I am a PM at one of the largest automotive marketplaces and I am working on understanding the future of car ownership and what "transacting vehicles online" really means in 2018.<p>So I have a question for the HN community: What would make you have enough confidence to buy a car on the internet?
What kinds of vehicles are we talking?<p>If it's brand new, I want to deal with a salesperson that isn't a scumbag. I used to be a sales guy for 6 years, and they're nearly all scumbags.<p>So, preferably, I want no sales guy and no closer. I want total and complete transparency over what I'm signing for. I want my bill to be plain English. I probably want a service contract if I'm shelling out big cash for the vehicle. I want you guys to do all the paperwork for me at the DMV using my signature. If I'm going to be paying $200-400 a month for the next few years, plus another $200 a month or more in insurance, I want to be absolutely clear of what I'm signing and I want people to bend over backwards for me to make sure I'm never going to have to think about anything involving my car ever again.<p>BECAUSE... I can just go buy a used car that costs me $92 a month for the next 36 months or whatever, and to insure it is only $50 a month. You see what I mean? It's a big difference in monthly spend.<p>I'm willing to deal with scumbags and headaches from craigslist car purchases, or from my cousin's friend who is a dealer or whatever, if it means I'm saving several thousand dollars a year in car payments.<p>Good luck!!
I am not super concerned about seeing the physical car ahead of the order: I know the dealer can be held responsible should there be undisclosed damage. And I probably have already sat in the model of car I'm interested in long before I've bought one.<p>The biggest thing is the unholy horror that is negotiating with car dealerships. How do I negotiate with a website? If I am not negotiating, am I getting as good of a price as I would have if I was?<p>Additionally, I need a really simple/straightforward layout of what is or isn't included in the price and financing terms. Too often I had dealers focusing on the "monthly cost" while de-emphasizing the total cost, term of the financing, etc. That went not just for the car itself, but the add-ons like extended warranty and what-not upsells.<p>I want to see the total cost of the car (as negotiated), the total cost of any add-on features, and the total cost of the financing package selected (interest over the term), and then the monthly cost of each over that term below it.