Car Haggling

fozzeh

Looking for a family car (1 child at present, planning for another sometime next year) and not sure where to start on the haggle front. As quite a few columnists say, November is a good month to buy.

Going to head to The Car People (Ashton-U-L, Manc) tomorrow hopefully and have a browse. They have a few Focus' in (59 and 60 plates) and an Astra Estate.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201032365724678/original-id/201039369292120/associated-ids/201032365724678%2C201039369109372%2C201039369292126%2C201040370068878%2C201041370351577/usedcars/postcode/sk153gp?logcode=a

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201039369125672/sort/pricedesc/quantity-of-doors/5/maximum-age/up_to_1_year_old/price-from/9000/maximum-mileage/up_to_5000_miles/price-to/10000/postcode/sk153gp/page/5/radius/30/advert-type/featured-listing/dealer/286292/usedcars?logcode=flp

Budget is £10k (search was with max 5k mile, <1yr, 5 doors, 1.4-1.8l) so how much is the going current haggle rate? Ideally, we want to spend £9k.

Also, is it best to go in as a cash buyer or finance buyer in the current market?

Anyone say what the boot space is like on an Ibiza, Megane or Auris too.

TIA :A

LandyAndy

Do they do haggling or are they a 'there's the price, take it or leave it' operation. The website suggests the latter to me.

fozzeh

Everyone car sales person does haggling!

If that's the price, that's the price...but you can walk away down to the next place with all that nice warm cash to the next garage who would want it for the sake of a couple of hundred quid. Hell, I bet you could even enquire with different sales rep's at the same place. With the amount of cars out there and the lack of people spending close to 10 gee's for a car, commissions will be very handy coming up to Christmas.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/advice/2010/07/buying/haggling-with-sellers

Anywho, any assistance would be great. This weekend should be a browse/test drive/carrot dangling...

cyclonebri1

Some haggle some won't, doesn't really matter. If you are fixed on a model of car in a certain colour, of a certain age and certain mileage just see who offers it cheapest on the bottom line:T

No one seems to offer any incentive for cash on that sort of priced car, they all want the kickback from the finance company:mad:

rev_henry

fozzeh wrote: »

Everyone car sales person does haggling!

If that's the price, that's the price...but you can walk away down to the next place with all that nice warm cash to the next garage who would want it for the sake of a couple of hundred quid. Hell, I bet you could even enquire with different sales rep's at the same place. With the amount of cars out there and the lack of people spending close to 10 gee's for a car, commissions will be very handy coming up to Christmas.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/advice/2010/07/buying/haggling-with-sellers

Anywho, any assistance would be great. This weekend should be a browse/test drive/carrot dangling...

I understand there are some places that have a no haggling policy but as you say if they won't and the next place has an identical car but will knock a bit off...
Then I think there are some places claiming to have no haggling but do actually.

The key thing is 'is this price good/reasonable/cheap for this car', regardless of how the price was arrived at iyswim. E.g. Garage 1 has car X at screen price £5995 when its worth £5k, but will haggle down to £5k. Garage 2 has similar car Y at £4995 but won't haggle.

emmell

I don't think the Car People haggle at all. It's one of those places where you are greeted by one person another person does the p/x valuation and another person works out the deal, but you only see person one (if you see what I mean).
You could always try a main agent because as I have found out myself, the screen price bears no resemblance to the price they will accept.
ML.

KonkyWonky

Not many places haggle nowadays, if you can get a couple of hundred of quid off an already competitive price you are doing well, especially if you are paying cash. Cash is no longer King, as said previously they want to sell you a finance package as they make a huge amount of commission on it.

fozzeh

Well, we did pop down and emmell is correct in the first instance; The Car People state they do not haggle as they offer good prices.

This was further backed up by Quentin Wilsons column yesterday stating that a lot of car supermarkets are buying competitively and selling at small margins, relying on the turn over.

...then rev_henry gets correct; finding a reasonable mid ground. There is an Evans Halshaw near TCP so will have a look there.

However, to answer my own question; yes, there was room for a little bit of haggling by only if we spent more money. The missus liked the feel of the C Max (both 1.6 Zetec's).
- 58 plate with 27k on the clock and 8 months of warranty left; £8,500 OTR with 2 year extended warranty. No haggling
- 59 plate with 3k on the clock and 26 months warranty left; £9,999 OTR (no extended warranty) and possible room for haggle. I reckon it would have been in the region of £500 if we took about £200 of extra.

Also TD'd an Astra Estate but the missus didn't like that one.

And, again as said above, they want the finance packages!

Was interesting to say the least and will have a look around now. And we did get a very helpful person who we dealt with. No pressure, answered the questions, and was very pleasant. Think his name was Andrew.

LandyAndy

fozzeh wrote: »

And we did get a very helpful person who we dealt with. No pressure, answered the questions, and was very pleasant. Think his name was Andrew.

Sounds likely.:)