For what it's worth, I am in my 50s and have bought about 20 cars over my lifetime. I live in NY have bought cars online/remotely from FL, CA, UT, PA, OH and MA. I'm a particular fan of 1997-2001 Lexus ES 300s so I was very interested when a 2001 Lexus ES 300 showed up on Wheels Unlimited's website.
The car listed at Wheels Unlimited had only 54k miles but the price was a bit higher than I wanted to pay (having purchased more than 8 of these cars over the past 15 years, I knew what a good price was and, like every customer, I was hoping to get a better deal than what was listed on the website). Like everyone else, I tried to find customer feedback wherever I could... google, yelp, cars.com, facebook, cargurus, you name it... The fact that the overwhelming customer feedback was so good was both encouraging but also caused concern that the results might have been "scrubbed" or manipulated. The only negative comments I saw were from customers who said that the dealership was asking too much and unwilling to come down on price (no idea how much reduction they were asking, just that they were displeased with the unwillingness of the dealership to accommodate).
Almost all of the responses gave high praise to John and the dealership for reasonableness and ultimate satisfaction in the transaction. Cars were listed responsibly and accurately and the prices were consistent therewith. The asking price for the 2001 Lexus ES 300 that I was interested in was significantly higher than any of the figures I could find from Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, NADA or any other online valuation tool. From an online perspective, pictures of the car looked immaculate and the overall condition was impeccable but I have had bad deals before.
I called John and asked about the car and he told me it was excellent. I believed what he said because everything about him is very professional and honest, but was still a bit apprehensive because the car was more expensive than any of the others I purchased previously. Bottom-line is that although I was apprehensive in buying an older car without seeing it first-hand, I trusted John's description and the way he worked with me to accommodate my flight into Chicago and bus ride to Valparaiso. I've never been more delighted!
The car was even better than John described - truly immaculate! John is an excellent salesman and I actually trust him completely. Not only would I do this deal 1000 times out of 1000, I would actually consider commissioning him to purchase other cars for me because he truly cares about the cars he sells and the folks to whom he sells them. The fact that he did not come down on price as much as I would have liked is not a negative, it's just quite reasonable because the cars are so good. I think that they spend time selecting only a few cars that they can represent with good conscience as opposed to flooding the lot and selling a poor product from time to time.
The fact that they prescreen their offerings so conscientiously makes me want to buy from them again and again - unfortunately for me, 1997-2001 Lexus ES 300s like the one I got don't come around too often. To whatever extent such customer feedback can help you in your decision, know that I sincerely loved buying this car from John/Wheels Unlimited and am stating that I believe you can trust him/them as well. Happy hunting and I hope you find what you're looking for! Sincerely. read more
