Advice on buying car?

[CarlessCarly]

I'm about to start looking for a used car. Probably about 3 years old from a main dealership. Thing is it has been ages since I changed cars and the market is different now. Is there any room for negotiation these days? I am trading my old car in but it's not worth much. Any up to date advice would be appreciated!

There is always room for negotiations, my dh is a car salesman and he says they will have a limit on what they can go down to so they can make a reasonable profit. I’ve always just gone in with a specified amount that I can/ willing to pay and kept that private. I would wait until they suggest a price and then see how much they are able to discount. I’d then say how much I was willing to pay and see what else they can offer/ suggest.
Sometimes though it doesn’t always work out and you need to decide if you can afford it so I’d go looking for what’s in/ close to your price range so you’re not getting your hopes up.

That's very interesting, thanks for that. What sort of percentage of the asking price should I go in at?

Also go at the end of the month as they have targets to hit and will discount heavily if they haven’t met their targets for the month. Look at what equivalent cars are selling for .

I would let them go through all the prices first. Ask them what’s the best deal they can do and just keep to it. There isn’t a set percentage as it will depend on what you can afford based on the price of the car.
I agree with going in at the end on the month too.
If you’ve seen a particular car you like then shop around and see what other places are pricing it at.

We went towards the end of the month and got big discounts to pick the car to before the month was over