Learn more about the Car Hunter profession
A car hunter searches out the best deals and handles price negotiation too
Have you heard of a car hunter (or caçador de carros, as it's known in Brazil)? It's a profession that's been gaining ground in the country, along with consumers' trust. That's because the car hunter handles both buying and selling the car for you, with no hassle on your end. Everything falls to them: the search, the inspections, the negotiations with the dealership or the private seller.
One automotive consulting service, based in São Paulo, has been in the field since 2013 and serves around 20 clients a month. It helps drivers looking for new or low-mileage used cars, including luxury models like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, and Audi. Its services cost between R$600 and R$1,500.
This specialist says the most sought-after models are low-mileage cars up to a year old. "Some of the best sellers are the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, priced between R$40,000 and R$80,000," they say.
Another professional, a car hunter for three years, works on sourcing used models, both domestic and imported, also in São Paulo. He identifies the buyer's needs, finds the best opportunities, inspects the car, and issues a technical opinion recommending the purchase or not.
This car hunter says the car is assessed against a checklist split into five categories: exterior, mechanics, interior, trunk, and test drive. If the purchase goes ahead, he also negotiates the best price and payment terms, whether that's paid in full, in installments, or financed.
According to this "detective", among the cars his clients most often ask him to find are the Nissan Tiida and, once again, the Honda Civic. "Besides features like air conditioning, power steering, and power windows and locks, about 73% of my clients require an automatic transmission," he says.
The car hunter explains that he recommends a car to the future owner based on a profile built from a form the prospective buyer fills out. The report with the recommendation is delivered within 48 hours.
In the "Inspect" package, more than 150 items of a model chosen by the interested client are checked. A report is also sent after this stage of the work. Finally, in "Search", the specialist goes out and hunts, literally, for the perfect used car. The customer only needs to fill out a questionnaire to define their profile.
The specialist even handles negotiating payment for the car on the client's behalf.
With that, the car hunter searches the market until they find the car that seems to offer the best value, with no limit on time or on how many cars they look at.
Selling
For a driver who wants to sell their car, the process isn't much different from buying. The listed car stays with the client throughout the sale process until the deal closes. The car hunter handles publishing the listing online, scheduling viewings, and following up on payment and paperwork. The commission runs around 4%, depending on the model's category and year.
Before starting the sale process, the specialist first researches what similar cars are listed for on the market. "After that, I put together a sales strategy for my client, based on values from my own assessment and from the market," he says, wrapping up.