Why did buying a car used to take so long? (or did it?)

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve never bought a car in 40 minutes except maybe from a very small dealer where I paid ~$6000 for a used F-150. They had minimal paperwork and I was paying with a check. Usually it’s more like 2 hours.

If buying a car is ever any faster than it used to be it’s probably because they dealer has a good computer system and the people know how to use it. If they don’t know how to use it, things will still take forever, computers just complicate things for ignorant users.

It probably also depends on what state you are in and how many regulations the dealer has to adhere to. And of course each dealer is going to have their set of hoops for you to jump through; do you have to decline extended warranties, paint protection, undercoating, etc multiple times?

22

I was actually amazed at how fast and efficient my experience was. Yes, I did about two weeks of research first, but my dealer - and it was Mohawk Honda- was amazing. Actually, they’re about 25 minutes away, so maybe that’s why. They’re rather off the beaten path, so maybe they need to attract. But I went there for the price (~$900 below the price the other Honda dealers were quoting me) and loved the service and the efficiency. The money guy is the only one who tried to sell me anything and it was literally like “Here are some options you can add! Nope? Ok, I need a check now!”

I was buying a Honda Fit which isn’t exactly a super pricey car, so maybe that was it.