Haggling with a main dealer

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Thu 15 Jul 2010 15:34
Haggling with a main dealer - Jonesy127

I’ve never bought a second hand car (or new, for that matter) from a main dealer, so this is all new to me.

How much might a dealer be prepared to move on price, if at all, on say a £6999 car? I know the answer might be subject to various factors, like how long they’ve had the vehicle / how much interested they’ve had, but could people give some opinions from experience?

I know I could walk in to a local dealer and ask, but I’d feel uncomfortable asking about a car I’m not actually interested in. And I don’t want to travel 80 or 90 miles to find they won’t move on price on a car I’m interested in, thus wasting a journey…

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Thu 15 Jul 2010 16:45
Haggling with a main dealer - Collos25

First of all you have to show as much confidence as them and be prepared to walk away if they do not accept your offer remember there are thousands of cars out t here to purchase.

Look at the car they are offering and then use different means to find the price of equivalent cars offer them a fair price they also have to make a living but as a last resort walk away a good deal is when both parties are happy if you pay over the odds you will never forgive yourselve.

Edited by Andy Bairsto on 15/07/2010 at 17:00

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Thu 15 Jul 2010 16:46
Haggling with a main dealer - Armstrong Sid
Are you taking a part-exchange? Will you be using finance from them?

Both could weaken or strengthen your case
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Thu 15 Jul 2010 19:18
Haggling with a main dealer - Jonesy127
Are you taking a part-exchange? Will you be using finance from them? Both could weaken or strengthen your case

Sorry, forgot to say. Nothing to part-ex, will not be using finance.

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Thu 15 Jul 2010 17:27
Haggling with a main dealer - bonzo dog

The answer (as you already point out) is that you don't know. It does depend on so many factors but again you don't know which ones apply in this case.

I was with a dealer this week who accepted an offer of £3995 on a car priced at £5495. Why? It was over age (in his case this meant 120 days) & his company policy was then to send it to auction & realise whatever price this brought. He also had 3 other similar cars & is having a quiet month.

What you need to do in order to satisfy yourself is to decide at what price you would be prepared to buy, not what they would be prepared to sell; then ask them if they would accept a couple of hundred quid less. If you are both there or there abouts then it's worth the trip down to get the aditional reduction by showing you are serious.

Good luck

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Thu 15 Jul 2010 19:05
Haggling with a main dealer - amj

Haggling can be fun. What the worst that they can do, they will say no! Start with a low price and work up.

When i got my car new last year i had a monthly repayment price in mind and so i worked toward that. I wanted to pay £200 a month and they started at somewhere around £250. I think we settled on £201 and a few pennies.

Just do some homework and dont a afraid to start stupidly low price as you can never go down. And if in doubt walk away and look for another car. Just be polite and friendly and enjoy yourself. It really is a buyers market so push for a good deal but accept that the dealer has to make some money on the sale SNIP.

Also theres a far higher mark up on accessories than cars so you may get a better deal on accessories than on the windscreen price of the car itself. Maybe try and get the next service free or discounted. Its not just about the sticker price.

Edited Post, Boris (Mod)

Edited by BorisTheSpider on 15/07/2010 at 23:06

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Sat 17 Jul 2010 13:27
Haggling with a main dealer - torqueman

I'd be interested to know how much latitude the salesmen have in agreeing a price. We had a spectacular success at a Main Dealer when we suggested a silly price and walked away when they did not meet it. The Salesman rang very late in the day to accept our offer.

The general practice seems to be that the Salesperson has to "Consult the Manager" and they promptly disappear for up to ten minutes. I suspect that this is a pyschological ploy and they simply go outside for a cigarette whilst you sweat.

There is also the theory that the end of the month is a better time to get good deals because they need to get their figures up. Not sure whether there is any substance to this.

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Sat 17 Jul 2010 13:50
Haggling with a main dealer - Steve Pearce

Looked an '09 A3 convertible that was a tad under £25,500. When asked about discount was told "it would be hundreds rather then thousands". Although I don't need finance he suggested I finance £7500 just to get 2 years free servicing...however the cost of the finance exceeded what the services would cost. Got a big fat no there from me.

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Sat 17 Jul 2010 16:55
Haggling with a main dealer - johnnyrev

We bought previous Doblo with cash and told dealer which engine we wanted and that we wanted air-con, told him how much money we had and then we sat tight not saying anything. SWMBO though I was being cheeky but we got what we asked for (about 4k off list price) plus alloys and metallic paint.

Recently got a new Doblo on finance and used finance calculator on Fiat website to work out a deal, took it too dealer who didnt know about 0% finance that was on website! I told dealer how much we wanted to pay a month and stuck to my guns, but had to be a little flexible in the end! (I wanted to pay 150 a month, ended up 160).

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Mon 19 Jul 2010 14:16
Haggling with a main dealer - amj

Cant belive my post was edited. I know what was written and in no way was it offensive,it was just a turn of phrase.

Sorry but i feel this forum is over moderated sometimes. Were there any complaints to what i had put or is it just one mans point of view differing to mine?

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Mon 19 Jul 2010 19:24
Haggling with a main dealer - BorisTheSpider

We did reciecve a comment about the post, I did not snip it because I didn't agree but that every other thought I had to replace it detracted from what was from being said so in the end I just snipped it as I had work to do.

Regards

Boris (Mod)

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Mon 19 Jul 2010 19:45
Haggling with a main dealer - amj

Thats fair enough i guess. May i ask what exactly the complaint was? Im not asking who,just what was said as im sure you will agree, the context of what was said was not meant to be offensive, merely a turn of phrase.

To be honest, im suprised you edited the post if it was just one complaint though,i mean i could probably trawl through the posts here and find quite a lot that offends me but being a public forum i accept that there has to be some lattitude and that i may always not agree with what is said but i dont get all upset about it. If there were a raft of complaints then by all means moderate but frankly i think it is a very draconian and authoritarian team of mods on here to edit a post like mine on the back of just one complaint.

If what i had said was racist, sexist,even maybe political or i had used foul language then by all means moderate away but come on guys, lighten up a little.

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