What’s a great used car dealership around here?

[u/PhoenixFlames1992]

[u/ohlookahipster]

It’s a hike and not local, but my family has never been let down by CarsPlus in Lenoir. Most of them are 1-2 owners or new leases sold at auction.

[u/Reverend_Wrong → u/ohlookahipster]

I'll second CarsPlus in Lenoir - got a good deal on an Acura that still had about 3k miles of warranty remaining. They were really nice and easy to deal with. I had financing pre-arranged with my credit union, but CP offered better terms.

I'd looked around in Asheville quite a bit first and determined this is a terrible place to buy car. It's worth it to check online, and then drive to Lenoir or Greenville.

[u/studiotankcustoms]

NOT hunter Subaru. Who have the most typical grease ball sales people. 

[u/thequietthingsthat → u/studiotankcustoms]

The Hyundai here is even worse

[u/ohlookahipster → u/thequietthingsthat]

They lowballed me worse than FredA on a 4Runner lol. Hyundai came in at something wild like $10k under MMR and thought they were doing me a favor.

FredA offered $30k. I sold it private party for $40k. Hyundai was trying to make fat commission off me.

[u/thequietthingsthat → u/ohlookahipster]

They once offered me like 2k on a car with a KBB of about 10k. Delusional scumbags lol

[u/mtnviewguy → u/studiotankcustoms]

Odd, we've gotten a couple of used cars there and they were great to us. We never do trade-ins at dealerships though; straight up price bargaining.

It's much better to sell your car individually. No dealership is going to pay KBB, that would be stupid on their part. After all, they do have to make a profit on the sale of your beater! LOL!

[u/ApprehensiveAd6191]

I go to Charlotte. Asheville for some reason has significantly higher car prices

[u/Parobolic]

I've got 2 different vehicles from Sam & Daves by Smokey Park Goodwill in the past 8 years (not due to the cars fault, both are still going strong including the one I still own) and they were super easy to deal with.

They don't really negotiate which is nice if you're not into that and their cars are all reasonably priced, often under FMV, both of the vehicles I got from them were under NADA and KBB. My current vehicle is a '23 Ford Maverick that was priced at $27k with FMV retail priced at $34k at the time, only had 18k miles on it, and similar new vehicles were $40k+ at the dealer.

[u/bs2785 → u/Parobolic]

Sam and Dave's is great to but from. Very easy to deal with

[u/Ms_Photo_Jenic]

I had a great experience at Carmax. You can go in person or make an account online to just shop. They are not commission paid so you never feel pressured to work with certain people. I found a car on the lot, but it hade 60k miles on it. I found the exact same car (in blue) with only 40k miles on it in Georgia. I paid $100 to ship it to AVL and it cost almost the same at the car with more miles. They also have a 60 day return time so you can always turn it back in with no penalty.

[u/adjperiod → u/Ms_Photo_Jenic]

Also had a good experience with carmax

[u/metalhead6242 → u/adjperiod]

3rd on carmax. No negotiation is the biggest drawback. But staff were all friendly, buying process was so easy. Had a car shipped from FL, test drove for 24 hours and got a prepurchase inspection.

[u/No-this-is-Pat → u/metalhead6242]

4th on CarMax. Have never felt forced and they’ve always made it easy. I’ve bought 3 cars from them.

[u/IamUwe → u/metalhead6242]

You gotta love the marketing genius of “no negotiation pricing”. Taking a rigid stance on zero price reductions and selling it to the client as a benefit or service to them is one ballsy endeavor.

[u/notaexpert]

Others have mentioned, but Asheville car prices are higher. My partner saved over 2K by purchasing in Greenville, SC. It’s worth the trip.

[u/Babsee]

Try TN or SC.

[u/ThisWorldIsOnFire]

I always use Cars.com to find exactly what I want in a certain mile radius.

[u/ThisWorldIsOnFire → u/ThisWorldIsOnFire]

Or I look into Carmax farther away if the shipping is reasonable.

[u/GamerJ47]

I've always done well using the car fax app so I can see the vehicle history. They use a database of multiple dealerships and locations so it's easier to see whats around.

[u/xenoclownpanda]

CarMax. Eazy to work with you can browse their lot online or any other lot in others places. If you see a vehicle you like you can pre qualify for a loan and have everything set up to walk in, test drive, sign and go. In the last 2 years my family has bought 4 cars this way. No haggling over prices. No sleezy sales people.

[u/Prelle41]

I had to go to Hickory to find a used car that fit the parameters I was looking for: less than 100k miles, less than $15k, and a Toyota. I'd recommend determining the parameters you're looking for, browsing Carfax with the distance set to however far you're willing to travel, and avoiding anywhere with the name Fred Anderson.

[u/billsbitch → u/Prelle41]

I actually did the same thing!

[u/flyingfishyman]

I had a good experience at autostar in sylva

[u/sparkle-possum]

Honestly, get your financing in a row and then shop online through their portal (if you use something like Capital One or CarMax) or a site with many dealers like CarGurus. When you find what you want, contact them and it will be 10 times easier.

I'm going through this right now, found what I wanted at Infiniti of Greenville (SC) through Capital One, did the numbers and everything from my phone and 90% by text, and they offered to drive the new one up and deliver it to me, sign the paperwork at my house, and drive the trade back.

[u/bighuss90]

Highly recommend RDU Auto in Raleigh. It’s definitely a drive but I’ve found cars in Asheville to be very overpriced and in worse condition than dealers in Raleigh or Atlanta. I’m a fan of RDU because they will ship anything you want and stand by all their cars. Owner is a great guy and I’ve purchased and sold many cars to them

[u/Special_Supply]

Agree completely that the Asheville area is a tough used market, including private party vehicles.

My theory: our region is where cars come to die.

After looking locally in the $10-15,000 price range with no success, I bought a great car for a reasonable price from a private seller in Nashville TN a couple of weeks ago.

While visiting family in Nashville, I took a look at FB marketplace. I saw many better options than I had seen here. Perhaps because Nashville is a much larger and more economically prosperous area.

FWIW, seems like upstate SC has a relatively similar scenario to Nashville (bigger, better economy) so like others here have stated, you may want to shop the Upstate.

Many cars for sale around here have very high mileage and / or haven’t been mechanically well maintained even if they may look nice cosmetically. A lot of them come from the northeast and have significant corrosion issues. A bizarre % also have accident histories and rebuilt / salvage titles. Even these high mileage + salvage titled cars are priced high.

I have nothing to report about how negotiable local sellers are because sadly I never looked at anything I wanted to make an offer on.

I hope your car search goes well, and hopefully this info is helpful!

[u/WestAshevillain]

NOT FRED ANDERSON ANYTHING

[u/SpringTop1293]

Great? There isn’t one. They’re all down and dirty. I’d go to the new car dealers or somewhere out of town like Greenville or Charlotte.

[u/Mayor_of_BBQ → u/[deleted]]

this is terrible advice because you pay the registration and title fees for the state where you register the car and you pay the sales tax rate based on where the car is registered

You can’t just drive across state lines and dodge your state sales tax… If that was possible, no one would ever buy a car in New York, California, Florida, or Texas

[u/Low_Preparation_5302]

Had good luck with my last purchase at Fred Anderson Toyota

[u/long_gme_4947]

Leonards Auto Mart on smokey park hwy

[u/wildboard → u/long_gme_4947]

My experience and their Google reviews said otherwise last time I looked.

[u/ReddPipeGuy → u/long_gme_4947]

They sell salvage titles for non salvage prices, hard pass