How auto-pickers cheat buyers

Vitaly has been professionally engaged in the selection of cars for the second year already. Although, according to the young man, he has much more actual experience.

A specialist in the selection of cars from the "Your Auto" company, told the Auto business about the work, the desires of buyers and the tricks of the sellers.

"Friends of mine have been my clients for many years"

Long before auto-selection, our hero worked in the field of car repair and sale of spare parts. Vitaly believes that this is what distinguishes him from many of his colleagues, since he knows cars and this whole area from the inside.

"This was used by all my friends, relatives and acquaintances who asked to look at it when buying a car. For many years my clients were only my own. But last year I decided to do it professionally and now I help to choose a car not only to relatives and friends, but also to anyone who wishes. "

According to Vitaly Shakhnovich, most often people aged 25-30 with a budget from 5.00 to 10.00 dollars turn to pickers. Less often - people over 60 and completely "green" drivers who yesterday received a "license" and choose their first car.

"It happens that people ask for help with a budget of 1500-2021 dollars. People are ready to use the service even in this case, because in the end our work will pay off anyway," says Vitaly.

"Constantly ordering a one-time inspection will be more expensive"

The main clients are local, less often they order services remotely. It is easier and more profitable for such people to send a specialist than to waste their time and money on the road. Our interlocutor works not only within the Minsk ring road, often traveling with clients to other cities.

Your Auto specialists admit that, as a rule, everything usually starts with a one-time inspection, and ends with a turnkey selection.

"I always try to explain that it will hardly be possible to pick up a good car in 1-2 times, and constantly ordering a one-time inspection will be more expensive.

When selecting a turnkey solution, if necessary, I will look at both 10 and 15 options. The work goes to the result.

Some of the cars are eliminated immediately when talking on the phone. There were times when you call, and there they pick up the phone and immediately say: "You are from auto-selection? You don't have to go, don't waste either your or my time."

Business idea: On-site diagnostics of a used car before buying

If you have ever encountered the purchase of a used car, then you probably know how much hassle this procedure can cause. This can be done in several ways. By monitoring ads on the Internet.

Armed with newspapers like "Car Market" or "Hand in Hand". And the most common way is to visit the car market. There are a lot of cars here.

But there is also a high probability of running into fraudsters trying to sell "scrap" under the guise of a "live" car.

That is why many people take with them friends who know at least a little about cars and can see the state of the car. After the car is selected, many buyers bring it to the service station for a more detailed check.

But, alas, not everyone has friends who are well versed in cars, and in car services sometimes everything is scheduled for the day ahead. The bottom line is that there is a need for thousands of people to help them buy a used car.

This means that you need to satisfy this need.

Who is this business idea for?

First of all, service station employees can do this business. Especially the universal master who understands well, both in engines, gearboxes, suspension, and in electrics and bodies. Naturally, an ordinary beginner who has never worked in a similar field will not be able to provide such a service. If you have such knowledge, then everything is in your hands.

How do I organize a help desk for buying a used car?

Auto Pickers help people find and buy a car. On average, they ask for their services from 5 to 15% of the cost of the car. Their work consists in communicating with sellers, monitoring the car market, legal and technical verification of the car, and helping buyers to complete the transaction.

As in any profession, there are honest specialists in auto-selection, and there are those who fraudulently try to get as much money out of the client's pocket as possible. In this article, I will talk about three of the most common cheating schemes used by car pickers.

Collusion with the seller and artificial overpricing

Collusion with the seller and artificial overpricing are associated with the desire to earn more on the sale of cars. The pick-up finds a car suitable for the buyer within the agreed budget and bargains with the owner, for example, for 20 thousand rubles. In this case, the baler negotiates with the seller so that he does not tell the buyer about the understatement of the price. As a result, the car is sold at a price agreed with the client. After the deal, the car seller gives the baler 20 thousand rubles. It turns out that the latter receives a double reward: from a discount from the seller and from the client's reward.

The scheme is complex, but it works in practice. There is no way around it. The owner of the car does not necessarily give a share around the corner immediately after the transaction, but can transfer money to the card or transfer it in person. But what do you care about that? In fact, you received the car for the price you expected.

Necessary acquaintances in the service station

Some pickers, to show their "honesty", offer to check the technical condition of the machine in a workshop or service. You shouldn't settle for such generous offers.

If there are "necessary acquaintances" in the service, the wizards will write what the unscrupulous picker tells them in advance. Accordingly, you will be a victim of deception and buy a pig in a poke. Also at market value.

This is done by those who have agreed a certain price with the seller in advance and want to earn both from the buyer and from the seller.

To avoid this fraudulent scheme, I advise you to contact the service station, or even better - to the dealers. The latter are more meticulous in checking cars than workers in garage services. At the same time, you also need to choose a dealer yourself, and not entrust this business to an auto-picker.

Sale of problem vehicle

I often saw balers selling problem cars to customers, and even at market prices. For example, a customer is a girl who wants to buy a car, but does not understand anything about cars and decides to use the services of a “professional”.

This "pro" she calls all wishes for the car and announces the budget, for example, 800 thousand rubles. The auto picker finds a wheelbarrow for 670 thousand, checks it and sees that it is broken, has technical problems or other hidden jambs. But since the client completely trusts him, he says that the car is ideal. In this case, the pick-up negotiates in advance with the owner of the car about the overstatement of the cost, and after the transaction, the owner of the sold car returns the difference to the cunning "professional".

That little tragedy made me collect and write these recommendations. Using the profession and access to a huge number of cars, as well as the Internet, head and a long history of trial and error, from thousands of tips for buying a used car, I chose only a couple dozen really working. I must warn you in advance that I have never been a fan of spending weekends under the hood with my elbows in oil and have never worked as an auto mechanic. Therefore, although I know what a spar is, how the suspension works and much more like that, we will not go into the technical jungle, because I wrote these recommendations for myself - simply and clearly, with a clear sequence of actions. No mystical insights, no engineering details, no stories like “and another guy told me. "Etc. Everything that will be discussed has been verified by me personally and is guaranteed to work. So let's start with the obvious.

The choice in favor of a used car (collectible cars and rarities do not count) means that you, for one reason or another, have limited funds. Therefore, before starting the search, clearly determine the amount that you are ready to spend on a car without fear that the family will switch to bread and water for a long time. Write this number down on a piece of paper and don't change it again. Subtract 10% from the amount right away - you will need this money for insurance, taxes, state duties, diagnostics, replacement of consumables and other little things. But the remaining 90% is the price for which you can buy a car.

The price of a car must not exceed 90% of the amount allocated for the purchase. Ideally, only 80-85% of the budget should be spent on a car.

You can subtract not 10%, but 15 or 20, but 10 is the minimum that should never be given away when buying. Don't worry, you will spend this money later: the used car will swallow it, no matter how perfect it is. And even if something remains, do not be discouraged and buy flowers for your wife, ice cream for the children, and for yourself a full tank of expensive 95 with additives. But what you can’t do categorically is to buy a car with your last money. You can’t scrape every penny out of your winter coats, you can’t lose your vacation, you can’t switch to "doshirak". Better temper your ambitions.

To buy something good, you need to know what you want. First, it will make it easier not to be distracted by other cars that may unexpectedly catch your eye. Secondly, it will be much easier to search. You will only need to keep track of specific models on ad sites, not all new offers that fit your budget. Thirdly, without having a specific goal, you can search for an infinitely long time, switch from one to another and, as a result, buy something that is not clear.

You must know exactly what you are looking for - make and model. You can have not one, but two or three, but there should not be any vague wishes like "some kind of crossover for 900 thousand."

Moreover, cars do not have to be similar in any way, but they must be absolutely specific.

It often happens that people start to want what they don't have enough money for. And they want the best option. The most appetizing one that can only be found on the market for the money available. How do they know which is the best option? All from the same place - from the ads. They see, for example, that Land Rover Discovery 3 can, in principle, be bought for 550 thousand rubles, and they think that for 650 thousand there is definitely an excellent option. This is not true! Look at the average price (both the ad site itself and Yandex can show it). For our conditional Discovery, it is equal to 900 thousand rubles. So counting on the purchase of such a car, having less than 700 thousand on hand, is not worth it. Even in spite of the fact that in the ads there are copies for both 550 and 650 thousand.

Focus on the average price, not the minimum.

You can calculate the average cost yourself. To do this, enter the parameters on the ad website: make, model, years of manufacture, type of transmission (optional) - and tick the boxes that you need to search only among used and unbroken cars. Remove all other filters such as price, city, configuration, color, and so on. After that, skip the first ten ads with the lowest prices and the last ten with the highest prices, and calculate the average price for the remaining ones.

Of course, there are times when you can find a great option below the average market price, but this is still a rarity. Do not think that the option that you have found is just such an exception - most likely not. Better yet, get out of your head the idea that someone will sell a car, ideally at a price below market value. There are not so many idiots around as we sometimes think.

I know that there are fans of rare brands like GMC or Lincoln. There are also connoisseurs of rare models: Chevrolet Tracker, Mitsubishi Delica or Toyota Tacoma. But finding such a rarity in good condition can be very difficult. And, most importantly, searches can be time-consuming. So, if you want to buy a good car and faster, go for mass models.

Not so long ago, at the very end of the outgoing 2021, my interview was published in the "Carwego" publishing house. Where I tried to talk about what such a relatively new and developing business as a professional auto-selection is. There should have been a link to it, but this is prohibited by the rules of the resource. Therefore, then let there be a small quote and a picture of the Owl:

But I’ll tell you right away that I have never considered myself a professional and I am not. So. Lover. :)

And the KhlamAvto company is more of a joke and a platform for my experiments with analytics ...

I ended this interview with the phrase that at the moment business and its development is at the crossroads of two roads:

"" - And finally - what will happen next for this business?

- This business is currently at a fork in the road. Gains experience and analyzes the situation and, most importantly, the demand and psychology of the client. And this will happen for another year or two. Not more. And then the companies will take a step forward and there will never be a return.

- What are these roads and where do they lead?

- On the same road - looking for a good car. Really good car in terms of price-quality ratio. And this is one area of ​​the standards of the companies and their search for a car.

And on the other road - the search for a good car in the understanding of the client. And these are completely two different cars! With a completely different approach to finding it. And what path this business will choose for itself and why - it will show in the nearest future. ""

Before going into the field of auto-selection, I worked for about ten years in the sales departments of various large companies. And in addition to selling the products that these companies produced, I was used to analyzing the market and demand then. The typical entry-level marketing analyst ... What happens next? In a year or two? And in the same way, checking completely different cars over and over again, I try to predict what will happen next with this new business sphere.

Over the past few years, the service and business niche has gone from private car pickers to quite serious companies. You are familiar with many of them. These are exactly the companies that are promoted in the media format, that is, simply channels on YouTube with a large number of both subscribers and views of videos. Thanks to which the people will find out that there is such a service in general. And the most important thing is how to choose a car and how much deception is around.

- "Come up with a problem, then sell a solution to that problem."

At the dawn of the formation of companies and their channels on YouTube, it was necessary to show what auto-selection is and why is it needed? Why do I, as a client, pay money?