Consumers advised to request home delivery of new car

(August 29, 2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — One of the best-kept secrets of car buying is that most dealerships will deliver a new car to your home or office, reports Edmunds.com. The primary benefit to home or office delivery is clear: you can eliminate long waiting times that are sometimes unavoidable inside the dealership.

"The new-car delivery process can be agonizingly slow at the dealership, with buyers spending an average of more than four hours on location before they get to drive off," says Edmunds.com Sr. Consumer Advice Editor Philip Reed.

"But when the salesman brings the car and contracts to you, not only can you reduce the delivery process to a fraction of the time, but you have the advantage of concluding the deal on your home court."

While many might assume that only VIPs are eligible for home deliveries, the truth is that anyone can benefit from this service just by asking in the final stages of the negotiation process. In fact, home delivery is barely a hurdle at all for a salesman who's eager to ink a new deal.

While Edmunds.com advocates home delivery in just about all cases, consumers are advised to be aware of a few factors:

    • There should be no additional cost for delivery within 50 miles of the dealership. But if a car has to travel beyond that radius, consumers can expect a reasonable delivery fee of around $75.
    • When the car arrives, verify that the vehicle is the year, make and model you chose and that it has all the agreed-upon equipment. There should be no dings or scratches and the odometer should read less than 100 miles.
    • Internet managers are increasingly more open to evaluating trade-ins sight unseen. A price range is often given to the buyer for the trade-in over the phone and the final price is locked after an onsite inspection.

More information on what consumers can expect with a new car home delivery is available on Edmunds.com.