House of cars representing a buyer - is it legit?

[max_boost]

Welp, excellent conclusion.

[RX_EVOLV]

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House of Cars seems to be really good at what they do, they've opened so many locations. Good on them. They can't be that sleazy to be this successful. They're just taking advantage of a market that exists. No different than a lot of other types of businesses...and I assume there's nothing wrong with OP's car, at least they sell cars that're actually decent.

My car is in mint condition, but otherwise they have done no inspection on the car whatsoever. It felt like a car rental return where they just walked around the car once, turned on the car to check the mileage, and that's it.

Personally I wouldn't trust buying a car from them knowing the lack of inspection they do, but whoever bought my car got a good car, even if it's not a good deal...

[NissanFanBoy]

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My car is in mint condition, but otherwise they have done no inspection on the car whatsoever. It felt like a car rental return where they just walked around the car once, turned on the car to check the mileage, and that's it.

Personally I wouldn't trust buying a car from them knowing the lack of inspection they do, but whoever bought my car got a good car, even if it's not a good deal...

There can't be too much that has gone wrong with R's... I'd imagine they did all that after, it's still under warranty no?

[Darkane]

3-4 years ago I sold them my TL-AWD Manual.

One of the salesman said he wanted it for himself. Regardless we made a deal (wasn’t even a lowball) and was done. He drove it, and we met at a TD so I could verify funds with him in person. It was a HoC cheque. Went through, pretty painless.

I don’t know if the car got resold, or kept. It was also 9.5/10 mint. Someone got a great car.

[Aleks]

People are so quick to call scam and sleazy these days online. It must be really hard to run a used car dealership just because everyone always assumes the worst before even checking it out.

[infamous]

ok, so first off i used to be a HoC salesman (only for 3 months because they took over the location i used to manage).

these deals happen more often than not, and not everyone who walks in the door is a 20% interest sub prime loser. prime example is my brother, he was looking for a semi specific truck and wasn't having any luck tracking one down. we found one for him that was advertised privately, went and checked it out and handed the guy a check on the spot. brought it back, inspected it (11k on the odo so no issues), and delivered it to my brother. that was over 3 years ago now and he's still loving his truck.

now on the shady side yes, they do deal with some shitty cars at times and shitty lenders and shitty customers. it can be a very negative place to work but you can also make a LOT of money off sub prime customers. so about average for a dealership

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Probably, because inspection and carproofs aren't their job, it's buyer's diligence.

Not when you buy from a dealer though. That is the case only with private sales.

- - - Updated - - -

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Well. It's done. They walked around the car. Pulled the carproof, signed the Bill of Sales and cut me a cheque. Whole process was maybe 10 mins. Took the cheque to the bank and it was deposited immediately without hold. The teller was very aware of them and said she sees these cheques/deals all the time.

Was it a bank draft / certified cheque? If not you are one very trusting person haha. Glad it worked out for you though

[Skrilla]

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People are so quick to call scam and sleazy these days online. It must be really hard to run a used car dealership just because everyone always assumes the worst before even checking it out.

While I get what you are saying, it is hard not to as a seller, especially when you receive 15 calls a week from scams if you have something listed (although most ask for money to secure a deal). Turns out this is legit, and worked out for OP

[Mitsu3000gt]

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People are so quick to call scam and sleazy these days online. It must be really hard to run a used car dealership just because everyone always assumes the worst before even checking it out.

So many of them are though, it would be irresponsible to assume anything different when doing due diligence. It's not the case of a few bad apples - nearly every one I've ever been to has been extremely shady.

[Tik-Tok]

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People are so quick to call scam and sleazy these days online. It must be really hard to run a used car dealership just because everyone always assumes the worst before even checking it out.

It's almost as if the entire industry has a well earned reputation of being sleazy.

[HiTempguy1]

There certainly is a place for these things.

And if you do the marth, $15k at 15% interest for 84 months is under $300/month for the car.

Now I know it may be hard for some Beyonders to understand, but there is a legitimate market for this. I always find it humorous how we can have arguments about things like "collecting cars or shoes as an investment" which is hopelessly inane and stupid, but then someone is crazy for paying extra money on a month-month basis to get a car they otherwise couldn't have.

Yes, they SHOULD be in a $10k penalty box with 0% financing. But they don't want to be. And if $300/month forever gets them into the car they want Is it smart? No, not really. But if it gets them into a reliable vehicle that they want, its not awful.

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That's awesome, assuming OP got a figure he can live with, sounds way less stressful and time consuming that kijiji.

I've always loved Kijiji. Easily owned and sold 50+ vehicles in my life. My duramax which I just sold was the most expensive, time consuming, pain in the ass cluster-fuck of a sale I've ever made. So I can see the appeal of this.

[ExtraSlow]

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Yes, they SHOULD be in a $10k penalty box with 0% financing. But they don't want to be. And if $300/month forever gets them into the car they want Is it smart? No, not really. But if it gets them into a reliable vehicle that they want, its not awful.

I've worked with some people for whom that $300/mo car is the thing that lets them get or keep a job. Actually lots of them. Not all of them are stupid, but there are few options for new immigrants or other people without credit history.

Now that's only a portion of the market sure, I know people who have resources and credit and still choose stuff like this. Those people are worthy of ridicule sure, but not everyone.

[rx7boi]

So did you sell it for a fair/above market price? What was the vehicle?

[revelations]

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I've worked with some people for whom that $300/mo car is the thing that lets them get or keep a job. Actually lots of them. Not all of them are stupid, but there are few options for new immigrants or other people without credit history.

Now that's only a portion of the market sure, I know people who have resources and credit and still choose stuff like this. Those people are worthy of ridicule sure, but not everyone.

Yea this - even as a student I had a credit card, which I could have used to purchase a 3000$, decent shape corolla if I needed to. People dont understand that just because a vehicle is old/cheap, doesent mean its a pile of garbage automatically.

[max_boost]

Your friends who you think lead normal lives could be the ones using this service. I honestly had no idea until a gf asked me for loan/financial advice and I referred her to my boss Sorath who got her out of her sub prime loan. It caught me by surprise by the number of ppl who have seriously fked up credit. Ppl don't have time to worry about the future when they are trying to survive day to day.

[RX_EVOLV]

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So did you sell it for a fair/above market price? What was the vehicle?

I would say it was fair market price as I tried to get that price myself on Kijiji/Autotrader for over 6 weeks with no luck. Definitly did no take a hit on the price because of the 'easy' factor of this transaction.

[Mys73ri0]

Jalopnik put out a great article in regards to this recently. A good but long read -- https://jalopnik.com/how-a-subprime-...t-a-1829527899

[btimbit]

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House of Cars seems to be really good at what they do, they've opened so many locations. Good on them. They can't be that sleazy to be this successful. They're just taking advantage of a market that exists. No different than a lot of other types of businesses...and I assume there's nothing wrong with OP's car, at least they sell cars that're actually decent.

I've never walked into a House of Cars, but from all their marketing and ads, they seem professional....we only think they're shady because we're car people and we know more than the average person but overall, I don't think they're actually that bad.

This. I've dealt with them before, got a VW for my now ex a few years back. They seem like a normal used car dealer for me, not shady (well, in relative terms. It is a car dealer, lol) and the only knock I'd have against them is their pricing wasn't super competitive, (I was there a few years prior and backed out of a deal after finding a similar car at a main dealer for a tad less) and their inventory seemed like it was a lot of ex-rentals and fleet vehicles but they were up front about it and had full carproofs for everything. We liked the specific car and it worked for us.

While they might do subprime lending they don't 'specialize' in it like the Gallery of Fine Cars and Roadsport Auto Credit places that we're used to reading about, so it kinda sucks that they get lumped into that crowd. We ended up getting the financing through House of Cars and got a good rate from TD, not some 8%+ nonsense from a loan shark

[you&me]

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This. I've dealt with them before, got a VW for my now ex a few years back. They seem like a normal used car dealer for me, not shady (well, in relative terms. It is a car dealer, lol) and the only knock I'd have against them is their pricing wasn't super competitive, (I was there a few years prior and backed out of a deal after finding a similar car at a main dealer for a tad less) and their inventory seemed like it was a lot of ex-rentals and fleet vehicles but they were up front about it and had full carproofs for everything. We liked the specific car and it worked for us.

While they might do subprime lending they don't 'specialize' in it like the Gallery of Fine Cars and Roadsport Auto Credit places that we're used to reading about, so it kinda sucks that they get lumped into that crowd. We ended up getting the financing through House of Cars and got a good rate from TD, not some 8%+ nonsense from a loan shark

Ummmm...

[infamous]

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Ummmm...

oh fuck.....lololololololol