What is more effective and much safer now is browsing on our new mobile-friendly website. Check out the most recent cars on the home page. Select a make you like and see if one meets your eye. Click on its photo to see close-ups inside and out. Under its photo click on our new detailed video and report history links to make sure that the vehicle does not have any title problems or has not been in any major accidents.
Call the seller. Say you are interested, but prefer to have a mechanic check it out if there is a general agreement that the owners price or what you can afford is resonable. Discuss price flexability if there are major problems. Make sure there is a recent smog inspection certificate. If not, ask the seller to smog it prior to scheduling your mobile mechanic's inspection. Finally, make sure the seller agrees to not consider other offers during this sale-pending period and have the seller call us and have them place it in a "sale-pending" status while you have it checked out.
Call Jerry at 415-374-4848 to schedule an appointment for your seller approved test drive. Be advised that COVID-19, 6ft-distance, mask-down, photo and license vetting procedures are required for a 20-minute local-area test drive.
If everything in steps 2 and 3, above is taken care of, call Jerry at
415-374-4848 to schedule a
vehicle inspection service from
SafeBuy or any other mobile mechanic's inspection service you prefer to choose.
Call the seller of the vehicle and make your offer. Avoid being discourteous or making a "lowball" offer. If you can't afford a fair price, just say that . . and the seller may be willing to accommodate your need, or consider your offer at a later time.
When your offer has been accepted, go to the bank and get a cashier's check and make an appointment to meet at the Buggy Bank for the final paperwork.
frequently asked questions
People like you who have busy schedules do not have the time to meet every potential buyer. Private individual sellers are saying no to costly trade-in deals and to paying thousands in dealer commissions. They prefer to display their cars in a respected and reputable business that provides a secure place away from their homes with professionals who administer test drives and handle buyer inquiries. They enjoy having their car displayed on the new free mobile friendly Buggy Bank web site. You will find that the sellers, in general, are very pleasant to deal with as one of their reasons they are using our services is that they are attracted to a hassle-free family oriented environment like Buggy Bank.
No test drive fees. No commissions. No salesmen. The only person in charge of selling is the individual owner of the car. Yes, there is a payment to a mobile mechanic in step 3, above, to make sure there are no undetected major mechanical problems.
Yes. Sales tax in alameda county is 9% of the selling price. Transfer and processing fees also apply so when you have agreed on a price with a seller just
call one of our customer service representatives and we will access the DMV Online Services system and let you know exactly what the total is going to be.
The best way to find this out is to check our
sold cars list. This will also give you a clue as to how fast these private party
owners are selling their cars. We also try our best to help the seller ask a truly reasonable price. If their car is not in a current marketable price range we won't display it and take their hard-earned money and use up a space that could be used by someone that is priced to sell.
Once you've done you initial chat with the owner, we'll assist with scheduling a mobile mechanic you choose to inspect for undetected costly major repairs that may be on the horizon and set up a final test drive and sales appointment that guides you through the paperwork and DMV maze.
Bring a current driver's license. We will retain your license during a final examination of the car, give you the key, and enter you in our database. For your test drive, we'll hold a credit card as collateral. Test drives stop at 5:00 pm and are limited to a 20-minute local drive. If your appointment includes a final sale with your seller, be sure to bring a cashier's check.