Haggling over car prices or spending countless hours searching for a new vehicle can be a real hassle, but a new auto buying concierge service in town can alleviate those struggles by hiring someone to do the legwork for you.
Auto Buyers' Consultants of Florida was launched in December 2015 by Ponte Vedra resident and business owner Brian Mazur, who said the benefit of using his services is three-fold: save time, save money and save aggravation.
“Number one, someone is going to save money because I’m going to work all parts of their car deal,” Mazur said. “I’m going to shop their trade-in car and get maximum value for that, then I’m going to work both sides of that process. Number two is save time: I do all of the legwork. Thirdly, I’m saving aggravation or hassle: Instead of (the buyer) going into the dealership and haggling with a professional negotiator, I’m doing it.”
The idea for this type of business stemmed from a business of the same name in Mazur’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Penn. Mazur’s family used that business for around 20 years, he said, and Mazur adopted its model for his new Ponte Vedra business.
“I was familiar with his business and loved the model,” Mazur said. “I love automobiles, but specifically, even more so, I enjoy helping people.”
Helping people is how Mazur described his prior careers as a college president and finance executive. After 20 years in higher education, Mazur was looking for something new to do.
“It happens to be in the car-buying business, but it’s helping people,” he said. “I look at this as consumer advocacy really – educating people about buying a car,” said Mazur, who noted he loves the negotiation process and working with numbers. Mazur believes his business can help a wide-range of people, including first-time car buyers, parents buying their son or daughter their first car, senior citizens, busy executives who may not have the time to go through the car buying process or anyone who is intimidated by the car-buying process.
A no-obligation consultation is offered, and Mazur charges a flat fee for his service, with 50 percent of that fee required to be paid up front and the remainder paid after the customer is completely satisfied. Mazur will meet the customer at the dealership to finalize the transaction and ensure everything runs smoothly.
Because he is not a traditional auto broker or in the automobile industry, Mazur said he has no conflict of interest.
“I’m solely on the side of the buyer.”
