Buying a new car - worth haggling?

[Passmetheprosecco86]

We are looking for a new car and have been looking at both used and brand new. It feels pretty much everywhere we have been has been like 'there's the price, take it or leave it' no real negotiation.

Wondering, has anyone haggled and managed to get money off or any extras thrown in or is that just not the done thing these days?

People will be here to tell you they always get some money off but every car I've bought in the last 5 years (embarrassingly that's 6 and you can imagine more were tested) from big and small garages has been "that's the price" so I really wouldn't even try. They will be snapped up by someone else quickly and if they aren't, you don't want that one!

In terms of second hand it’s definitely a case of ‘the online price is the price’ (check if you’re just seeing price on forecourt though as I’ve noticed those are put a bit higher than online price). They are already being competitive at the online point so it’s a different model now from the old days.

Loads of deals to be done on brand new cars though, that’s different again.

I believe it can depend a bit on whether you're cash buyers (less wiggle room), or taking some kind of finance.

Tell them clearly what equivalent cars you're looking at and their prices, and be prepared to walk away. This will let you know if there's any room for negotiation or not. Also remember that some things can be negotiated for that aren't cash - e.g. a new set of floor mats / a tank of petrol / home delivery etc.

If you're part exchanging an old car, they'll probably offer you a pretty low price for it, so make sure you get a few prices from different garages.

yes. In our case we found the make and model we wanted, used AutoTrader to track down the cheapest price for it (new), and then took that to our local dealer to ask if they could match it.

We’re recently bought a new (used but only a year old) car and found that there was no negotiation on the price.

If you’re using finance the dealerships will happily throw in extras like extended warranty and free services for X years. But as a cash buyer most we could get was a keyring.

Thus was with main dealerships, but you might have a different experience with smaller independents.

The only thing I've got thrown in are the fitted mats. Not a lot of wiggle room these days

I went on carwow I think it was? You put in the type of car you want and then local dealers come back with the best prices they can supposedly give you. There was quite a difference but luckily for me the cheapest was the closest one to me. I managed to then get more off by taking out their finance (just paid it off asap).

Yes, we’ve always haggled and still haggle. Garages are trying desperately to stop it and tell you it is what it is, but if you’re willing to play hardball and walk away, there is still room to negotiate, but these days mostly for stock that isn’t popular, stock in their pound or at the quarter end when they’re trying to hit registration targets. The less flexible you are, the more likely you’ll pay full price.

Last year we got a brand new list price £18k for £14k. The year before we got £2k off the windscreen price of an ex demo. 5 years ago we got a brand new list price £20k for just £15k. They were all by playing the long game, not just going to the showroom needing something quickly and being fussy with spec and colour. Build a relationship and wait for them to be desperate to sell something and they’ll give you a call!

Never say you’re in a hurry as they’ll smell your desperation and won’t budge.

Leave your details, tell them your budget and what you want and wait for their phone call.

We bought our used car last year and we went just before the end of the month and part exchanged our old car. We got free car mats thrown in and they took money off if we could collect it the next day (before the end of the month)!

Now that you can see other prices online dealers have to already price competitively so they are unlikely to reduce this. I bought a car over the weekend and managed to get a full tank of petrol, mats and a £500 discount.

Also look online at dealers in different areas. Prices are cheaper out in the poorer regions and more expensive in more affluent areas. Last time we were looking for used cars, prices were a thousand or two cheaper at garages in the north east around Newcastle and Sunderland for identical cars.

You can either spend the time travelling there to do the test drive and pickup or you can take screen shot to take to a nearby garage with the same car to see if they’ll match it. Dealers who are part of chains may also be able to have it brought over for you, even if they have an identical one, they can still sell you the one from elsewhere cheaper as their “book” price may be less than the one in their pound.

I got a couple of hundred off, but it was over £40k

Thanks everyone. We have went for new but as a cash buyer. We managed to do a bit of negation between a couple of dealers and ended up with around £300 off original price but it took a bit of work 🤣🤣

Good work OP 🙂!