After all the fuss last week about falling 4x4 prices I approached my local Toyotal dealer with trepidation when test driving a replacement (yaris). I was even more horrified than anticipated to be offered £6,500. The car is a March 2003, GX model five door auto with added parking sensors and has an, admittedly high, mileage of 63,500 miles but in very good condition. Please can anyone give me any advice on whether this is reasonable or not. I was offered £7,500 by a mini dealer and £7,800 by Honda at the end of August and have done little mileage since.
The reason I have been dithering is because all the cars which interested me would not fit down my steep drive and I have only just had it re-engineered. I am also wondering whether I am being treated like an idiot in being told there is no reduction on the list price - on mentioning the What Car target price I was told, basically, that this was all a lof of nonsense. Of course, I would get another £1,000 on the car if I go down the finance route (although, as this is not 0%, it would not save me the £1,000 quoted).
Any advice would be really welcome. My instinct is to go to another dealer. Thanks for your knowledgeable advice.
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My instinct is to go to another dealer.
Follow your instinct.
For a trade in value try this page
www.virtual-showroom.co.uk/scripts/nuvv/nuvv1.asp?...0
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Your car would probably retail at somewhere around £8500, so you are looking at 'real' p/x value somewhere between 6500-7500 (remember, dealers make more on used than on new). What is important is the 'cost to change'; i.e. price they sell a new car to you minus price you get for yours. Its a slack time of year, so not many customers in the showrooms, play hard with them.
Just think about car buying like buying a new dishwasher - this is all cars are nowadays (although dealers pretend its different). MINI pre-registered some cars earlier this quarter - so demand can't be that strong.
You could try a private sale of yours at £6995 firm (should shift quite quickly at that - ask a bit more if prepared to wait) and then go to a broker.
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Aprilia
Are you meaning the new Mini Cooper? This is really my first choice, just a bit expensive - but then if I am going down the finance route anyway I might as well get exactly what I want! I don't know how well these new mini's are selling. You certainly cannot get any nearly new mini ones (former model) and nearly new previous model coopers are pricey so buying new only seems a bit dicey from the point of view of new, and untested, model.
Thanks for your advice.
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The point I was trying to make is that to a dealer a car is just 'metal' and they need to shift 'em. Any dealer who says What Car target price is nonsense is himself talking nonsense. In fact most of the big dealers now rely on shifting cars through brokers in order to meet targets and should be ready to discount - even the so-called 'prestige' stuff. e.g. lots of BMW 1's and 3's were pre-registered on '56 to keep the metal moving.
Just ring around lots of dealers, letting them know you are ready to buy and exactly what you want. Ask to speak to the sales manager. Get their 'best price' and then ask for tank of fuel and set of mats on top.
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With Toyota sales down 3.97% this year (more than the industry average), they should be keen to deal.
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Actually I'd partially agree that the What Car thing is nonsense - usually their numbers are way too high!
Better to get some actual concrete prices from some brokers - for example drivethedeal are doing the 1.3 T3 Yaris for £8300 (£10300 list), albeit with some finance strings attached. Even without the finance, they're still doing £1000 off.
When the new Yaris came out it was way overpriced - there have been large discounts since launch. You'd be mad to pay anything like list price on one.
Stay cool, take your time and look around - saving £1000 is well worth a bit of patience and effort.
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After our attempted Aygo buying experience the OP first post seems about right for Toyota dealers at the moment. Even when presented with ample evidence the price they are quoting is well OTT they don't want to negotiate.
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Out of interest what did your wife buy in the end? Did she give up on Toyota. If this is their general attitude I think I am definitely now leaning more towards another marque.
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>>I would get another £1,000 on the car if I go down the finance route (although, as this is not 0%, it would not save me the £1,000 quoted).<<
I took up the option with Toyota finance for £1000 off the car price for taking out their high interest rate loan and then paid it off immediately with no penalty.
It worked for me but be careful they have not twigged onto this and built in some penalty clause.
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After our attempted Aygo buying experience the OP first post seems about right for Toyota dealers at the moment. Even when presented with ample evidence the price they are quoting is well OTT they don't want to negotiate.
I'd be wary of generalising. Remember that most dealers are not owned by the manufacturer. The deal you get depends on lots of things - dealer targets, bonuses, when in the quarter you are asking etc etc. Always pays to contact plenty of dealers. Also depends on how strict the manufacturer is about out-of-area sales (i.e. some dealers get punished by having bonus reduced if they sell to customers outside their area) and so it goes...
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As a fellow RAV4 GX auto owner, I've done some research on t'internet for you.
This dealer is definitely pulling your leg. Even with a mileage of 63k the offer of £6500 is below par. I checked the Toyota website and I've seen an 02 GX auto with 66k at £9995 and an 03 GX auto with 60k at £10995 - in the south of England mind you (don't know where you are). Assuming your car is nice and tidy with a FTSH you can bet this dealer will forecourt it at a similar price if you p/x it to him. As Aprilia says though, this dealer is not indicative of the marque and you should shop around if another Toyota is what you fancy.
The Glass' p/x price guide for your car (with 60k) is as follows:
Excellent £7990
Average £7220
Below Avergae £6190
I got this from the Vauxhall website (don't know how often it is updated). You can check and print for yourself if you go to www.vauxhall.co.uk then sitemap - "value my car"
The speculation over the future road tax on 4x4s shouldn't affect your car IMO as it is Band F (similar to SAABs and other petrol turbo passenger cars etc) The 4x4s the chancellor will be targetting are in Band G.
Trust this helps, but there is a saying that the cheapest car is the one you've got, why change?
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Thanks for this, it's really helpful to have my instincts backed up. In fact, the dealer told me that his manager would not allow the car on their forecourt due to its high mileage - but he might be able to persuade him if we were lucky; but then, no, this did not work so the car would have to go to auction where it would only achieve £6,100 or so!!!!. I am in Basingstoke by the way.
Bizarrely I went on the same Glasses site and got a different figure to the above yesterday (a bit more).
Yes, it would be cheaper to keep the RAV, (which I love) but I don't want to be saddled with an even bigger cost to change it a couple of years down the line and I am looking for something considerably smaller now that my son does not need transporting to school and back every day (18 miles each way x 4 hence the big mileage...) and which uses rather less fuel. Small and cute is the idea!! At this rate small and cute will not be big small.
Incidentally, your final comment also sounds like an echo from the other side of the sofa here; do you know my husband by any chance?
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Since you've already taken the hit on depreciation on the car, the cheapest option is clearly to keep it if there is nothing wrong with it.
Consider - the car is worth (say) £7000 now.
In two years time it will be worth (say) £5000.
So the cost of ownership for the next two years is £2000
Now let's say you trade in the car now for something else smaller (and hopefully cheaper); say your new car costs £7000 - the trade in costs you nothing.
But depreciation on the new car is likely to be stepper than on your current one, so it will cost you *more* to trade in now than it would to keep your current car. Especially as the RAV has excellent reliability and pretty good fuel consumption.
If you love the car, you would be crazy to change it.
I don't understand this urge to change cars when there's nothing wrong with the current one "while this one is still worth something" - the new car will depreciate just as fast as the old one!
Best just to accept that cars depreciate and factor the cost in - changing cars always ends up costing money, not saving it, unless you are spending a fortune to keep your current car running.
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I understand what you are saying but I have no need for a large car (previously drove a micra but it could not cope with the mileage I was doing - this hs now ended) any more and I would not agree that the RAV is fuel efficient. While I do love the car it is time to trade it in for something smaller and less juicy and, possibly, something my son can use now that he is 18 - don't think the RAV would be sensible or a cheap insurance option here. Wnen all is said and done I am also desirous of something new and cute; I know this is wasteful in some people's eyes but we are (or were) only young once. I've seen too many work colleagues and friends die or go through one disaster or another - life is too short to always be sensible. I am actually a very practical person but on this matter I think it is really not that impractical to replace the car for the above reasons - as well as satisfying my desires.
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Well said leonora! Fact is that you WANT a new car, and have come to the forum looking for advice as to how to get one. We forum members, as presumed motoring enthusiasts, should be happy to offer appropriate advice.
You didn't come to the forum to get killjoys telling you that you're best off keeping the car you've got!
Anyway, someone will be on here in a minute suggesting that you need to get a used Mondeo TDCi ;-)
FWIW, if the Toyota dealers won't offer you a decent price on a trade-in of one of their own cars, I'd give them the bird and go and look at a Micra or Mitsubishi Colt or something else instead. Toyota are not exactly rewarding customer loyalty are they? I'm sure another brand will be happy to give you a higher trade-in price just to win you over to their brand.
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