Car Buying Experience

There are many different aspects of car selection. People like to “kick the tires” and smell that new interior smell. They like to test its ability of accelerating up hills and how it handles around curves. Are these important to check out? Sure.

There is something interesting about this though. I guess it could be considered somewhat of a psychological question (any of you who took psychology, just feel free to call me out in the comments section) but it is a good one at that. What makes us want to know so much about products when buying them even though others have tested them for us already?

Magazines such as Consumer Reports and websites such as CNet.com or Edmunds.com have extensively tested pretty much any product you could find under the sun. Despite all this information at any customer’s fingertips, they still want to see it and test it for themselves.

Both in 2005 and 2007, my parents were in the market for a new car. Each time we arrived at a dealership, they’d always insist on looking around the lot without the salesman (politely asking the salesmen of course if they could stray away from the norm).

Only after those initial 20 minutes did they inquire further about what they saw intricately parked around the lot. Once this happened, usually the salesman would go with us on a test drive. During this ride, they would rattle off endless facts about the vehicle.

Is it because we don’t have enough trust in outside sources? I understand about not trusting all dealerships, but those websites or magazines have a long standing reputation of quality and reliability.

For myself, I would have to agree with my parent’s way. At least to me, I like to see and experience the car right then and there myself. I want to see the car myself and actually get inside and look around. Pictures on the internet can’t do cars much justice.

When I look at pictures and videos of cars online, it is hard to acquire the same feeling that you or I would get sitting inside the car or test driving it.

About a year ago, I found this great channel on YouTube of many different cars. Kyle, the person who runs the channel, is a guy who is currently going to school for medicine. His family owns a used car dealership in Reidsville, NC and he has been detailing cars for years.

His vast array of videos (he has more than 600) include start ups of the cars, tours of the interiors and exteriors, test drives, detailing results, and many others. His videos are probably the closest you can get to experience the same feeling you would have at a dealership online.

Here is one of his recent videos he made was a feature of every single vehicle on another larger dealership’s lot. Keep in mind it was made for a special occasion- his 600th video. It is nearly an hour long, recorded just by him and edited by him. The video is below.




Most of his other videos range from 5-10 minutes and car lovers can easily spend hours browsing through the videos.

So, if you are ever buying a car and either feel too lazy to make it out to the lot and spend the extra time searching for the right car or don’t have the time, check out SaabKyle04’s page.