Buying a car online vs in-person
Not sure whether to buy your next car online or face-to-face through a dealership? Find out which is best.
Key takeaways
- Buying a car in-person at the dealership allows you to check the vehicle over and ask any questions from reputable staff.
- Buying a car online can come with cost benefits, but also you might take a risk if you can't view the car in person first.
- You can get loan options for both methods and pre-approval can help you know your budget before you shop.
When you're buying a car in Australia, one of the questions to consider is whether you want to do it online or in person.
You should know there are pros and cons to each, and depending on your buying style, you might have been doing it wrong all this time.
Buying from a dealership allows you to speak to experts face-to-face. However, you might not get as good a deal.
Dealerships have more overheads than online retailers, and those overheads will usually be covered by the price of the cars.
Buying a car online can remove some of the hassle involved dealing with salespeople. Not to mention, it can save you money. However, it might also be more confusing - if you don't know what you're doing.
The differences between buying online or buying through a dealership
The difference between buying online vs in person is mostly a difference in the shopping experience followed by the same buying experience. A test run, followed by driving away in a car that you hopefully didn't pay too much for. It's much of a muchness, either way.
These are the main differences that come with looking for a car online, vs heading over to a dealership:
Online | In-person at a dealership | |
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Benefits |
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Drawbacks |
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Top 4 reasons you should shop online first
When it comes down to it, it might just be a case of personal preference. However, we would suggest that at the very least that you do some online browsing before heading over to a dealership.
When you buy in person, you get efficiency and the ability to ask your car dealer all the questions you need answers to before buying. But, that's basically it. By going online first, you can reap even more benefits:
1. Get a good idea of prices
If you can find a new car for a certain price online, or even a used car in equivalent condition, you might have a lot more bargaining power. You could even try asking a dealer to price match.
2. Do thorough research
Find out how much it usually costs to buy the car you want, and then learn what to look for in a used car and how to pay less for a new car. Many of these tips work both online and off.
3. Filter your search
Imagine walking into a car dealership and telling them to show you only cars of a specific colour, within a specified price range, below a certain number on the odometer and of a certain make and model. Then imagine asking the dealer to line them all up in front of you so you don't have to walk between them. This kind of filtering service is a normal part of looking for cars online.
4. Get more options
When buying from a car lot, your choices are limited to whatever is available on that lot and at any other lot you visit. When you look for a car online, you have a lot more vehicles to choose from and can find cars that closely suit your needs. You can then check those cars out. However, you still have to travel to inspect and purchase these cars, so keep the location in mind when browsing online.
Where can I buy a car online?
The benefits of going online, compared to visiting a dealership, can also vary depending on which websites you're using. Each one is different, and one might suit your needs more than another. The following are some of the sites you can visit:
- Carsales: Carsales.com.au lets you filter cars by make, model, body type, price and location.
- Gumtree: This is a popular place to look for second hand cars and find low prices.
- Drive: Drive.com.au also has handy filters for finding the perfect automobile.
- eBay: Australia's most popular shopping site also hosts a large range of second-hand cars.
Car finance online vs at dealerships
Getting a car loan can be quick and easy at a car dealership, but as with many dealer extras, there's a good chance you're not getting the value for money that you could. Once again, going online first and looking for a better deal can give you more bargaining power even if you do end up visiting a dealership.
Get pre-approved
The trick is getting pre-approved for a car loan, with due consideration to how suitable the particular loan is for you. With pre-approval in your pocket, you can simply tell the dealer that you have a better finance offer and then see if they're willing to match the terms.
Getting pre-approved for a loan involves knowing what kind of car you're interested in, which generally means going online and checking your options beforehand. Buying entirely offline can bring convenience and efficiency benefits, but will rarely match the value of going online beforehand, even if you do eventually end up buying from a car lot.
To find out more, get pre-approved or apply for any of the loans displayed below, simply click "Go to Site" to be taken to the lender's website.
Compare a range of car loans you can apply for online
For more information on any of these loans, simply click "More Info" to be taken to our review page. To apply for a loan, click "Go to site".
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How we picked these
Finder Score for car loans
To make comparing car loans even easier we came up with the Finder Score. Interest rates, fees and features across 200+ car loan products and 100+ lenders are all weighted and scaled to produce a score out of 10. The higher the score, the more competitive the product.
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