In our last e-zine we showed you how to beat car yard sharks. But if you still don’t want to dabble with dodgy dealers, a car broker might be just what you need. By Leigh Robshaw

My car broker gave me my life back.

I wanted to buy a used car, but I didn’t want to spend my weekends (and my weekly fuel budget) trawling car yards and dodging the tricks up salespeople’s sleeves. As a result, I was developing an unhealthy and anti-social addiction to motoring websites.

Then a trusted friend told me about Steve Johnson, an urban legend – well, a legend in my country town anyway. He was a car broker who, for a fee of $500, promised to find me the kind of car I was looking for in my price range and guarantee it mechanically sound. If not, he’d send it back to the dealer-only auctions with no obligation on my part to cough up any cash.

Steve was a car-buying superhero: a licensed motor dealer and experienced car broker rolled into one. He didn’t have the overheads of running a car lot and outsourced his own team of mechanics to give the car a good going over when we found it. Visiting dealer-only auctions and wholesalers four days a week, with a list of eight to 15 cars to buy at any one time, he was a finely tuned tracking device with an eye for a good buy.

My recovery was quick, as Steve called from the auctions each day after sorting the wheat from the chaff. The process worked smoothly, particularly as I had a definite idea what I was looking for, which narrowed Steve’s search down. I wanted a five-door hatchback with a curvaceous body in a light colour, small and fuel efficient, but roomy enough to fit my son’s gear in the back, with low kilometres, air-conditioning and a driver’s airbag. Importantly, I’d researched the Used Car Safety Ratings on mynrma.com.au and found most cars in the light and small cars category were considered worse or significantly worse than average, so my car had to score at least average or better. And I wanted it all for $6000.

In other words, I wanted champagne on a beer budget. Achieving that kind of small miracle is where a broker can really come in handy. The Department of Fair Trading defines a car broker as a ‘motor dealer consultant’ – essentially, a spotter who can tell you where to find the best deal without actually getting involved in the sale (unless they are also licensed dealers).

Brokers know the tactics dealers use to close a favourable deal, and can leverage their up-to-date knowledge on market values to cut out the haggling. They not only find you the best price – whether at a dealership, privately or at auction – they also do all the legwork, saving you time and money.

Brokers can accompany you to auctions and guide you towards the best deals. James McCall, CEO of the NSW Motor Traders’ Association says: “Anybody who buys a car at auction and is not an expert is very foolish. You really don’t know anything about the vehicle when you’re bidding on it unless you’ve got some incredible expertise. Don’t go unless you’ve got an expert acting on your behalf. Something like 160,000 written-off vehicles are auctioned across Australia every year. They’re often repaired by backyard repairers, and frequently those repairs are done badly.”

While McCall cautions against braving auctions alone, he says consumers should be wary of brokers who promise to save them a lot of money when buying from dealers. “A broker is not going to do any better than you can do for yourself. If you walk into the first dealership and have no idea of what to buy and just pick a car, you shouldn’t be allowed out during daylight hours.”

Steve Johnson says he does get better deals, as he buys vehicles on behalf of clients at a true wholesale price at dealer-only auctions. Operators like Steve are a small sector of the market; you’ll find the best ones through personal recommendation, but you can also find reputable (and not so reputable) brokers who offer similar services in newspaper classifieds sections or on the internet.

In the first week, the best contenders Steve found at auction were a 2000 Hyundai Accent with 140,000km, 1999 Volkswagen Polo with 130,000km, and a Hyundai Elantra with 150,000km, all around $6,000. I briefly dabbled in my addiction again as I compared online prices for similar models. Steve’s suggestions seemed like great deals.

We finally hit the jackpot with a champagne-coloured 1997 Holden Astra TS City, which had been lovingly cared for by one elderly couple all its life – no, really! The service history was meticulously completed in the logbook, which Steve had scrutinised, and the stereo was even tuned to the easy listening radio stations. It was slightly older than the others, but had only 60,000km on the clock and was immaculate (I was assured the speedo hadn’t been wound back). It scored ‘average’ on the Used Car Safety Ratings, which I could cope with. Steve bid on the car at auction using his own money and won the bid at $6,100 – most comparable models I found on motoring websites were priced at $7,000 to $9,000 and had twice as many kilometres on the clock.

Steve gave me a statutory warranty of one month, a guarantee of clear title and a safety certificate, and organised the transfer of registration papers. As he was a licensed dealer, I also had a 24-hour cooling off period. Seeing the car in the flesh for the first time, as I was about to pay for it, was a little unnerving, but it was in almost perfect condition and was exactly as Steve had described.

My only complaint was that he encouraged me to buy a three-year warranty for $400. In the excitement of the moment, I made the mistake of not scrutinising the warranty carefully and have since found it lacking in some areas. However, I’m glad to say my story has a happy ending. The car is going great a month down the track, and I’m completely cured of my internet addiction – in fact, I never want to see another car sales website again!

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Open Road e-zine October 2008

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