My Sailor daughter just bought her first car today!!  We sent her links to CarMax and AutoTrader for vehicles.  She chose a used 2013 Hyundai Sonata GLS Sedan.  She took a taxi which costed $45 from the Norfolk base to Virginia Beach.  Her female taxi driver told her the Charles Barker dealership was very reputable, which was very reassuring to our daughter.

The dealership was at Charles Barker Toyota, but she bought the Hyundai used from the Charles Barker Automotive lot right next door at 1877 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454 (757)437-4000.  It used to be a rental vehicle with 19,000 miles on it.  The CarFax record was clean and you could read it online before even going to the lot.. The price shown on the internet was not negotiable.  It had already been reduced recently by $110. 

JOSH NEITZ  was her salesperson and he was very friendly and informative.  She had us on Skype with her on her cell phone as she test drove the car, inspected the car, and doing all the paperwork and listening to the service people's spiels and the finance lady's explanation of service options.  Rejected the polyurethane coating, and the different service program options.  Could see that paying for "just in case" would be more than paying for something when it came up.

My daughter was pre-approved by NavyFED and had a check from them with her, but ABNB Federal Credit Union beat their 4.74% rate. The dealership allowed her to call NavyFED, USAA on their phone and they also checked GEICO, Wells Fargo, and ABNB Federal Credit Union on their end for insurance and used car financing rates.  She ended up with USAA ($800 for 6 months) and ABNB with a 4.29% interest rate.  Her car was washed, vacuumed and given a full tank of gasoline!!  There was a light on the dash indicating one of the tires had a problem with its pressure, but they gave her a voucher to go to a repair place and they would pay for the repair.

This whole process took 4 hours from start to finish.  I think the fact that we were on Skype asking questions and talking to our daughter, guiding her made this car buying experience was comforting for her.  Also, going to an established Toyota dealership primarily selling new cars with a used car area probably made a huge difference, rather than just going to a used car lot.