I would absolutely go here when looking for another car. A few thoughts (in long rambling form):
- They are a low margin, high volume business. For my fiance and I, this was great, but it does mean that the process may be a tad different from what a traditional dealer offers. They price the cars at actual market and move them fast. The idea is that they don't have to do much administrative work to sell cars, haggle, or follow up with customers; they make up for their small margins on individual cars by moving a large number. Compared to a conventional dealer expect less hand-holding. They send you out alone on a test drive (I love this). They show you the cars you ask to see and don't push others on you. Again, I loved this. Come here if you see cars they have on hand that you're interested in. There is also the important caveat that their cars are strictly first come, first serve. They move cars fast and if you don't call before you head out, you may be in for a disappointment.
- Our experience was really pretty great! Short version: I drove out to look at two cars, both were as described in the ad, and I took one to my local dealer to do a PPI. No surprises, the car was in great shape besides needing a couple of minor maintenance things done. Unfortunately, being a BMW, that dealer quoted $1500 for the work. While RDU Auto generally prefer to fix issues themselves (it's more cost effective) it was important for my fiance and I to have this addressed at our local shop. We really like our local mechanic and the relationship is important to us. We asked that they reduce the price to cover a portion of the estimate and after a (relatively brief) discussion they agreed to come down $500. This is roughly their cost to do the work and should cover about half of my cost doing at my local indy mechanic. Totally fair from my perspective and I drove away happy. Do know that this isn't generally the way they like to do things, they generally will not just lower the price of a car by the amount of needed repairs as they prefer to fix it themselves. Nonetheless, I was impressed and grateful they were willing to work with us to reach a reasonable solution.
- The car had very fresh tires (7/10 inches). This is great to see; I got the impression that they take safety items seriously. I did not see any cars on that lot with bad looking tires.
- They were upfront about the car's history. The Carfax described it as a a "minor" rear end accident in which the airbags did not deploy. When we inquired, RDU Auto provided both the police report and repair quote for the car. Just as they had initially claimed, the accident was very minor ($500 repair quote for painting the bumper, estimated damage by officer on scene was $0...). They were completely honest with us from the beginning and that the story did not change when we requested the police report and insurance info. This was great to see.
- They do not have a dedicated administrative back-end. The sales people do it all. I mention this because they are quite busy and very occasionally make human errors. We were accidentally sent a piece of documentation for the wrong car at one point. Again, not a huge issue, we realized what had happened and they fixed it right away, but double check things like paperwork because things move fast here.
- They take (most) credit cards! At the time of this review, the fee is 2.5 percent, not bad at all (if you have a 1.5 percent or 2 percent cash back credit card, this can be appealing if you pay it off before interest accrues).
- The office has friendly cats.
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Bottom line? They are a car sales business. They aren't there to hold your hand or to put your interests above theirs. Do your due diligence. Do a PPI. Pay attention to that Carfax. Ask questions. Double check verbal information matches paperwork. Double check that paperwork.
These folks seem honest and friendly and the overall quality of their cars are good. They're not trying to push a bunch of lemons on people and their prices are extremely reasonable. I love the fact that they are much lower B.S. than most car sellers and I love that their prices are generally market and don't require a bunch of annoying negotiation. Overall, I would absolutely put them on my short list were I shopping for another car and encourage others to go there as well. read more