Originally Posted By: Stevie
New car dealers take trade ins. They keep the really good ones to sell on their lot. Many times they will give these cars a Certified Pre -Owned warranty that is sometimes longer then a new car warranty. The ones the dealer doesn't keep go to resale at auctions that companies like Carvana, and your little used car lots buy and recondition. Kind of like putting lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.
Also a new car dealer is very negotiable on their used cars because they paid wholesale on that trade directly, no middle men.
I like to really look over and under a used car and took an expert with me when I bought my last one. No way would I mail order a used car or a mail order bride.
Many dealers do not get enough clean trade ins to stock their used car lot adequately. They also go to auctions. Also, ex-rental cars end up at auctions which can be decent buys for dealers as well.
While I don't know for a fact-I would assume online car dealers have access to auctions as well.
I am assuming you know that many new car dealers do supplement their used car lot from auctions but just left that part out.
I recently traded in a 2012 Subaru Legacy with 57,000 miles on it. Before it was sold-(on the dealers used car lot) it needed a complete brake job at all 4 corners which included pads as well as turning the rotors. The dealer also installed 4 new tires. My point is that even private party (trade-in) vehicles with realistically low miles are not a "polish and sell" situation.