Haggling stories

bb69

Hello

Anyone want to share success stories when haggling over the price of a car?

I tried today, didnt get owt! :rotfl:
Price of ford fiesta £10500 09 plate 2500 miles
Extras offered: Parking sensors, Gap and diamond discounted price of £1k for all (approx £50 off each)

My budget is £9k ish, I was hoping for some money off the car but they wouldnt budge..

They kept telling me what my payments would be, rather than telling me how much they would discount the car by, but they won't.

So now I am left wondering whether they will call me to make me an offer (if the car isnt snapped up that is)

I did play it cool, and am pleased with that! but maybe too cool? :think:

So just wondering about other deals people have got? not necessarily on Fords

blue_haddock

where were you? places like the car supermarkets make most of their money off the finance which is why they were concentrating on the monthly payment.

bb69

at the main dealers

bb69

whoops didnt realise there was an article for this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/175685

ahillsy

In my experience, you need 3 things:
1) good research beforehand
2) time (be prepared to sit there for a long time. A loooong time)
3) guts (to sit there and be strong/also to walk away)

1 is key - if you just walk in to a dealers unprepared then it makes it a lot more difficult. You need to have an idea of what it should be possible for you to get the price down to. If you know what is realistic, it can make a lot of difference. Check around on manufacturer-specific forums, and get a feel for what deals other people have done recently. When I bought recently, I had 2 target prices in mind. The absolute rock bottom price was one I found on DriveTheDeal website (whereas I wanted to buy direct from my local dealer) - this was my "chew their hand off" target price that I knew in reality I wouldn't get down to. I worked out based on what other people's experiences were, what a very achievable discount would be. This was my "happy to do a deal at" target price.

I sat in the dealership haggling for about 3-3.5 hours. You have to show you're serious - if they think you're not actually in a position to buy, then they might not even try. I made it clear I was able to put down the deposit there and then if we could come to the right price. I started out giving a print out quote price I'd had from DriveTheDeal and pushed hard for that to be matched, or reached very close. This showed I was able to buy the car I wanted at that price, and that I wasn't just making up figures (though wouldn't have been ideal for me as I couldn't do part exchange, and I wouldn't be dealing face-to-face which is important for me - hence why I didn't just go and buy online). When it got to the inevitable "we can't match that - we can give you x amount off", their offer was pretty a pretty small discount.

Always push more after their first offer. They may make it sound like that is their only offer of a discount, but it's always worth pushing for more. This is where you need the patience/guts to walk away if you know that what is offered is under what you should expect to get. I said I'd have to go and look around elsewhere as it was too much above the price I knew I could get the car for online, despite the extra hassle that would give me and that I wasn't prepared to pay that much of a premium for buying from them. Didn't even get a chance to stand up, and he asked me to give him a price seeing as he couldn't match the bottom price. Gave him my 2nd target figure and mentioned the repeat business they'd get from servicing etc. This was the target figure I knew I should be able to get and the one where if I didn't get it, I would walk away. Don't be afraid to walk away.

After a few round trips to the manager, all agreed and I was very happy. Managed to hit my "realistic" target price, ~20% under list price (car was already discounted in a VAT-free deal, I was haggling a bit more off).

mikey72

I couldn't buy a new car. I couldn't bear to lose that much money.
Last car we bought was less than 6 months old, with a few thousand miles on it, and it was about 40% cheaper than list price.

ahillsy

In my case, I couldn't bear to pay more for a nearly new car than a brand new one!

motorguy

bb69 wrote: »

Hello

Anyone want to share success stories when haggling over the price of a car?

I tried today, didnt get owt! :rotfl:
Price of ford fiesta £10500 09 plate 2500 miles
Extras offered: Parking sensors, Gap and diamond discounted price of £1k for all (approx £50 off each)

My budget is £9k ish, I was hoping for some money off the car but they wouldnt budge..

They kept telling me what my payments would be, rather than telling me how much they would discount the car by, but they won't.

So now I am left wondering whether they will call me to make me an offer (if the car isnt snapped up that is)

I did play it cool, and am pleased with that! but maybe too cool? :think:

So just wondering about other deals people have got? not necessarily on Fords

Right

You need to split this transaction up.

You need to get a price for the car itself agreed, ie, your discount agreed. The best way to do this may be to do a national search on autotrader for the same car or very similar. Find the cheapest one, then ask the dealer to price match and make it clear you are prepared to travel if they dont - and follow that through.

IF you have a trade in, then and only then bring that into the equation RE: its value. That way you will see what you're really getting.

THEN, you need to find the best finance rate via some of the money supermarkets and ask them to price match that - OR you'll simply use the online quote. They'll hate that, because they'll miss out on the commission - so they'll price match or come close.

If they try to use smoke and mirrors and introduce the 'finance manager', then simply be firm and say you are not ready to speak to them yet as you are negotiating the price of the car. Be very firm with that. Ask to speak to the sales manager if they do not. WALK if the sales manager objects.

I HATE it when they try to coax you into finding out your monthly budget then miraculously arrange the payments to match that.

bb69

Thanks
Hmmmm - No neogotiations on the price although I said my lowest price they didnt come back with a different price to neogotiate

I have a figure for part exchange

I asked so many times re the price of the actual car rather than monthly figures, finally I got it and realised the discount was off the extras and not the car..

They said they would discount the APR, however I have not had a figure of what the total payment would be...

I'll wait and see... there is another car i'm interested in too at the same dealer, will play it cool .. AGAIN lol

The manager even came out to speak to me and said I wouldnt find it cheaper elsewhere.. I said that i'm sure I would.. (I haven't yet LOL)

funkycoldribena

You really need to bs and say you can get the same car from J Bloggs garage for £9.4k,can you beat that or I'll go to them.Usually works because dealers hate money going to other garages.

gilbert_and_sullivan

For some unknown reason Fiesta is the must have car at the moment and they will sell it for the price they want to someone who will tick those important Gap and Diamondbrite boxes to give the sales bod his wedge..they are both rip offs by the way.

You'll have to trawl the web for a car supermarket somewhere thats got the car you want at the price you want to pay...don't try to take your present car in for part ex though...if their Fiesta is a grand cheaper expect your trade in price to reflect this.