CarsDirect

Full review
After visiting a dealer and being quoted over $20,000 for a Nissan Altima 2.5S; I decided to surf the web looking for a better deal. I found the Cars Direct website, and priced out the care I wanted at $18,250; so I decided to try their service. However, I was in a hurry to complete a transaction as I did not want to be car shopping over the holiday break.

I called them the next day to have them locate a vehicle. They were curteous, and and their sales person confirmed the pricing on their website, and felt 99% sure they could locate a car for me. They told me to just relax, and let them find the vehicle.

However, after calling some dealerships, I was having some difficulty locating the care I wanted. I communicated throughout the day with Carsdirect, and they acknowledged they were having some difficulty finding the car I wanted locally. This made me feel uncomfortable, so when one of the dealerships called me back and informed me that they had my car, I decided to talk with them.

I ended up not wanting to let the car go (bird in the hand), so I bought it from the dealership. They did not meet the Carsdirect price, but came close. Unfortunately, 2 hours later, CarsDirect called me to let me know they had also found my car.

From what I can tell, I would have saved a few hundred dollars by using CarsDirect, in addition to the savings they helped me get through more informed negotiating. This is assuming their are no hidden fees. I think CarsDirect is a great service, but unfortunately, their dealer network appears to be much smaller than that of the local dealers. It took CarsDirect 6 hours to locate my car, while the local dealers found one in 30 minutes. Also, I don't know if the cars direct price included local delivery; which was included in the price I paid.

In conclusion, I found their website to be an excellent source of information!!!, and suspect their service is great as well. Just don't expect them to be able to respond as quickly as a local dealer, it didn't happen.