car buying advice Philly area

OK I might get beat up on this but here goes. A friend is flying back to Philly tomorrow to see her ancient mother. The Mom is actually a fair driver, but was rear ended a few months back in her Hyundai. Honest she was innocent as a lamb.

So she got a payoff on the totaled HYmom, and is depressed because she has no car now.

MY question is does anyone know a dealer in Philly that I could send two ladies to, that is honest enough not to strip them to the bone and throw them out on the street? I know, an unfair portrayal of poor honest car dealers, but Hey I'm a west coast guy and i know how much sharper those east coast guys are.

So I'm talking 07 Hy elantra or kia rio type car, small and cheap. Nissan or toyo seem kinda upscale. Edmunds shows values in the $8K range.

Anyone want to help me put another little old lady on the mean streets of Philly?

Are they actually in the city, or in the 'burbs? If they're in the city, can they travel to the 'burbs?

Ya know while looking at dealers I had the same question. I need to find out where they are, but my friend will have a rental car I expect. I'll check. So who do you trust in the burbs? In reply to Klayfish:

So if I understand she's looking for something in the used market in the $8k range?

Can't say good or bad about most dealers around here, dealers are dealers unfortunately.

If they decide to come across the bridge into NJ to do some hunting I might be able to point them some ways but again its always kinda hit or miss. I've bought some decent cars at decent prices from some dealers here but at the same time I got the feeling that if I didn't know what I was doing they'd have fleeced me in a heartbeat.

Shoot me an email jim at misfittoysracing dot com and I'll send my contact info. Wife is outta town this weekend so if Im around and they'd like someone to take a look at a car locally I'd be happy to lend a hand. Slight chance I'll be up in north jersey but if not I'll be around.

Let me know if there's something in particular they are looking for and I'll beat the bushes over the next few days and see if I can round up a candidate or 2. Are they sold on the dealer idea or would they look at something from a private seller if it met their criteria?

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but if they're buying used in the city, tell them to avoid anyone speaking with a Russian accent... Friends and relatives have been repeatedly fleeced buying from eastern Europeans.

Jthw8 Thanks for the offer, I sent you an email. And called the concerned party, I'm waiting to hear back from her about how serious she is. R

I'm not completely familiar with all the dealerships in the area, as I try to do most of my buying from private sale. I did have a good experience with Piazza Mazda, which is in West Chester, sales guy was named Fred. You might look and see what they have.

Not sure how well this will work for you, but you could try to cross shop dealerships. Find a bunch of cars that will fit the bill for what your friend needs. From there, it's a matter of just putting the dealers up against each other. The serious dealers will sort themselves out from the game players real quick. I've done that several times...Call dealer A and say "Dealer B has a 20xx Hyundai blah blah for $xxxx. Yes, yes, I know the car you have isn't exactly the same, but they both fit my needs perfectly. Can you beat the price or not? Yes or no answer is all I need." I've done that a few times. Takes a little leg work, but I wind up with what I feel is a good deal from a good dealer.

Buying used car and not getting rooked seems to take some time and leg work. Even then you can never be sure. I've heard many people tell me their car stories and how they got a deal and I think they did not. The salesman gets a sale when the buyer "thinks" they are getting a good deal (whether they are or not).

Buying new is so much easier. It's apples to apples and can be done in an afternoon through email.

Good luck.

There's a place about 30 miles outside the city towards West Chester area called Carsense http://www.carsense.com/ - No hassle, no negotiating, the price on the window is the price of the car. You walk in, tell them you want to drive car, X, Y & Z. They make a copy of your drivers license, hand you keys, and tell you to come back whenever you're done. I bought my last 2 cars from them. At 1 point I had 6 sets of keys on me & spent 4 hours going back & forth between cars I was interested in before deciding which one to buy.

OMG, I can't believe there's a place like Carsense, and I can't believe ANY dealer would A.) just hand you keys....and for more than 1 vehicle at a time and B.) just leave you to sort yourself out. I'm intrigued.

Yeah, I've never bought a car from Carsense, but I've been intrigued by more than a few. They always seem to have a pretty good inventory at decent prices.

I have driven by carsense.. NICE selection they have on that lot

Ha well she's been hiking around in the heat looking at lots of cars. Text me info I check it on Edmunds & KBB. most have fallen right in the average retail. Until yesterday, went by the the ford dealer, I think it might have been Dunphy. So they did the old bait and switch, Oh yea we can sell you a fiesta se for 16300, took them for a test drive and all. But when she said "OK really how much for that car we drove " They came back and said Oh that was a SEL and it will cost you 20K and we can't seem to find a SE that we thought we had.

So she left of course and will probably buy a hyundai tomorrow. Why can't car dealers just realize that they could sell more cars if people didn't hate them so much? Always trying to cheat you out of just a few more bucks.

well.. that was one less cheque that salesman got this week

If she likes Hyundai, check Kia. Good bargain cars. Don't know much about them at all, but places like Gateway Kia always do huge advertising.

Sold a car to Carsense once, nearly bought one from them. They are nice in that they're relatively low pressure. Cars on the lot are usually pretty nice. The downside I found with them is that their price is usually on the higher end of "average" and since they don't negotiate, you're stuck with that price. If you're willing to do some haggling, you can get a better price elsewhere.