Re: Looking for a Good Used Car Dealership

I have had friends by from carmax and they have been pleased with the sevice. Also, consider getting a pre-owned car from Toyota. The dealership in Northbrook off the edens is really good. I would figure out which makes you are considering and then specifically visits those dealers. The cars will ususally still have some warranty on them. Sorry, I just don't trust those used car dealerships. Above all, be an informed buyer. Check out the blue book value, so you know what you should be paying. Do some research on the car, check out the consumer reports. If you can take someone with you that knows a thing or two about cars, so you don't get taken!

My husband and I and his family have bought used vehicles from Bredemann Ford in Glenview and have never had any probelms with the vehicles.

Try Stasek Chevy in Wheeling. My brother works there and he's been in the business for over 20 years. We have purchased our last 3 vehicles from Stasek. The dealership is is great and everyone is very friendly including the owner! Ask for Bob Foley when you visit and tell him you were referred by his sister, C.. Happy shopping!

We have had good luck with Carmax. The sales people are not on commision, so they do not care if you buy a 2000 dollar car or 20,000 dollar car. They will help you find anything you want. You can even see what they have on line. The only problem with that for us was they had sold 2 of the cars we liked before we got there. (that same day)
They have a return policy too, so if you do not like the car for ANY reason, you can bring it back and pick another.
We also sold them our van. We actually got a decent deal. Much better than trying to sell it on our own!
The prices are "haggle free" too! No waiting to get the best deal from a manager. Good luck!

Absolutely! My cousins own a dealership in Cleveland, so when we desperately needed to move from a car to a minivan, I called them. My cousin Brian said the best deal for used cars, hands down, is Enterprise (yes, the rental car company). They actually sell more used cars nationwide than any other business -- and they sell TO Carmax.

The nice thing is, they sell cars that are recent, with low mileage, and they are in near-new condition. They also helped us with financing. We were in dire straits (found out on a Saturday morning that our 1994 Toyota was not a candidate to be repaired, but shouldn't be driven more than 100 miles at all), so I looked at Enterprise's web site.

I found the minivan my cousin recommended for us at an Enterprise in the far suburbs but called them anyway... they asked where we lived and had the van moved to the closest Enterprise dealership before we could even get there.

Because it was a Saturday with no notice, we had to bring ALL THREE boys with us (at the time, an infant, 3 yrs and 6 yrs), so we show up at the office with the kids and a bag of snacks, crayons, etc. The people there couldn't have been more understanding. We got to test drive a few different vans (they even put our car seats in, so we could see what it was like to get the kids in and out), and then when we picked our car, they helped us with the financing so that we could leave with the new car that same day. (2005 Ford Freestar -- the car my cousin recommended.)

I came back later in the week so they could install a remote entry (begged my husband for it), and they did it in 15 minutes.

We got personal thank-you notes from two people at Enterprise, and we're SO happy with our van -- it's been almost three years. And because they helped us figure out the financing, our payments are like $220 a month.

Anyway, it's obvious I now have a massive bias towards them, but we had been in such a stressful situation (how was I going to get to work? How could we afford car payments? How much could our broken Toyota possibly be worth?), and they were all so great to us.

Hi R.

I have bought two cars from Mancari's Chrysler Jeep in Oak Lawn (not on the northside, but I find them worth the drive). The sales people are very helpful and not pushy, the financing has been really reasonable and they have great service people. In fact, for both the new car and used car I bought there, I received free oil changes for life and great warranties. The sales person I worked with is Mark Neismuth.

Good luck!

Hi, R.! My 22 year old son was able to negotiate on his own with Carmax in Glencoe. Having gone to used car dealers with him in the past, I'd go to Carmax and forget the dealers. Good luck!
S.