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Buggy Bank
Rating Details »
Category: Car Dealers
Neighborhood: South Berkeley2821 Shattuck Avenue
(between Oregon St & Stuart St)
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 848-3015
2 for 1 holiday promotion.
Display 2 cars for 1 display fee or 1 car twice as long for the same fee. (call for details) offer good thruogh 12/10/09
- Hours:
Mon., Wed-Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
15 reviews for Buggy Bank
I sold my high-end vehicle here in two days thanks to the BuggyBank! Jerry is the man! Customer Service is alive and well at this venerable Berkeley institution. SIX stars all around!!!
Here's the deal, though, cars are "for sale by owner" so know what you are getting into. You pay a very nominal fee to display your car on their lot in a killer location...that's worth the price right there. But, the BB handles the test drives too, so it's pretty painless and convenient...go ahead and see how much time you'll spend on flakes using Craigslist IF you get any responses at all.
If you are buying a car, remember the BB is just a display service. They don't maintain or otherwise handle the cars at all...they aren't selling the cars, just letting them sit on their lot and coordinating key handouts to qualified buyers for test drives (BB ensure the driver is licensed and is a real person, etc.), and handling a little bit of marketing via Craigslist, but at the end of the day it's For Sale BY OWNER.
Whether you are buying or selling, you can't go wrong. http://www.buggybank.com
Comment from brad g. of
Buggy Bank
6/16/2009
Our own webstie attracts many buyers. We are now advertising…
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If you want to sell your car, DO NOT waist your time. Just go and see Jerry, they are so knowledgeable and honest. They tell you exactly how much the car will sell for and how long it will take. Less than a month your car is sold and you can do whatever you want with your cash.
my fiancee has been looking for a used car for a really long time, been on craigslist and all that. But he found the buggy bank on craigslist recently and noticed the good reviews on yelp. he saw a car there, got to drive it around for quite a while on his own, and just got the contact information for the owner. It was pretty simple, all he had to do was call the owner and he also got to negotiate the price.
Maybe we got lucky, the owner of the car was really easy to deal with. They just set up a date and time to meet at the Buggy Bank and that was it! They exchanged everything at location, the Buggy Bank let the previous owner and us the new owners know the next steps of things we have to do with the DMV etc. and we were on our way.
Overall, easy and good experience. The guys at the Buggy Bank were really down to earth nice people too!
6 DAYS! They sold my car in 6 days!
They guys who work there are very helpful and facilitated all of the paper work and the entire transaction perfectly.
Next time I need to sell or buy a car, I'm stopping here first.
yay! i am a fan because i can go over there and test out a vehicle for 20 minutes! WITHOUT the hassel of some guy or dealer sitting beside me telling me how this ride is or how people love the car.
i can drive the vehicle in peace and be one with the car....
PRO:
leave your info and drive off for a few min
CON:
people who dont clean their car before they drop it off!
then maybe you should use something better to get rid of dog hair. thats just gross
Comment from brad g. of
Buggy Bank
6/16/2009
The cars are all washed twice a week. Charles Baker,…
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Great idea, another "gee, why didn't I think of that first?"
It probably works well because this is Berkeley.
Sure man, I'll trust you with this dude's car. Just need to see your license, and vaya con Dios for the next 20 minutes, man.
Yeah, try THAT in Manhattan.
I bet they get a lot of foot traffic from the Berkeley Bowl, and they have the advertising down to a system, as well as a good reputation (of course, they're impartial to the cars, so THEY won't screw you.)
I listed my car there and will report back with success or failure, but I think it's a cool concept.
UPDATE - my car sold in 18 days, excellent. No real complaints about Buggy Bank except that I think they need to expand their hours. 10am to 6PM are not times when most normal employed people can go car shopping. Granted, they are open Saturday and Sunday, but that's also when the area is busiest because of Berkeley Bowl.
Comment from brad g. of
Buggy Bank
6/27/2009
We hold the test driver's credit card. We have their drivers…
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I sold my car in 4 days. It was so easy. They take care of it all, keep the car clean, deal with DMV and title transfer, and manage the viewings. All I had to do was negotiate the price with the buyer and it was done. GREAT DEAL!
Great idea and very helpful service. I bought a car from here after visiting for a while and finding the right deal. Everything went smoothly and the prices are real-world controlled and not marked up like used car sales lots usually are.
the buggy bank takes a lot of the pain out of selling your older car. i was pretty sure no one would want my late 90s chevy sedan, but instead it sold after only a week at the buggy bank! jerry is FANTASTIC! he helped me price my vehicle reasonably and then facilitated the paperwork for the sale. i would absolutely recommend the buggy bank for those trying to sell a car without the hassle of craigslist.
Jerry and Donovan are princes among men. Yes, this is the best way to sell a car. Yes, the service is friendly and professional.
But let me also add, I sold a car through the Buggy Bank while at the same time moving to New York City. My registration and smog cert both expired after I left the state, and while the actual State of California told me there was nothing they could do, Jerry and Donovan had it ironed out in a couple of hours.
It isn't just service, it is service above and beyond what I thought was even possible. Truly a five star organization.
It's so low-tech it makes you wonder what's wrong. Nothing, in fact, is wrong. Friendly people, and a great type of service. Sellers pay to list and park their cars. Buyers can check out the cars, even test drive them. No pressure, no hassles. It is even walkable from Ashby BART. I just wish you could get an email "alert" when a particular model or type of car comes into the lot.
Comment from brad g. of
Buggy Bank
6/16/2009
We normally alert buyers by phone, but if email works better…
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you just have to love the buggy bank. it's basically a parking lot where owners can display their used cars for sale and potential buyers can view them and even take them for test drives. they've beefed up their team there, and they operate a pretty tight ship.
i've both bought and sold a car there, and both times the experience was both quick and efficient.
the buggy bank is such a great concept, very berkeley, and you can find some great deals there, cheaper than buying a used car from a dealer and easier than having to trawl craigslist's listings of private sellers. owners leave their keys in the office, set a price, and then forget about their cars, until a buyer expresses interest. then you conclude the transaction as normal.
i bought my first-ever car here, and then proceeded to drive it into the ground on trips up to tahoe, where it finally died at the summit of donner pass. oh, the memories.
On the one hand, it really sucks sitting around all day Saturday waiting for people who don't show up to test drive your car. It is much more pleasant dealing with people over the phone and meeting them for the first time as they hand you a check.
On the other hand, the cost for handing over your keys at the Buggy Bank is $400 smackers. Also, they have a website but the main marketing they do is to post an ad to craigslist for you. In my case, I brought the car in Wednesday and they didn't get my ad up 'til Sunday night. Then after the ad expired, they didn't manage to get another ad up for a week. That's two weekends with no ad. People shop for cars on the weekend. So I didn't feel like I got a whole lot for my money but I suppose for some people even one time on a test drive with some tweaker getting your car up to 60 on a side street then doing a "brake check" is too much.
Comment from brad g. of
Buggy Bank
6/27/2009
We allow extra time to sell equal to the lost time on ads…
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The best way to sell a car. Just sold my car there, for much more than what dealer offered me for trade in and I bet the person who bought my car is happy too for saving money rather than buying from a dealer's used car dept.
Jerry and Donovan were awesome they helped me along the way from setting up the car, help test drivers and colelct their feedbacks and pass them on to me and then helped us do the paperwork once I found a buyer.
Will definitely sell my cars again there.
The only way to sell a car without having to deal with morons never coming over or if they'll come back after the test drive. Just let Buggy Bank deal with it.
