New (ish) car

trickytrolleys

Im going to be looking to buy a new car in a few weeks from a garage, does anybody have any tips so that I dont get ripped off ?

Many thanks

Reluctant_spender

Have a look here for a What Car Ideal Price and here for good advice re whats good and bad with a car - good luck :xmassmile

meep_2

yeah take someone with you who knows about cars, and does actually know, not just someone who kicks tires.

Look at the body panel spacing to see if all the gaps are similar, spray paint marks, colour matching, service history, if its has "a new engine" why has it had one etc

before_hollywood

in terms of price- dodge depriciation by buying something about 3 years old- about 60% cheaper than list price and probably still the latest shape
thats what i did

save-a-lot

Hi

Is it a car on an "Approved" scheme??? for example Ford do a scheme whereby their nearly new cars go out with a multitude of pre-checks - this is of course from a Ford dealership. Will you be getting similar deal?? and if so what does it include.

Look for panels misaligned. Get under the bonnet and check that things like the headlight clusters are the same i.e. the color of the plastic molding is the same. Often replacement light clusters are in a different colour, also, look at the rear light cluster to see if they are the same. If not it could indicate that the car has been hit. Look at alignments of all doors including bonnet and boot. Look for lots of history.

Play off one dealer against the other if you can find better local deals. I have a friend who did this and got some styling mods for free!!

Phil

save-a-lot

before_hollywood wrote:

in terms of price- dodge depriciation by buying something about 3 years old- about 60% cheaper than list price and probably still the latest shape
thats what i did

That is probably the best bit of advice. A 3 year old motor with lots of history and low miles is a winner.

gk172

Or see if you can buy a pre registered car, we picked up a 52 plate mondeo 2 1/2 years ago for £3000 under the new price and the car only had 12 miles on it plus we had the remaining warrenty to go with it.

APJ

The "What Car" target price is an excellent indicator on what you should be paying for new cars - use this to compare what you are paying on a nearly new car.

Dont always assume a car supermarket is cheaper then a main dealer, whilst some are, it depends on the deal.

Do your research - identify the model you want, then trawl through the net looking at prices - autotrader is a good start, also the car supermarkets. Forecourt screen prices are usually high and need lots of haggling down! On the vauxhall.co.uk website under owners, you can get a Glass' guide trade value of what you are thinking of buying - lets you see how much mark-up the garage is making. If you have no part-exchange, your bargaining position is much stronger.

If buying nearly new - ensure a manufacturers warranty for peace of mind. Check the V5 logbook to see if the car is an import.

Make sure you either get a HPI certificate or do a check yourself - tracks if the car has had a major insurance claim and also warrants good title.

Finally, negotiate hard, using your research to back up your argument. If the dealer lets you walk away, then (s)he's not going to go any lower!