Our Suppliers

Broad reach finds the finest pre-owned autos

With 23 million used autos sold in the U.S. each year, we've had to get pretty sophisticated to find the best ones. While the source used to find your vehicle varies based on make/model, year and state, our top five sources are outlined below.

• Corporate Fleets.
  Fleet organizations provide governments and corporations with about 1.7 million staff vehicles each year. The bulk of these cars are provided on a 24-36 month basis. At the end of that time the vehicle is returned for re-sale. A great source of well-maintained, late model, vehicles, we routinely buy from fleet organizations such as Ford Motor Company, DaimilerChrysler and General Motors.

• "Captive" Finance Companies.
  Most auto manufacturers have in-house financing groups which extend loans or leases to prime customers. These groups take back almost 2 million vehicles each year as lease returns or reposessions. Short lease terms and stringent end of lease inspections make Captive Finance Companies a good source of well-maintained, late model vehicles. We buy from captive finance sellers such as Mercedes Benz Financial, American Honda Finance Co., Toyota Motor Credit, General Motors Acceptance Corp (GMAC), Volkswagen Credit and Ford Motor Credit.

• Auto Finance Companies.
  Large auto lenders re-market about 1.9 million pre-owened vehicles each year. Almost 65% of these are lease returns. The remaining 35% are reposessions. Like Captive Finance Companies shorter lease terms and stringent lease end inspections make these companies a great source of quality pre-owned vehicles. Sellers in this market include Chase Auto Finance, Citifinancial Auto, CapitalOne Auto Finance and Bank One Auto Finance.

• Rental Fleets.
  1.97 million rental vehicles were sold in the U.S. in 2005. While some consumers have an aversion to rental vehicles, the reality is that rental fleets are a great source of quality vehicles. Why? Rental car companies often hold vehicles for less than two years. Further, they carefully inspect vehicles after each rental adressing damage as it occurs. Finally, regular maintenance programs ensure vehicles are well maintained. While quality varies and a thorough inspection is always warranted, some of the best late model used vehicle values can be found in rental fleets. Fleet providers we buy from include Hertz, Enterprise, Budget and Dollar.

• Dealerships.
  Dealers took in over 15 million pre-owned vehicles in 2006. The majority of these used cars were taken as trade-ins on new or used vehicles. As a result, the average dealer trade-in is older (5.3 years old) than the average lease or fleet return and typically has higher mileage. Nevertheless, the number of trade-ins has led to an active wholesale market in which dealers trade vehicles directly and through third party auction houses such as Manheim and Adesa. The Auto Buying Service has relationships with dealers throughout the United States and is a member of the major auction and wholesale networks providing us direct access to this important source of pre-owned vehicle inventory.

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Disclosure: We developed the content for The Auto Buying Service™ while working with automotive industry clients. We hope you find it helpful in making informed decisions. While we believe the information to be accurate, we do not guarantee its accuracy.