I am the person friends call before they buy a car. The one who knows which model year fixed the gearbox and which dealer add-on is pure margin. At some point it stopped being a favour and became a business.
Car buying is broken in one specific way. You know exactly what you want, and the market makes it absurdly hard to go and get it. I would rather spend three weeks hunting the right car than hand you whatever is convenient this Saturday.
Every search is handled by me personally. No call centre, no volume target, and no dealer signing my paycheck.