Hi again!
Buying from the owner doesn't mean you'll get a better
price/deal...unless, of course, you personally know and trust the
owner. Owners will also check for what their cars are selling for
in the market before deciding on a price. There is also the trouble
of all the admin work (which is actually not that tough). Owners
always sell "as is". Car dealers sometimes sell "with limited
warranty". If you've noticed, not many owners sell directly
anyway.
Whether the used car dealers will allow for 3rd party inspection
varies from case to case, depending on the character of the
salespeople and condition of the car, no doubt.
If they do allow 3rd party inspections, they would probably ask for
a pre-agreement that if everything is OK, you have to buy the car.
They basically check for emissions, illegal modifications, any
signs of previous accidents, etc.
If I'm not mistaken, AA inspections are almost S$200 and takes a
few hours (maybe worth it). However, there are some crucial parts
of cars which cannot be inspected to great detail (eg. gearbox and
engine block).
Take heed of my previous post where I mentioned to read the fine
print carefully. There was a reported case where the buyer has been
told to give a monetary deposit in order to bring the car out for
inspection. Documents were signed, deposit was given, car was
brought for inspection. After the inspection, he decided not to buy
the car, but the used car dealer refused to return his
deposit.
Upon careful inspection of the signed documents, the buyer
discovered that he did agree to that (he didn't read the fine
print). Buyer lost the case.
One very important thing you have to remember is that in the
Singapore car industry, whether its brand new or used, whether is a
private company or government......once you've paid any deposit,
you probably won't get your money back in cash anymore. This is
true even if the deal is called off, not by any fault of
yours!
I remember that there was once when I was looking at used cars. I
wanted to test drive it, but the sales guy told me to agree on a
price first which I considered fair value....and if the test drive
was fine, I will agree to buy it. My reply was direct - that I will
not value a car which I've not test-driven, that a test-drive is no
guarantee that I will buy. But if I didn't test-drive it, I know
for sure I will never buy it. I was sincere about it and not just
looking for a joyride - and I understood some of the used-car
salesman's difficulties too, but I simply will not submit to
high-pressured sales tactics (I'm in sales myself, by the way).
Fortunately, it was a cordial (superficially) discussion.
To protect myself, I further insisted that all conditions should be
written down on the invoice/receipt - in-house warranty, max.
duration to completion of handing/taking over, etc etc.
In the end, I test-drove the vehicle, liked it and bought it. Happy
ending.
Here are some articles which may interest you:
1. http://motoring.asiaone.com.sg/articles/O_20050310_002.html
2. http://motoring.asiaone.com.sg/articles/O_20050812_001.html
(Reading these, one may have the impression that car buyers are not
a that well-protected bunch).
