Below you will find some of the most common questions regarding our process.  Of course, should you have any additional questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer those for you as well.

Q.  What do you mean when you say that the Tri-Star process is "totally transparent"?
Q.  A traditional dealer has "layers of compensation".  What does that mean?
Q.  How long does it take to find my vehicle?
Q.  Your service is fee based.  What does that mean and how much is this really going to cost me?
Q.  Do you offer warranties and/or financing?


Q.  What do you mean when you say that the Tri-Star process is "totally transparent"?

A.   At Tri-Star we include the customer in every step of the process.  All of the documentation that our customer receives comes from independent resources.  Whether it be from NADA, Kelly Blue Book, AutoTrader, or the auctions, we do not create any of the information ourselves.  As a customer, you will see the actual auction paperwork verifying the true, wholesale cost of your vehicle.  We don't show you an irrelevant "invoice" that supposedly shows cost only to make hundreds or thousands of dollars in hidden mark ups.

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Q.   A traditional dealer has "layers of compensation".  What does that mean?

A.   Traditional dealers have multiple facets to their operations.  It begins with a vehicle buyer or wholesaler who adds to the true cost of the car before the dealership takes possession.  Then the dealership  itself adds to that cost to insure that the house makes money.   What the sales manager sees as cost is often already $1000-$1500 above the true cost of the vehicle.  Sales managers and salespeople get paid on the profit over and above this number.  The more profit they make on you, the more commission they get.  Add to that finance managers, title clerks, office personnel, and detailers and it's easy to see why a traditional dealer has to make more money per vehicle just to break even.  At Tri-Star, we handle the process from start to finish.  We buy the vehicle, do the paper work, title the vehicle, and even clean it up for delivery.  There is no need for a seperate buyer, sales manager, sales person, or office personnel.  And, no need to pay their salaries.  Not to mention no fancy showroom that the customers have to pay for.  Less overhead equals less cost to you.

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Q.  How long does it take to find my vehicle?

A.  That depends on the vehicle we are looking for.   More common vehicles generally take 1-2 weeks at the most.  In some cases, if you are very particular about what you want, or if the vehicle is less common, it can take a little longer.  Keep in mind that in a typical week, over 5000 cars and trucks are liquidated through wholesale, dealer-only auctions in the San Antonio area alone.  Chances are, if we can't find what you're looking for this week, we'll probably find it next week.

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Q.  Your service is fee based.  What does that mean and how much is this really going to cost me?

A.  Our fee is 10% of the actual, wholesale cost of the vehicle with a minimum fee of $500 and a maximum fee of $1000.   That's it.   Plain and simple.  Nothing hidden and nothing that will sneak up on you after the purchase.  Try finding a traditional dealer that will show you the actual auction documentation and then only add a small percentage and prove how much profit they are making.  With a $20,000 car, our fee would be $1000 which equals only 5% of cost.  That is an extremely small mark-up and one that a traditional dealer would not even touch.

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Q.  Do you offer financing?

A.  We do not offer financing at this time.  Traditional dealers use financing as a profit center.  A bank may give a dealer a rate of 6% and then the dealer gives the customer a rate of 7.5%.  The bank then pays the dealer "participation" for selling the higher rate.  You can save a lot of money if you do this yourself either on line or with your bank or credit union.    We would however, be happy to recommend a lender should you need one.

      Most of the vehicles we find have existing factory warranties which are transferrable.  For those that don't, or if you desire an extended warranty, please refer to our warranties page.
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