Coffee + Kilowatts #13: Car Buying Tips & What Next for Dealers? (with Special Guest Geoff Cudd)

This week changes our regular format slightly, running longer to ask questions (and get car buying tips) from Geoff Cudd, founder of Find The Best Car Price -- https://www.findthebestcarprice.com/EV . You'll find the questions we discussed -and on which we'd love to hear your personal opinions - pinned in the comments.

You can also let them know you saw this video and register interest in electric cars by checking out the link above.

If Geoff's name and site sound familiar, that's because he prompted the question for C+kW #11: Can Car Dealerships EVolve? - https://youtu.be/H0aGDe5kuk0 . This one takes a step back to look at the origins of his site, how it has evolved to meet the changing needs of car buyers, tips for getting a good deal on a new vehicle, and pondering how the purchase experience and dealer practices could change as electric vehicles gain prominence.

As always, there's a lot to unpack and we cover quite a lot of ground in this conversation. Geoff's tips align with how my wife and I managed to get solid deals on our 2017 and 2020 Chevy Bolt EV leases, although we got lucky with a dealership that stuck to their offer and didn't attempt any of the questionable approaches we talk about here. For anyone looking to buy a car of any kind, but especially an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid, there should be plenty to take away from this advice. Here are timestamps for the various sections of our discussion:

1:45 - Why Geoff started the site
3:34 - How do car buyers use the site?
6:08 - Why do car dealerships have such a bad rep?
(Hat tip to Swiss Toni: https://youtu.be/iBw-aEixWuo )
8:30 - What tips can you offer to improve the car buying experience with dealers?
10:58 - How might the dealer experience change over the next five to ten years?
13:14 - What are some general car buying tips to get the best price?
14:15 - How does online ordering change the buying dynamic?
16:21 - Will people still need dealers when EVs are the norm?
18:28 - What can dealerships change now to serve the next generation of car buyers?

We hope you enjoy this format. It marks our first interview on the channel and fits the conversational style intended for the Coffee + Kilowatts series. Your thoughts on content and approach are always valued, so please let us know what you think in the comments to inform future videos. You can also get in touch at plugandplayEV@gmail.com, or over on Instagram/Twitter via @plugandplayEV.

Grab a coffee, thanks for watching, and we look forward to a vibrant exchange of views down in the comments!