model. 

Why Online Car Buying is Likely to Change

From a business standpoint, the online car buying business is expensive and labor intensive. It takes time and costs money to locate and buy used cars, recondition them, market them on the website and deliver them to the customer. There’s also paperwork to process – it’s all a big expense! And this is where Carvana has struggled. 

According to sources, Carvana has delivered vehicles to buyers in less-than-desirable shape, causing them to have to pay for repairs. These sources have agreed that Carvana has great customer service, but paying for repairs at dealerships is expensive. It has also been reported that Carvana pays top dollar for their vehicles – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. 

At the start of the pandemic, Carvana had the upper hand. They were able to meet customer demands, especially compared to dealerships that were struggling with parts shortages and COVID-related factory shutdowns. But things quickly changed as the paperwork piled up, cars weren’t getting registered and cars were being delivered in satisfactory condition. 

As a result, Carvana’s dealer license has been suspended in some states. 

What is the Future for Online Car Buying? 

Even though online car buying is a popular service, the business model may not be sustainable. CarMax is in better shape to survive because they have online and physical dealerships that allow customers to make transactions in person. They also have a one-price model so there’s no haggling. 

If you like online car shopping, consider RepoFinder.com. We provide online car buying for repossessed cars. We include detailed images of each vehicle, along with information such as the condition of the vehicle, its vin number and its features. Our business model is sustainable because we provide a list of the banks and credit unions in each state that are selling their repo inventory.

Enjoy the best of both worlds – the convenience of online car buying and used vehicles at great prices!