Would you pay full price for a used car?

[CallmeAngelina]

Help!
Going to view a (2 year old) car at a main dealer tomorrow. Could take out finance on it, or could pay cash.
If we decide cash, how much of a discount could we expect in percentage terms?
Not sure I've the balls for this.

What the market value ? Have you looked it up?

Autotrader says it's a "Fair Price." Not sure what that means...

They make commission from finance so you won’t get a discount for paying in full. They’ve offered me a discount to take out finance before and then cancel it a month in!

Be prepared to walk away - there is aLways another car. I had one refuse to budge once because they had a “queue” of other buyers. Called me at the end of the month to ask if I was still interested in buying it at the price I’d suggested.

Do they actually give a discount for cash these days? I bought a used car from a main dealer a few months ago and the salesman seemed very keen to get me to take out a loan, I presume because they get commission on it.

I didn't want a loan, and ended up paying about 5% less than they were originally asking for the car, but have no idea what I could have got them down to if I had taken out finance.

So many factors involved. Go in low and negotiate hard.

How many days have they had it for?

Cargurus website should tell you.

Some garages move them on after 30 days and don't seem fussed either way.

I just got £250 off an 8 grand car. I kept asking for more off but it was a no go

The usual going rate is 5%.

Ask if it's an ex fleet/company car also.

If the mileage is high its worth negotiating on price.

I calculated that mine had done an average of 15 miles a day, so I went for it.

Also I payed half and will pay the rest over 2 years. It works out at £440 interest in total over the 24 months.

Yes they make more money from you if you take out finance.

Cash used to be for the tax dodging salesmen of the Del Boy years.

Mileage is low. 11K for a 2017 plate. It's an AMG Mercedes.
I've seen newer ones with higher mileages.
I wondered about possibly paying half up front and then taking a bank loan for the other half, but dh says there's no point.
Not sure.

11K miles, that is. Not £!

How desperate are you to get the car?

New car registrations come out 1 March and dealers will be keen to move stock in the run up to that date.

You may get a better deal leaving it until later in February if they are struggling to hit targets.

Also might be worth asking them to add extras in - rather than discount - eg a service plan for free etc.

You can also take finance just for part of the cost- we part exchange, paid some cash and took finance for the balance to get a better deal on last car we bought.

I got a 12 month warranty with mine and I asked how much to extend it. They wanted £350 to make it 24 months, but it doesnt cover tyres, exhausts etc. I didnt bother.

How desperate?
Not at all. The bloke I spoke to on the phone today said that someone else is interested in it ( yes of course they are), and I said that if it goes, it goes.
There'll be other cars out there and I'm not even sure exactly what I want. It is nice though.

I recently had to get a new car. None of the main dealers offered any discount or any negotiation on the price for paying in full.

I think the main offers are on brand new cars only and if you are taking out finance.

You might be able to negotiate with a small dealership or a one man sales business. I personally preferred to stick with a main dealer.

FanSpam that's a good idea.

Is this from a Mercedes dealer....my experience is they dont shift a lot, I spent 1.5hrs when I got mine, most of that time was trying to get a decent px price for my Audi that they didnt want!!.

If its saying fair price on autotrader then its probably already priced to sell.

That's kind of what I was thinking, and haggling is way out of my comfort zone. But I think getting a service package might be do-able.
I don't intend to part-exchange my current car. They'd offer me peanuts. Will sell it privately.

We just bought a second hand car, listed 6995, we traded in old car, he gave us a good price for that. We offered £400 less and were prepared to walk away, but they accepted.It's a quiet time so they may be open to haggling.

It's a quiet time!

You can’t haggle in the first week of the month. Well you can but you won’t win. Play the long game and wait for two/three weeks.

I got just over 10% off a three year old car last year by haggling hard (but nicely) and being prepared to walk away. I was paying cash, but didn't tell the dealer that until we'd agreed a price. They make more on finance.