Forecourt discount...what should be realistic ?

zwanchef

Hi everyone,
About to enter the hell of trying to buy a used car.
We have upto £8000 to spend on a Honda Civic or a Ford Focus,how much should i be able to haggle the forecourt price down also bearing in mind we are cash buyers ??
Thanks for any advice
zwanchef

Tiddlywinks

Cash doesn't always get you a better deal as there is commission / profit to be had by the sales team if they sell you a car on finance. Having a trade-in or not also affects the deal - depending on the age / condition and whether or not it is saleable by them or they have to pass it to the 'banger man'.

Garages differ in their pricing policies and it does vary between dealerships and brands - just be happy with whatever deal you can get... if not, go elsewhere.

marlot

check what cars are being advertised for on autotrader, and look at several dealers. Don't obsess on getting a percentage off - but rather on paying a good price.

I asked for £nothing off the last used car I bought (but did get them to throw in a towbar) - because they'd priced it £4k less than other main dealers. Both the salesman and I knew it was already a fair price, mkaing it the easiest deal I've ever done.

zwanchef

Thanks for your replies.
zwanchef

geoffky

go to a auction..you will save a fortune if you know what you are doing..

zwanchef

I dont but thanks anyway.
There must be some sort of ballpark % discount that dealers expect to give any comments ?
zwanchef

Kilty_2

All dealers price their stock differently - some factor in a % they can knock off for people like you that MUST have a "deal", some price their cars to sell.

You need to work out what you actually want to pay for the car based on what it's actually worth and go from there.

zooks

Dealers will also usually give a good discount if your take finance from them.
Some of these finance packages can be cancelled quickly after hence only incuring a small interest charge. Makes sence if its gets you a nice chunk off but check for hidden cancellation charges.

motorguy

zooks wrote: »

Dealers will also usually give a good discount if your take finance from them.
Some of these finance packages can be cancelled quickly after hence only incuring a small interest charge. Makes sence if its gets you a nice chunk off but check for hidden cancellation charges.

Sorry, but you're wrong on this. The O/P is buying a used car, so it will be standard HP.

The dealership will get a commission on this, but not enough for them to give a large percentage of it away as a discount on the car up front.

Alter_ego

I had a good deal a few years back, I offered about 10% less. The salesman said "I think we can do better than that". He disappeared for a few minutes, came back and said a price £400 less than my offer. I also got mats & spare plip key which had to be ordered. When I went bact a couple of weeks later for the key I asked for the salesman I'd dealt with by name. The boss said he had been working his month notice when I bought. He honoured everything though.
I guess that only happens once in a lifetime.

jase1

A lot depends on how well the car is presented. I saw a Mondeo which, although cheap, had two bald front tyres and all the trim in the boot was either loose or heavily scratched. Minor faults for sure, but even though the car was keenly priced it gave me a negative impression of the dealer and whether he would honour any faults. It was up for £3700; I wasn't fussed on the car so bid him £400 off as a starter for the car as-is with all problems unresolved. He accused me of wasting his time, so I walked away -- as far as I was concerned he wasted my time as he described the car as "mint condition". It wasn't.

On paper the price was very keen already, but that doesn't excuse the dealer making no effort to fix the car's faults -- he'd quite obviously just taken it from auction and parked it on his lot. NOT what I pay dealer prices for!!!