Hello All,

First off I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and hope this year brings you happiness and content. Having said that, this week’s topic has to do in big part with what brought me to The Star and why I saw “greener pastures�.

As mentioned in my first blog, prior to my current position I worked for the largest used car website online. One question I faced in the field calling on my prior clients was "why did you leave?". There was nothing wrong working with the “giant� but I would simply explain that I saw potential for a program that catered to the local market. Yes, the World Wide Web knows no boundaries but sometimes a large net has more holes. By this I mean that detail and personal touch is often times lost when having a national focus.

I'm not sure how aware the public is but there has been a shift in the automotive industry and the internet has played a major roll. Much like the record industry, the power has shifted to the consumer. If knowledge is power the public is running on nitrous right now! More than ever all the information is right at your fingertips. With online comparison programs from companies like Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book you can get a breakdown of pros and cons in a side by side comparison of any car you can think of.

Now that you have the information on your dream car what do you do with it? Well let’s go back to what makes the internet so great. What is one thing that most love to avoid in this day and age? Confrontation! The day of greeting all you pass on the street has come and gone and this has translated to the consumer’s buying practice as well. I mean why else did I do 90% of my shopping online for Christmas? To avoid incompetent sales people and rude crowds. So don’t be so quick to jump offline and make your move. With our program (venturacountystar.com/cars) you can shop and get actual quotes from almost every dealer in Ventura County. They very much want to keep their local customers local and most I see willing to meet or beat the giant superstores south of us.

One thing I suggest is to not shop yourself out of the market. By this I mean the people who shop the car so much that it all becomes a blur, to a point where they throw up their hands in disgust. Make sure you compare apples for apples and realize it’s not worth taking your money out of your neighborhood over a little $100 difference in price. After all, you will spend that much just in the drive down for the better deal! I saw a client yesterday and he was so frustrated because he met a competitor’s price for a customer plus his car had a $695 option and that wasn’t good enough?! Make sure you factor in all those extras, sometimes one apple is a Fuji and the other is a Granny and you should consider that. Best of luck and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have during your car buying adventures.

Cheers, Lance