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It’s gonna be pretty cool to see cameras with autofocusing powerful enough to track a fly. I’m sitting under a tree with my mountain bike at a park roughly 2 miles from my apartment in Huntsville. This morning, I receive my Honda Clarity PHEV.
The delivery was not off to a good start. Yesterday morning, the driver of the car carrier called me to set a pickup location near I-565. The closest to me and most logical was the Oakwood Ave exit that’s approximately 1/4 from Optimist Park. The estimated time was 10 AM. Boom — all set!
At 7:30 the morning of delivery, the driver – who’s a real nice guy, real nice guy – calls me to ask if I can meet at Walmart in Madison. The address is 12 miles from home, 22 minutes, and a $38 Uber ride. New pickup time is 8:30 AM. The driver is willing to split the Uber bill with me. That’s a terrible deal, which I express to him after asking if he has cash. I tell him I’ll call back once I speak with Vroom about reimbursing my seemingly minor travel expense.
Get Vroom involved
Because Vroom, the online dealer selling me the Clarity, doesn’t start taking calls until 8 AM CST, I call 3 times before accepting that indeed none of Vroom’s departments begin taking calls before 8 AM CST. I set my alarm for 8 AM, and place the sheet back over my head to sleep.
Vroom calls driver. Vroom says me near at some nearby the exit.
Some things to note
Here’s a list of important things to be aware of when bugging a vehicle from an online dealer:
- Get the cutoff distance that the dealer will ask you to travel from your home to receive your vehicle. 5, 10, 20 miles? All that number because you might have to arrange a ride if the street your home is on can’t fit a car hauling truck.
- Call the driver before the delivery day if he/she doesn’t call you first. Get the dealer to give you the truck driver’s number from the dispatcher/transportation company. The truck driver is the person that will give you an accurate day and time your car will arrive.
- Take pictures of anything damage to the vehicle. Take pictures where it’s dirty. I knew when I bought my car that there were some scratches and paint-chipped spots because I had seen pictures. I took photos of everything I saw and decided to let the dealer sort out what was reported to me and what was new.
- A tip on annotating the damage: use a voice recorder to record your notes on the damage. If your phone can record a memo and let you shoot photos simultaneously, even better.
- Do not record a video of your damages. Video files will be too large for email, and the dealer will need still images. The best file type for photographs is jpeg – unless you’re reading this in the future when phone cameras can save images in WebP format.
- Last thing on inspecting for damage, check the interior. I found think dirt in the door jams and a stain on my rear seat.
- If you’re asked by the dealer to get quotes for repairing the body damage, visit multiple body shops/collision centers. I went to three and only one would give me a paper quote without an appointment.
I think that’s all I can think of. I’m sure the process of buying a car online can be fun. Right now, it seems there are some kinks that need to be worked out. For example, the email that says Your Vehicle is on Its Way should have information like the transportation company’s name and phone number, driver’s name, and phone number.