decent car dealers for long distance buyers

[jstert]

i need a second car in the next month but let’s put aside specific model choices for a moment. i want to look broaden my horizons, not only for the vw taos s fwd that i’m leaning to, but cannot find locally, but also to makes/models that i haven’t thought to consider in places not nearby. my own origin is immaterial as i am happy to travel.

brands aside, what dealerships for any brand specialize in/cater to/welcome long distance buyers?

i don’t need/want car shipped to me sight unseen, i.e. i will fly out one way to the dealer and drive my newly purchased car home after making the deal on paper ahead of time. prefer a dealer in a state that forgoes local taxes and lets me drive off on a temporary tag to settle up with my home state dmv. except for hawaii, alaska, guam, p.r. i’m open to location. i like road trips. i obviously need an honest dealer who won’t pull a last minute surprise.

please share your experiences, thanks.

 

[wpod]

I have trust issues. I test drive vehicles 30 or so miles on varied roads and power applications before I plunk down my hard earned money.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Co-worker has had successful dealings with Heuberger Subaru, Colorado Springs.

 

[mrsilv04]

Missouri dealers do not collect sales tax, and provide a 30 day MO temp tag.

They sign the existing title over to you, slap the temp tag on the vehicle, and send you on your way. You pay your taxes and fees when you get home.

(Just bought a truck from St. Louis Honda)

 

[Tdbo]

I'll tell you what we did when faced with a similar set of circumstances.
We started with cars.com and auto trader. When we found what we wanted, we would e-mail the dealership.
In my experience, this tells you what you are dealing with.
Some dealers were total a****, the majority were very accommodating.
We got a plethora of prices. The best sent us price breakdowns, with OTD pricing.
When we found the vehicle we wanted, we set up an appointment.
Went down, took a test drive, made a counteroffer (actually the lowest bid we had via e-mail) they met it, we bought it and drove home.
We actually didn't have to go far. We live in central Ohio, and bought in West Virginia.
Got the exact vehicle we wanted (down to the color) and saved over $4200. in the process.
Good experience, but be sure to vet them, and demand a price breakdown in writing.
It was a good experience, and I have bought many cars this way in state.
This was the first time that I ever went out of state to buy a car, and it was seamless.
Credit for that goes to the GM of the dealership, as well as an excellent salesperson and staff.
We bought from Moses Honda in Huntington, WV. They had VW, Nissan, Buick/GMC on site. They also have other dealerships with other makes throughout the state.

 

[MNgopher]

We bought a new 2021 Explorer from Heller Ford in El Paso, Illinois. Just over a 450 mile drive one way. This included a trade in.

We negotiated virtually the entire deal via text messaging. Their advertised price was the actual price of the unit. Add in a temporary Illinois tag (I believe it was a 21 day), and a minimal doc fee. Gave them pics and an honest assessment of the trade in unit, and they gave their price which was acceptable. Gave a deposit on a Wednesday. No Illinois Tax since I was registering in Minnesota.

Drive down on Saturday morning, and was met at the door by my salesperson who called me by name and asked how my drive down was - as if we had done business in person for years. No issues with the trade in. Best of all, the Explorer was fully detailed, ready to go. Go take a test drive to make sure, come on back and we'll be out the door in a 1/2 hour or less. True to their word. Can't tell you how many dealers I've told to have the car ready when I come back with money/wife for sigs, etc... and they have not detailed it yet for delivery leading to delays. So frustrating.

Little town of 2500-3000 people. Back in the day, they would have over 200 F150's at this dealer, and over 35 Explorers. Tremendous amount of business.

I' buy another car from them in a heartbeat.

(And yes, it may seem weird to go that far when you can order new. At the time, Ford was shutting down assembly lines left and right for chip shortages and nobody could guarantee a delivery date or if it would end up a 21 or a 22. The combo we wanted meant there wasn't one within 225 miles regardless of color, and at that point, lets get what we want).

I also was working with Schomp Ford in Aurora, CO who had the next closest unit on the lot. They were responsive, but no idea how the finish would be...

 

[ARCOgraphite]

i need a second car in the next month but let’s put aside specific model choices for a moment. i want to look broaden my horizons, not only for the vw taos s fwd that i’m leaning to, but cannot find locally, but also to makes/models that i haven’t thought to consider in places not nearby.

please share your experiences, thanks.

You may wish add the Nissan Rogue Sport, the Corolla Cross and the Chevy Equinox to your list.

I cannot recommend any dealer but a VW dealer in Greenland, NH, Seacoast VW.
The sale's manager there is good - Nancy Buell - no nonsense.

I don't think it is a good practice to drive a new car/engine a long distance - but I cannot provide any evidence that it is outright harmful and debilitating. My evidence an experience is: Cars that I drove over 50 miles home didn't run well. Cars I have test driven that were swapped in (driven) from a nearby state did not run well.

Seacoast near me appear to have a Taos S AWD for 27k in stock

https://www.seacoastvolkswagen.com/new-Portsmouth-2022-Volkswagen-Taos-S-3VVAX7B26NM065612

 

[Silver]

I have trust issues. I test drive vehicles 30 or so miles on varied roads and power applications before I plunk down my hard earned money.

I've been like this for years, but now, as bad as stealerships are, and as many crazy people as there are out there, I've just about concluded it just doesn't matter. It's an outright gamble either way. With online buys, they typically come with something like a 3 day return policy. In some ways that's better - it's more of a hassle but you get days instead of minutes to test it out. Of course, some on-site stealerships offer this option too.

 

[measureman]

I have bought 3 new cars from my local Hyundai dealer.
No haggle pricing,no dealer handling or prep one price plus tax and state fees,just found the cars and bought them,no brain damage running all over the place to save $500,not into that.
Buying a car for me is like buying a new pair of shoes,do they fit,do I like them,can I afford them,great I'll take it.
Plus they treat you like a King during the buying process and in the service department.

 

[Wylie6G72]

I've done this a couple of times now, one with a GMC dealership in Denver, the other a Lexus dealership in San Juan, TX. I flew to Denver to look at the car, and ended up buying it and driving it home. I didn't feel like flying to the southern tip of Texas, so I had the car shipped site unseen. They did a video walk around with me and I was comfortable. No issue. Any sales manager with a fiber of common sense knows how to assist with getting a car shipped if you make the arrangements. This is pretty much how I've accepted I have to shop for cars now, because there's never anything in Dallas that I want.

 

[wpod]

You may wish add the Nissan Rogue Sport, the Corolla Cross and the Chevy Equinox to your list.

I cannot recommend any dealer but a VW dealer in Greenland, NH, Seacoast VW.
The sale's manager there is good - Nancy Buell - no nonsense.

I don't think it is a good practice to drive a new car/engine a long distance - but I cannot provide any evidence that it is outright harmful and debilitating. My evidence an experience is: Cars that I drove over 50 miles home didn't run well. Cars I have test driven that were swapped in (driven) from a nearby state did not run well.

Seacoast near me appear to have a Taos S AWD for 27k in stock

https://www.seacoastvolkswagen.com/new-Portsmouth-2022-Volkswagen-Taos-S-3VVAX7B26NM065612

Won't make any differences on running the vehicle a long distance home

 

[Wolf359]

Must just be me, but I shop the vehicle not the dealer. I'm driving the car afterwards for years, the dealer is a quick short term transaction. Once you know what model and options you want, you can search far and wide for it and get it from whoever has it. You can sort by price and usually the lowest ones either have issues or they tack on a lot of fees to make up for the low price. You probably have to use all the car search engines. While I don't mind traveling I usually just limit the local radius to 500 miles. I think much beyond that, by the time you tack on shipping for the car or flight/hotel room, your savings from going further are probably wiped out by travel/transportation costs. It's only worth it to travel far for a rare car and it seems OP doesn't care what kind of car he's buying.

 

[Malo83]

I don't think it is a good practice to drive a new car/engine a long distance - but I cannot provide any evidence that it is outright harmful and debilitating. My evidence an experience is: Cars that I drove over 50 miles home didn't run well. Cars I have test driven that were swapped in (driven) from a nearby state did not run well.

I have purchased cars from 75 to 200 miles from home and all have been great cars, always gave them a once over under the hood and never exceeded 70 mph on the drive home.

 

[benjy]

dealers + buyers both vary + in the end if YOU are satisfied all is good. before all this BS i saved a grand on a 7 grand motorcycle with a 200 mile day trip, 10 years ago girlfriend saved a grand on a new Passat compared to a leftover if you have the time + money matters shopping around is SMART + EZE with the internet!!

 

[Blagoje]

Co-worker has had successful dealings with Heuberger Subaru, Colorado Springs.

They are terrific. Another great Subaru dealership is Grand Subaru in the Chicago area, they do a lot of business at a distance.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Won't make any differences on running the vehicle a long distance home

So it is just the luck of the draw in my instances? This issues I can think of is the tendency of running at a steady RPM which fixes the oil spray/fog pattern and may starve certain components. Then you may have fretting from over heating surfaces of non fitted parts. I like a lot of hot/ cold cycles with short periods of operation. But - it all depends on any particular assembly.

So again - maybe luck of the draw - but my luck rare so I don't like to push it.