About Us
We're not trying to sell you a car.
The car-buying decision engine, before the shopping starts.
A note from the founder
I built Before You Buy That Car because I watched too many people — myself included, once — walk into a dealership without understanding financing, reliability, or the true cost of ownership, and pay for it for years afterward. This site is a one-person operation for now: no sales team, no dealer partnerships, no commission on what you buy. Every Buy Score, every guide, and every calculator is built to answer the question I wish someone had answered for me: is this actually a smart purchase?
— Dececco Dockins, Founder
How we approach this
Facts over sales pitches
Every Buy Score and recommendation is built from sourced reliability data, ownership-cost math, and longevity research — never from which brand bought an ad.
We show our work
Every vehicle review lists exactly which data backs each claim, and says plainly when we only have brand-level data instead of model-specific numbers.
No dealer commissions
We don't sell cars, take dealer referral fees, or accept payment to rank a vehicle higher. If a car scores Avoid, it scores Avoid.
Honest about what's incomplete
We're a small, growing site. Where we haven't researched a vehicle or state yet, we say so — instead of publishing a thin page just to have one.
How We Score Every Car
The Buy Score™ is a 0–100 number built from six weighted factors. We publish the formula because a trust-based site should show its work, not just hand you a number.
80–100 is a Buy. 55–79 is a Consider— a real strength paired with a real tradeoff worth understanding. Below 55 is an Avoid— the data points to real risk that outweighs the vehicle's strengths for most buyers.
How this site makes money
Right now, it doesn't — this is an early-stage, self-funded project. If that changes in the future (for example, non-endorsement advertising), we'll disclose it clearly on this page. It will never change how a vehicle is scored.