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Negotiating price of car with dealership?

14 replies

Yeni · 18/06/2008 12:22

I'm planning to buy a second hand car through dealership's approved used scheme. The price of the car is £13,000 and I'd like to try to haggle a bit but I don't know what level to go in at and if I can really expect to get anything off the price. I'm very British about these things and not used to haggling at all.

Any experience or advice from experienced car buyers?

OP posts:
VaginaShmergina · 18/06/2008 19:19

Yeni, we are researching a new vehicle at the moment and if you go to www.whatcar.co.uk they have information on what price you should expect to pay, how to wheel and deal and being firm with what you want. Very good info, but like you say being British often gets in the way of having the balls to haggle.

Also www.autotrader is a useful site too.

Good luck

Tinker · 18/06/2008 19:40

Oh, you must haggle. I quite enjoy it over cars because they certainly do expect you to with all their little scuttling off to teh manager talks etc. Can you find a similar care elsewher but cheaper? Tell them so. Can you pay in cash, even just a portion of it? Demand to know by how much they'll reduce it if you can? Check out Parkers to see guide price so you know what priceyou shoudl be looking at.

BetsyBoop · 18/06/2008 19:41

The other tip I was given was buy as late in the month as possible, as if they haven't met their sales target they are much more likely to want to make the sale at (almost) any price to meet their target to get their bonus - they won't be so forthcoming in the first week of the month

VaginaShmergina · 18/06/2008 19:43

oooooooo good tip BetsyBoop

Tinker · 18/06/2008 19:45

Yes, and end of July is good if you can wait taht long. Or is it? Lots of cheaper deals in August when people have part-exed for a new plate

detoxdiva · 18/06/2008 19:49

Have a look on Autobytel - they sell new and used cars direct. I was quoted £12,000 for my new car at the dealership, saw I could get it on the web for £10,400 - went back to the delership and they matched it

mamamamama · 18/06/2008 19:52

Echo what Betsy said - we just got 10% off the price of a car for buying from a dealer on the last day of the month and agreeing to drive it away that day.

VaginaShmergina · 18/06/2008 19:53

detoxdiva the autotrader website has the facility where you input the new car you are interested in, it tells you what the dealer will try and charge but will also tell you generally what they will settle for.

Will chek your site out too. Nothing like plenty of ammo !

QuintessentialShadows · 18/06/2008 19:53

The best time to get a car cheap is in October, but I guess that is too far off for you. The Next seasons car will come in at the beginning of november, and they want to have room for new cars and clear out the old ones.

You must haggle. I bought a second hand car today. I got them to double the warranty, put new tyres on the front wheels when I told them the tyres seemed to have just under a year left of legal wear on them, and they also agreed to polish away some small hairline scratches. The reduced the price from kr 125000 to kr 115000 (approx 12400 to 11500 gbp) so by a grand.

Offer them 10,000. They will negotiate up, and you must say a lower price. You will KNOW when they cant go further.

mollysawally · 18/06/2008 20:05

I've been watching 'don't get done,get dom' in the mornings (don't pull that face, I'm a very bored mum on maternity leave!) and he's always haggling.

Bascially he finds out the dealers name first, then asks what the best price is they can do on the item. Just asking this question seems to always get him discount and then it goes something like this:

Dom: well (insert dealers name) I like you and I like the item, but I don't like the
price. What can you do?

Sometimes the dealer comes down again, sometimes he won't budge. So then Dom goes in with a ridicously low price, almost half the price sometimes.
The dealer picks himself off the floor after fainting and says no chance.

Dom: well (insert name) I'm prepared to come up a bit from my price if your prepared to come down quite a bit.

Now what happens next varies quite a bit but Dom always then asks if they can meet in the middle of the two prices. When the dealer won't go no lower he asks for things to be thrown in free, so if it was a car he might ask for a full vlaet or full tank of fuel etc.

He always says to ask three times for a discount, always asking in a different way, always get the dealers name and keep it lighthearted.
I've seen him get some cracking discounts.

mollysawally · 18/06/2008 20:09

Oh and he always says

"If you can give me a price I like, I'll pay in cash and we'll do the deal right now"

bythepowerofgreyskull · 18/06/2008 20:12

Have a look at the best price you can find on the internet, take it in with you, use that price in your negotiations..
obviously I want to buy it from you but I find it hard to justify when yours is so much more expensive.

DH also says look at parkers.co.uk it will give you trade prices for cars.

hf128219 · 18/06/2008 21:34

Agree re the end of the month/quarter. Try and deal with a manager if possible - they just want to meet their sales targets.

I bought an ex demonstator (500 miles on the clock) for £20K - list price of £26.5K!

Play it cool and talk cash if you can.

Yeni · 22/06/2008 10:42

Thanks everyone. I managed to get a tiny bit off but not as much as I had hoped. I couldn't wait because I'd been looking for that particular model/colour/spec for months and this was the first time I'd seen the car with everything I wanted. It didn't help that the salesman knew I had travelled some distance to look at it but I've got it now and I'm very pleased with it.

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