Chicagoland Dealer is Home to Northern Il GM Program Cars!
Over the past 12 years Tom Sparks Automotive, (formerly Tom Sparks Buick), has become one of Northern Illinois’ largest General Motors “program vehicle” dealerships. I get the question asked several times a week, “Tim, where do you get all the nice low mile cars?” Well, we have worked very hard to find the best vehicle, with the lowest miles and the lowest price. When you add in a large selection it becomes easy to do your buying.
What is a Program Vehicle?
The term Program Car is a catch phrase for late model used cars. The new car manufacturers have many Programs where they supply vehicles in bulk.. A program vehicle can be a dealer demonstrator vehicle, a company executives car, fleet or rental vehicle. Another type would be an off-lease which means that one person drove the car during the lease term. A program vehicle can also be a new car that has been slightly used for test drives throughout the year in which the car was first released. In fact, about 25% of “Program Cars” are lease returns, about 70% are rental cars (cars from Hertz, Avis, etc.), a small percentage of “Program Cars” are cars actually driven by factory officials, and a few of them are “Buy Backs” or “Lemons!” That’s right! They resell the “Lemons” back to the car dealers! At Tom Sparks Auto we stay away from the buy backs!
One Owner Off Lease
This is the easiest way to find a good clean quality car. In the lease program there are a few people who drive low miles. These are the cars we go after. Most of the time we pay a premium for the best car for sale that day. In the past, many of our customers have selected this option.
Rental Cars
One of the largest suppliers of Program cars is rental car companies. Don’t be alarmed or worried by the term. We buy the best graded cars that we can find. A grading system is used in describing the vehicles to the prospective buyer, us! After we purchase the best car we can find, we put the car through our 110 point inspection. Going over the car with a fine tooth comb gives our mechanic a chance to do any work that GM has already agreed to fix under their warranty policies and procedures.
Fleet Cars
Many large companies will arrange to have vehicles on 6 month, 1 year, 2 year, even 3 year terms. When the time is up they then go back to the manufacturer. At this point, the manufacturer will offer the gently used vehicles to their wholesale partners.
Let’s be clear on one thing, the quality on any used car is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Please do your shopping and research before stepping out of your home. In just a few short hours using sites like AutoTrader.Com and Cars.Com you will have a good idea on what today’s fair market price is on the vehicle your interested in. At www.villagemotors.com you can receive a free e-book, “Eight Keys to a Better Car Deal”. This is a consumer guide to buying used cars.
At Tom Sparks Automotive in Dekalb Illinois and Tom Sparks Chevy of Hinckley, Illinois, we carry a great selection of program vehicles. The selections of the Buick Lacrosse and Lucerne will be in high demand. Chevrolet Impala, Malibu, Malibu Classics as well as the Maxx will be in supply. As far as Pontiacs go, with the announcement of the closing of the brand, this will make them a great value. We see the Pontiac G6 as being one of the best buys in the future. Click on over to our web site and see what we have in stock today!