Before coming, my wife and I searched for cars online at a few different places. Our requirements were: under ten years old, $7000 or under, decent gas mileage, and not needing a ton of repairs (knowing that this car wouldn't be intended to last for years on end). We found a 2009 Hyundai Accent with 61,000 miles . The carfax revealed that it had one owner, was used as a personal vehicle, and was never in an accident. It may sound too good to be true, but it was orange.
Anyway, we went in fairly early on a weekend, and it was BUSY! However, we met our salesperson, Paul, who took care of us right away. We told him what car we wanted to see, he got the keys, and walked us to it.
On our walk to the car, we had casual conversation, and Paul asked us how we heard of them (answer: the internet). When we got to the car, the sticker price was higher than what it showed online. Without being asked, Paul told us that if the online price was lower, they would honor the lower price. I want to say it again, WITHOUT being asked, he offered that information! This was important to me because I've been to other dealerships where: 1) they did not say anything, 2) they argued about the cheaper online price being a mistake, and/or 3) made it seem like they were doing US a favor by honoring the lower price.
Before driving it, I got a chance to look over the car. The inside was clean, the outside showed no major damage, no rust under the car, no leaks or rusting under the hood (I did my research and now know what to look for in used cars). After that, we took the car for a test drive.
Now, I've read some comments where the test drive was really short (around the block short). Ours would have been, except I asked how it handled at fast speeds (I've known some cars to shake at high speeds). Paul was completely okay with us driving it on the express way for a longer test drive.
During the ride, Paul asked what I was noticed while driving. I commented on how I would like to see if the brakes could be tightened up. They weren't making any noise, but you still had to press down further than I would have liked. He said he would put on his notes to "check and repair all brakes if necessary". When we got back, I did a final check of all the electronics, lights, etc. We noticed the latch on the back was not working properly, so Paul added that to the notes as well.
We went back to the office and did the paperwork. I do want to note that their computer systems were extremely slow and had to be rebooted a couple times due to crashing/freezing. So if management is reading this, please upgrade them to make the employees' job easier.
Now, my wife and I were unsure if this was the kind of place where we were supposed to haggle the price or if the price was final. Paul was very open about that. He asked what our offer would be, we said a lower price, and it came back slightly higher price (still much lower than we expected). Long story short, we bought the car.
During this whole time, Paul was extremely friendly. He was not pushy at all (like other sales people elsewhere have been), it genuinely seemed like he wanted our business, and he included us in the process with all the numbers. Finally, he asked, "have we earned your business with our offer". All of this is in contrast to the Toyota dealership where the salesperson wrote down the numbers, gave us a hard time when negotiating the price, and then tried pressure us by saying the offer is only good for today.
After the car was bought and driven for a few days, the brakes started grinding pretty bad. Luckily, Paul made the notes about the brakes and the door latch. All of that was put on a "Due Bill" meaning they would take care of those issues at no cost to us. I am so happy they did because after all the repairs were done (all the brakes had to be replaced), it saved us $859.
I would definitely recommend the Sharpest Rides to people, and I would shop there again. It was a very positive experience, and there was no buyer's remorse after the fact. read more