For more than five decades,buying a new car has meant visiting a dealership, haggling with a salesperson and driving away wondering if you got the best deal.

Randy Purcell, CEO of Richmond-headquartered Best Price Express (BPE), aims to change that.

“Almost every major investment [people] make involves an agent who acts like a referee,” he explained. “A real estate agent helps you buy a house, an insurance agent gets you coverage, a travel agent co-ordinates your flights … no one helps you buy a new car.”

Determined to better the business, Purcell formed BPE in 2009 and trained a team of agents to act as intermediaries between consumers and auto dealers.

“Only 7% of Canadians trust car salespeople,” said the ex-realtor and software developer, pointing to recent Consumer Reports studies. “That alone indicates serious underlying problems in the industry that aren’t being addressed.”

Rather than visit a lot themselves, Purcell’s clients simply indicate what car they wish to buy, pay a flat fee of $195 and leave the rest to BPE, which guarantees the lowest possible price on any new vehicle.

“We’re experts in negotiation, we possess a deep understanding of the methods and techniques used by car dealers to maximize their profits, we’re able to access discounted pricing you can’t get at the retail level, and we’ve formed such relationships with dealerships [in B.C., Alberta and Ontario] that they’re willing to work with us on reasonable terms, to offer us close to wholesale prices and remove unnecessary fees and charges,” he explained.

“We always get the lowest price because we buy more than others, and the dealers know there’s a substantial amount of business that comes from being in our good graces.”

Perhaps even more lucrative is the extensive community of new-car buyers that has formed since BPE started its engines. Its website is currently visited by more than 10,000 car buyers each month.

“The idea is to aggregate likeminded people and use that as a carrot we can dangle in front of the dealers,” Purcell said. “The power of social networking is undeniable, and in our case, it’s worked.”

BPE also continuously analyzes the market and shops around to ensure the price it gets is below what the average individual can obtain.

“The difference between the wholesale price of a new car and the manufacturer suggested retail price is between 8% and 11.5%,” he explained. “Armed with that knowledge, we’re able to get significant savings for our clients – $500 or more than they could have negotiated on their own on a $16,000 purchase, and up to $7,000 more on a higherend vehicle.”

Arthur Evrensel, a partner and the head of entertainment law with Heenan Blaikie’s Vancouver office, heard about BPE from a colleague and decided to try the service himself after seeing an ad online. Though he’d been working with a particular car dealer for several years, BPE’s 100% money-back guarantee offered a commitment-free way to find out if, in fact, Purcell and his staff could get him a lower price on the new BMW X5 diesel he had his eye on.

“They did, in fact,

come up with a lower price on the car – almost $4,000 less than my dealer could offer,” Evrensel said. “I’m completely sold on the service.”

While Purcell admits there are elements of brokering in his business, he points to a major difference between BPE and auto brokers.

“Many brokers work on behalf of dealerships; we operate entirely on the consumer side, independently of new car lots,” he explained.

“Our goal isn’t to sell

cars and make the dealer money, it’s to protect people from being overcharged, make the process more convenient and save our customers money and time.”

Even the recent recession, which had adverse effects on the auto industry, worked in Purcell and his clients’ favour.

“When the economy soured and the volume of vehicle sales went down, dealers were under more pressure to get as much as possible for every car,” he said. “That made our service even more relevant, as consumers became more conscious about getting a good deal.”

As Canadians continue to manage their personal finances responsibly, Purcell says, business for him is good – and getting better.

“We’re building this with an eye to the future, trying to create a fast and efficient exchange that ultimately decreases the price of a new car,” he said.

“Us being in the marketplace isn’t bad for auto dealers in the long term, since ultimately we’re trying to make the experience a more pleasant, efficient and transparent one.” •

news@biv.com