How to Shop for a Car That is Safe: When You Should Check the Auto Grade

In this video, Alexa and Norma discuss the best time to use the Auto Grade. If you want to know how to shop for a car that is safe for you and your drivers, you’ll want to watch.

Alexa: So, Norma, tell me, when would it be a good time to start looking at your grading system when I’m buying a car, especially given the fact that right now safety’s such a top concern?

Norma: Sure, well, Alexa, it’s really dependent on you. If you really like a car, just come on [the website] and look. If you’re kind of worried about whether or not you should even consider a newer car that’s maybe a little over the top in cost, you can look at and see what the Auto Grade is. Or you say, “Well, I saw this really nice car in a driveway, people had a For Sale sign on it.” Check out what year it had to be or something like that. So our philosophy is, come to us with a handful or one that you’re really, really interested in and double check. So, before, during, or after you’ve made up your mind, it’s a fine time. We don’t want to dictate to you what car to buy because we know it’s a very complicated problem. You’ve got the money issue, you got the reliability issue, you got the size issue, you got the miles per gallon issue; these are all factors. So, we focused on safety. So you can check it out. We think our mobile, it’s not exactly an app, but you can access our website on your phone. So, if you’re in a [sales] lot looking at a car, you can look it up.

Alexa: Wonderful, and can you tell me exactly what are your top picks for the safest car in the last year or so?

Norma: Oh, excellent question. Our philosophy doesn’t go to picking the highest, but we do have some that hit the honor roll. And it may or may not work for you because they are typically SUVs. And, by the way, 75% of all cars being bought this year are going to be SUVs.

Alexa: Wow, that’s really interesting.

Norma: So a couple that are on the honor roll are the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and believe it or not, the Buick Enclave.

Alexa: Really, wow.

Norma: Yeah, so they’re kind of unusual. And when we say the honor roll, what we mean is that across all ages and gender, they all get As. So if you’re going to share the car with somebody that’s not in your age group and you want to make sure that they’re all safe, we consider that the honor roll.