Police officers, firefighters and EMS crews can buy a new car through SnagMyCar without trading a day off or a night of sleep for a dealership visit. We collect written, itemized out the door quotes from franchised dealers by email, make them compete, and check the paperwork before you sign. Dealers never call you on shift.
Shift work and the way dealerships operate
Dealerships are built around a nine to five customer who shops on Saturday. Salespeople call back during the day, managers want you in the building to close, and a typical visit eats most of an afternoon. None of that lines up with first responder schedules.
If you work 24 on and 48 off, your first day off is often spent recovering from a shift where you may not have slept. If you rotate 12-hour shifts, your days off move every week. If you work nights, a dealer calling at 11 a.m. is calling in the middle of your night. Add mandatory overtime, court dates, training and call-backs, and finding a block of free time that matches a dealer's hours is hard.
Our process takes the timing problem away. Dealers deal with us by email until you choose one. You read their offers whenever you are awake and off duty, at 3 p.m. or at 3 a.m.
How a search fits a 24 on, 48 off rotation
From signup to quotes ready takes about 3 to 4 days, roughly one full rotation:
| Your rotation | What is happening on our side |
|---|---|
| Off day, before your next shift | You start your search with the exact car, colors, must-haves, radius and pickup or delivery |
| Shift day | Round 1, about 36 hours: every matching dealer in your radius is asked for a written, itemized out the door price |
| Recovery day | Round 1 wraps up and round 2 begins: the best written number goes to the other dealers, who have about 24 hours to beat it |
| Second off day | Final call, about 12 hours: the top two dealers get one last chance |
| Next free window | You review a side by side list of quotes and pick one |
Exact timing depends on when you sign up and how quickly dealers respond, but you do nothing during the rounds. The full detail is on our how it works page.
No phone calls you cannot take
On duty, you often cannot answer a personal call, and you should not have to. Off duty, the last thing you want after a hard shift is a salesperson following up for the fourth time. Under the usual process, every dealer you contact gets your number and keeps calling until you buy or block them.
With us, dealers never get your number during the bidding. They get our emails, our deadlines and the competing number in writing. You talk to a dealer directly only after you pick it, to finish the paperwork. That is also why you can do the whole search on your own clock.
One trip to the dealer, or none
When you choose a quote, we tell the winning dealer, and the dealer sends a buyer's order at that exact number. We check that it matches before you sign anything. That means your one visit is short: you review a document that has already been checked, sign and drive home. Schedule it for a weekday morning on a day off, when the store is quiet.
If you would rather not go at all, delivery to your home or to your station can be arranged with the dealer. When you sign up, you tell us whether you prefer pickup or delivery, and we compare the cost of each so you see the total to your driveway. Check with your department before having a car delivered to a station.
What the quote shows you
Every quote is a written, itemized out the door price. It lists the selling price relative to sticker, any market adjustment, each dealer add-on and fee on its own line, taxes and government fees, and the total you would pay. That makes the add-ons hard to slip in. You can see a paint protection package or a market adjustment as its own line, and reject it. Our guides to the out the door price and to dealer add-ons explain what each line means.
Vehicles that fit the job
Your choice of car is your own, but a few needs come up often with first responders:
- Gear. Turnout gear, a duty bag, a jump kit or a go-bag needs space, and some of it should not ride in the cabin with your family.
- Commute and weather. Many first responders live a long way from their station or district. If you work through storms, think about all-wheel drive or a truck. In states like Idaho, Wyoming and Vermont, snow is part of the commute.
- The family car. If your department provides a take-home vehicle, the car you buy may be mostly for your family. Rear seat space and car seat anchors may matter more than anything else.
- Reliability. When you are on call or subject to call-backs, a car that will not start is a problem for your whole crew.
If the trim or color you want is not on any lot, we can run a factory order: you send the configurator build code and we get written quotes on that exact build from the brand's dealers in your radius. We handle new cars only for now, not used cars or leases, and we cannot help with direct-sale brands such as Tesla, Rivian, Lucid and Polestar.
Financing and incentives
We do not arrange or sell loans, and we take no money from dealers or lenders. If you belong to a credit union, get a pre-approval before your search and make the dealer beat that rate. Some manufacturers run programs for first responders. Dealers can apply any you qualify for, so tell us your role when you sign up and we will ask each dealer to show any incentive as a separate line on its quote. Eligibility rules are the manufacturer's, so confirm them with the dealer.
What it costs
Our fee is a flat $499. You pay a $99 deposit at signup and the remaining $400 only after the dealer's buyer's order matches the price you picked. If we don't beat the best written out the door quote you already have, your $99 is refunded and you pay nothing. The fee does not change with the price of the car. Full terms are on the pricing page.
Where we work
We serve buyers in Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Delaware, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho. Many states regulate or ban car buying agents, so first responders elsewhere can join the waitlist. Local details are on pages such as the Wyoming buyer's guide and the Delaware buyer's guide.
Other pages in this series cover groups who work similar hours, including nurses, doctors and military members. Start on your next day off, or on a quiet night at the station: start your search.
Questions
Does this work on a 24 on, 48 off schedule?
Yes. From signup to quotes ready takes about 3 to 4 days, roughly one rotation. You sign up on a day off and our three email rounds run while you are on shift and recovering. Nothing in the rounds needs you. When you have a free window, you review the quotes side by side and pick one.
Will dealers call me while I am on duty?
No. Dealers get our emails, our deadlines and the competing number in writing, not your phone number. You talk to a dealer directly only after you choose its quote, to finish the paperwork. You can read quotes whenever you are off duty and awake, day or night.
Can you get first responder discounts?
We do not have our own discount program. Some manufacturers run programs for first responders, and dealers can apply any you qualify for. Tell us your role at signup and we ask each dealer to show any incentive as its own line on the quote. Eligibility rules belong to the manufacturer, so confirm them with the dealer before you count on one.
Can the car be delivered so I do not lose a day off?
Delivery to your home can be arranged with the dealer, and we compare its cost against pickup so you see a total to your driveway. If you would rather pick up, your one visit is short because the buyer's order has already been checked against your quote. Check with your department before arranging delivery to a station.
Which states do you serve?
We serve buyers in Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Delaware, Vermont, Wyoming and Idaho. Many other states regulate or ban car buying agents, so first responders elsewhere can join the waitlist when they sign up. We handle new cars only, and we cannot help with direct-sale brands such as Tesla, Rivian, Lucid and Polestar.