How to get the car at the price you want?

red_devil

We are going to see a car soon that I am sure we will want to buy. Its up for £4,995. while I am sure it is worth it i dont intend paying that.

The garage has said we can talk about price but they wont be drawn until they know you want it!

Have no experience in this? How far can you expect them to come down? How far will they come down?

Any tips of negotiating will be appreciated?

Premier_2

Once they know you want it, they wont lower the price.

The car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Have a look at other cars that are similar and look what they are fetching. Naturally expect to pay a little more from a dealer than those being sold privately or through auction.
Check out used car reference quides too, then you can at least back up your claims in any negotiation (but be careful as he might use it against you if he sees the dealer price the guide indicates is higher than the screen price)
Perhaps check out a car supermarket, especially if they have a policy of no negotiation - they are usually priced correctly in the first place.

Mark_Hewitt

I guess it's quite simple really. You decide what you want to pay, and stick to it!

Tell them for example you have £4,500 to spend, and that's it. If they ask you for £4,501, walk away.

Chippy_Minton_2

How to get the car at the price you want?

Get your lady to sort the saleman out.

red_devil

Thanks all btw its a Citroen C3 05 plate black, 35 thousand miles plus 841.

davetrousers

Be prepared to walk away if they don't want to lower it enough.

Chippy_Minton_2

davetrousers wrote: »

Be prepared to walk away if they don't want to lower it enough.

Aren't you gonna advise him to get a warranty thrown into the deal?:rotfl:

Premier_2

red_devil wrote: »

Thanks all btw its a Citroen C3 05 plate black, 35 thousand miles plus 841.

hatchback?
what spec? if its a 1.6LX, forget it; if its a 2.0D VTR, could be a bargain.

Ebe_Scrooge

You need to get a balance between letting the salesman know you're serious about the car, but don't make out that you're so desperate for it that you'll pay anything. First off you need to get an idea of the market price. Parkers guide is OK for this, but use it only as a rough guide. A better option is to browse through Autotrader or similar, see what similar cars are going for. Bear in mind you will pay more at a kosher dealers than a private sale. Also take into account the mileage and general condition of the car, as compared to what the guides say is "average".

You need to negotiate the price a bit - despite what they may tell you, a salesman always has some wriggle-room. When you've haggled it down as far as you think you can, try a final clincher - if the screen price was 4995, lets' say you haggle down to 4650. You need to um and ah for a bit, then say "If we can agree on 4500 then you've got a deal". You need to adjust the figure to be reasonable based upon the earlier research you've done, but that's the basic ploy.

Finally, if the salesman won't budge any further on price, and you really want it, try and get some extras thrown in - a full tank of fuel, a new MOT, a year's road tax, car mats, accessories, things like that. May not be a huge amount of money ( though a year's tax is well worthwhile ), but every little helps.

ailuro2

We just came back from the test drive and said "OK, we like the car, what's your best price?"

He told us, we thought it was a good deal and we shook on it.

Now that's my idea of a good car salesman.

I'd go back for another car, so in the long run he gets to stay in business and make more money out of me.;)

It was a small second hand car place we went to, been in business about 20 years selling cars from £1K to about £6K

red_devil

so i was told people didnt haggle on cars years ago.

Can anyone say what they would expect to offer on this car. I gave details. A low mileage Citroen c3 05 plate black. They are asking nearly 5k.