Five Reasons Why Knowledgeable People Buy Used Cars from Prestige Imports
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1. They Prefer Imports
Depending on the brand, imports are known for advanced safety features, higher fuel economy, better long-term reliability, and higher resale values. In sum, they offer better value for your money.
For many of our customers, however, their preference for imports is based on the actual driving experience. They prefer supportive seats and sporty handling, instead of the soft seats, vague steering, and mushy handling that have traditionally characterized most domestic vehicles.
2. They Buy Pre-Owned Vehicles
Even though most of our customers can afford to buy new cars, they choose a wiser course. Except for homes, vehicles are often our second biggest purchase. Yet unlike homes, which almost always go up in value, cars and trucks depreciate like a rock in the first 2-3 years. Smart buyers avoid that financial hit. They buy a late-model used vehicle from Prestige Imports, save money on the purchase, and also save money on their auto insurance.
Autos are so mature today that year-to-year changes are usually limited to small styling touches and minor improvements in selected features. In many cases changes are more about reducing the manufacturer’s cost than real improvements. So you’re not giving up much when you don’t buy new.
Yet it’s the new car buyer who feels the pain whenever changes prove to be poorly designed or manufactured with defects. By waiting a couple years until the bugs are identified and someone else has corrected the problems, you can actually drive away with a more reliable vehicle.
Prestige Imports subscribes to the service bulletins and gains an insider’s perspective from our service business. We see which years and models are prone to various troubles. And that experience lets us offer you better vehicles from the field of late-model imports.
3. They're Picky, Like Us
Getting a bad used car can be nightmare that wastes your money, your time, and puts your family at risk. But you don’t have the access or the experience to consistently find the best cars and avoid the lemons.
Like all dealers, we buy vehicles at wholesale auto auctions. New car dealers and the high volume used car lots need to buy 50-100 cars/month. With big quotas to fill they have to accept less desirable vehicles.
Prestige Imports is a low volume dealer, only buying about 15 cars/month. We can spend more time with each vehicle and be much more choosey. We insist on good vehicles with good backgrounds. We don’t deal in cars with odometer rollbacks or those salvaged from accidents, floods, or vandals. We occasionally return from an auction with zero cars, because nothing met our standards. Yet all the cars we reject end up on someone’s lot for sale to unsuspecting consumers.
Prior to bidding, we carefully research each vehicle’s background through CARFAX Vehicle History Reports and other resources. We inspect it carefully for frame damage or paint work that is a sign of collision repairs. Plus, our long service experience helps us screen out abused vehicles through simple tests such as the condition of oil on a dipstick.
Only three, highly experienced people buy for us. And we insist that each vehicle passes our “Family Test.”If we wouldn’t feel comfortable letting a son or daughter depend on that car, we won’t buy it. Vehicles that pass our rigid screening criteria are Certified and come with a 12-month or 12,000 mile powertrain warranty.
4. They Value Careful Preparation
Most used car dealers just clean the vehicles, change the oil, and put them on the lot. When Prestige buys a vehicle, we run it through a 70-point inspection back at our shop. We make sure everything is in good working order. We recheck the frame, change the oil, pull the wheels, check the suspension and complete our entire checklist. If the brake pads are more than 50% worn, we replace them. If the rotors or tires are bad, we replace them.
If we uncover a problem that’s not worth fixing, we won’t put the car on our lot. We return to the auction and let it go to a dealer with lower standards. More than 90% of dealers will NEVER return a car they just bought. They simply sell the car and let the customer (or their warranty company) absorb the costs when problems surface later.
If you shop for a vehicle at Prestige Imports, you’ll find us helpful and pressure-free. We’ll answer all your questions. And if a vehicle is not in excellent condition throughout, we will fully disclose any problems we’ve identified.
Customers say they have a good feeling about buying from us. The words “honest” and “trustworthy” come up repeatedly in discussions and in the Comments section of this web site.
In the rare case when a problem gets by our inspection, we do our best to correct it. Many customers have bought vehicles from us repeatedly over decades. So we take the long term view and do everything we can, within reason, to maintain the goodwill of each customer.
Check our Online Inventory to see some of the cars we have right now.
Want a Vehicle We Don’t Have?
Most customers find what they’re looking for among the vehicles in our showroom or on our lot. But if you don’t see what you want, try our Vehicle Search Program.You tell us exactly what you’re looking for and we’ll try to find it for you.
We’ll let you know when it comes in, let you test drive it, and give you the first chance to buy it.If you choose not to buy it, we’ll just make it available to others.
If you’re looking for a high value or limited demand vehicle, we may require a written agreement and a small deposit. If we don’t find the specified vehicle after 30-45 days, you can renew the agreement or get a refund.
To make it easier for you to try our Vehicle Search Program, we’ve added a Request Form to this site.
Want a Lower Priced Vehicle?
Although we don’t shop for older, high mileage vehicles, we often get them as trade-ins. We take most of these to auctions for other dealers to buy. Yet certain import brands are legendary for reliability.
As a result, the best of these vehicles have a lot of useful life remaining and can provide safe reliable transportation.
If you’re looking for a car that’s less costly to buy and insure, perhaps for a teenager or young adult in the family, just ask us.
We’ll tell you what we currently have. If you’re interested, we’ll check over the vehicle and set a fair price, depending on what we all agree should be fixed before you take it.
Prestige Imports • 2919 29th St. • Grand Rapids, MI • 616-957-4661
