It is obvious that the appearance and spread of COVID-19 pandemic actually increase the desire of the most of people to buy their needs which may include cars without leaving their homes. Despite the remote car buying was strongly used before the pandemic, it is surely nowadays will rise dramatically with more issues, problems, and risks that relate to such process.
Effect of Pandemic on Remote Car Buying
Governments have imposed a set of rules and orders related to dealing with the pandemic, in which people were obliged to stay at home, as well as some of businesses and economic sectors that were fully or partly suspended from working.
With regard to the car trading, most of the rules at the beginning of the pandemic were related to operate maintenance centers and suspend the car sales business as sales were online, after that it became possible to sell cars on site with considering the rules of safety and social distancing. However, the majority of people have become aware about leaving their home to buy a car, economic situation for most of them also is no longer allowing them to buy new cars, and If it possible, the trend today is the remote car buying despite the risks and problems that attached to it.
Disadvantages and problems of Remote Car Buying
It is natural and logical that websites display the cars to be sold remotely in a wonderful and amazing way to attract the largest number of customers, but one of the problems and issues that buyers face is that the cars they get are not within their expectations, as the displayed images in these websites are devoid of problems that actually exist in the car such as scratches, small dings, dirt, bad smells and other problems that buyers find when they get the car.
In addition to many non-apparent problems that may exist in a car that was purchased remotely, such as serious mechanical malfunctions, missing equipment inside the car, and broken parts such as missing seats, ruptured seat belts, bullet holes that have polished, and other basic things that affect the performance and quality of the car, which seemed amazing, but the reality was the opposite. Absolutely although the buying process was easy and affordable.
Time Delays in the Delivery of the Remote Buying Cars
Among the other problems that are encountered when buying a car remotely is the delay in delivering the car beyond the predetermined date for its delivery due to the purchase and delivery protocol approved by companies that sell cars remotely, without any considerations of the buyer's circumstances and the plans that made based on the delivery date such as going for a specific trip or take a vacation to receive the car.
After Remote Buying Services and Returns
After buying services for buyers including a full refund policy within seven days or fixing faults and problems that are reported upon receipt, are considered as the most important things that distinguish remote car buying, after receiving the car and discovering one or more of the previously mentioned problems in it, the buyer surely will contact customer services to use the return policy. Herein the problem appears as they usually procrastinate until the return period ends without any benefits for the buyer. Also, the buyer may have an option to fix the faults and problems that founded in the car so that the matter end by transferring a little amount of money for these repairs so that it does not cover a small part of the car's actual need for maintenance.
Cars Financing Obstructions
The used car dealerships usually deal with external lenders to finance the purchase of cars for buyers instead of allocating a finance department, and here many problems arise as these parties usually lack of good and proper procedures in the lending process. This is one of the biggest problems that faced buying cars remotely. Accordingly, buyers have to find lending and financing companies known for their easy procedures before going to search for a car from a remote buying company, and this in itself is a problem and an obstacle to the process of buying cars remotely.
