Tips on dealing with car salesmen

gunternetzer

I have been searching for a used car, less than 2 years old and have been amazed by the treatment given to me by salesmen. I was wondering whether a new thread could be started with a list of tips on dealing with car salesmen or even a list of some of the best porkies told by salesmen? I know some of these have been covered in the discussions on haggling but it would be good to have a list of tips available in one place. After a pyschologically exhausting month of dealing with this not so noble breed, here's some of my experiences on buying a nearly new car:

1. Most salesmen are reluctant to deal over the phone, even with enquiries. I mentioned a specific car I had seen on the internet and tried to book an appointment convenient for me for a test drive. The salesman tried very hard to get a deposit from me over the phone-"in case another buyer comes in". Don't fall for it, because it puts the ball in their court. It gets you into their showroom and they already have some of your money.

2. Salesmen will always try and sell you the car they have on the lot, even if does not have the specification you want. You can use this as a bargaining point. Without exception they did not want to search for a car of the right spec.

3. You can get a good idea of how popular a car model is by watching the dealer lists on the internet (although some do not update them very often). There is usually a reason that cars remain on the list for weeks at a time.

4. Most cars under 1 year old, with mileages of around 1000 miles/month are ex-rental cars. The salesmen call these "Lease" cars but don't be fooled, they have definitely had more than one owner!

5. Always be prepared to walk away, if you can't get the deal you want. Stick to your budget! Salesmen have remarkable stamina and will try and wear you down. In my case, the salesman kept coming up with new ways of dressing up the figures eg higher price but adding road tax, accessories etc. In the end I only got the deal I wanted by getting up to leave.

6. For a used car, the salesman will always refer back to the list price of a new car, to illustrate how much you are saving and to question why you want him to discount even further! Don't be taken in, this is not the correct comparison because it is not like with like. First, thanks to brokers, nobody pays full list price for a new car these days. Second the correct comparison is with other used cars with similar mileage. The internet is your friend here, you are not restricted to buying from a local dealer and you should let them know that.

7. Watch out for the time warp effect in the showroom. The longer you stay there (see number 5) the more chance they have of getting the deal. Watch out for frequent trips to their office to "check figures" or to "check with the manager". The time warp effect works best if you are in the showroom with a partner or with the family. Because in your subconscious you know they are getting fed-up/cranky and this puts a subtle pressure on you to conclude the deal. I have heard kids asking their parents "when are we are going to buy the car?".

8. Watch out for sneaky tricks during the post purchase form filling period. I fell for this myself. After doing the deal there is a certain amount of relaxation, BUT this is not the case for the salesman. Here they will try to get you to buy extra insurance for the car, accessories etc. This is also a period when they will try to get extra information from you to pass to other companies. After all they already have your home address, perhaps a couple of phone numbers, and they have a good idea of your income. This is all useful information that can be sold on.

9. Work out whether you want to take a hit on the part-exchange. I have been given some laughable figures for part-ex by salesmen. They will give you a long list of reasons why your old car is less than desirable eg length of remaining MOT, wear and tear, popularity, need to sell to auction house etc
In the end it depends what price you put on the time and hassle required to sell it.

Some of this is rather obvious and common sense in hindsight, but hope it is helpful.

Stephen_Leak

If the salesman leaves you and your partner alone in the office to "think about it", watch what you say - he could be listening on a radio "bug" or a mobile phone! Of course, you could always turn this against him by saying stuff which might force him to do a better deal!

saintjanet

These days of car supermarkets and sales people receiving very small salaries, made up by commission,has resulted in some very dubious practices arising.

After buying and selling loads of cars over the years,i think people are exploited for several reasons.

If you are buying a car and don't know exactly what you want to buy or pay,you are a salesmans dream.Always do loads of research and don't buy the cheapest car,buy the best at a decent price.With finance, never be taken in when asked ,how much do you want to spend per month?

Others may not agree but buying from a small, independant,well established garage has always served me well,i have found most to be honest and unlike some other places they will still be there this time next year!!,it's not far to go if you have a problem either.Just bear in mind that they are there to make a profit though.;)

Boudica

I got my new (used) car last month and got a really good deal. I first went and said what I wanted and asked if they had any in. They tried to kid me that they only had the ones on the forecourt. When I mentioned that the Motabilty cars will be coming in for changing he "found" one that was due in the next week. I insisted I had first refusal, it was a cash deal (already had finance sorted) so managed to get the car sidelined.

Then, I had a test drive and good look over, said I wanted it then insisted they started haggling. He refused so I got up to leave. I had with me a plain brown envelope that looked as though it had cash in it. He suddenly started negotiations and I got a fantastic deal.

I would advise people to do their homework. As a female, I always find a little flirting helps

saintjanet

QUOTE-As a female i always find a little flirting helps. May work but don't try it if your'e an ugly git.:rotfl: The price may go up!!

pingu

:rotfl:

saintjanet wrote: »

QUOTE-As a female i always find a little flirting helps. May work but don't try it if your'e an ugly git.:rotfl: The price may go up!!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :T

i am a bloke

anyway i am going to test drive a honda jazz tomorrow

05 reg 6500 miles 1.4 sports £10400?

i have a nissan tino 1.8se 17800 miles around £6000 +/- part ex value

how much should i pay for it?

anyone?

thank you

Curly_Girly_2

Use https://www.parkers.co.uk to get an idea of the price you could expect to pay for the car, and receive for yours.

peterg1965

or https://www.whatcar.com

saintjanet

pingu,bear in mind that these guides are simply that, a rough guide ,there are loads of things that can dictate the deal you are able to negotiate.

I once tried to do a trade at one garage,they would not give me enough in p/ex.A couple of weeks later i saw what i thought was a similar car in another of this dealers branches,went to have a look and discovered it was the first car and asked for a p/ex,they gave me several hundred pounds more,so i bought it!!:D

DKLS

Prepare to walk away, for most makes and models there are a glut of them, so If you dont get the deal that YOU want then walk. There will always be another car. End of the month is a good time, especially end of quarter.
Shame we havent got the American system, where you can find out easily waht the dealer paid for the car and what profit he will make.

taxiphil

Excellent thread. Excellent advice so far.

Like the OP we've also been through a psychologically exhausting month of dealing with this strange breed of people. We've been to about 8 Ford dealers looking for the lowest price on one particular model of brand new car, and trying to cut through the tidal wave of bull**** and pin them down to their lowest price is a weird and tedious game.

My main piece of advice would be never believe anything they say, no matter how friendly or sincere they appear to be.

They will try anything to push you into buying the car they want to sell, which probably isn't the car you originally wanted to buy. They will pretend they've got your interests at heart when they are doing this. One dealer tried to "upsell" the next model up in the range by telling us the model we wanted didn't have electric windows or a CD player, even though we knew this was a blatant lie because we'd already printed off the car's spec from the Ford website.

We also came across that old classic "this offer runs out tomorrow because it's below cost price, so we'd have to take a deposit from you today" a few times (yawn!).

Even though we made it crystal clear to each dealer from the outset that we would be paying cash in full, most of them were hellbent on trying to sell us finance packages that we didn't want (this is because they make more commission on the finance than on the actual car sale). The lies some of them came out with were staggering - one dealer tried to convince us that we'd be better off taking his finance at 16.9% APR than paying cash, even though we later worked out we'd be nearly 3 grand worse off doing this.

Most of the dealers were very cagey about telling us what the APR would be - some completely refused to tell us - and kept saying things like "come on, it's £30 a week - you'd be crazy not to do it on this finance plan!". But they don't like divulging the Total Amount Payable.

Another dealer even took the liberty of using our details to apply for finance to 2 separate companies without our consent. We only found out he'd done this later on when one of the finance companies phoned us to make a security check, and we told them to cancel our application as we'd never made it!

We also found, without exception, that every single salesperson and sales manager was male, with a token pretty blonde girl relegated to working on reception. It was like being in an episode of Life on Mars! The whole industry has just failed to move with the times.

It was also weird that some dealers weren't interested in even talking to us and made us feel invisible, even though they had clearly spent £££s on adverts in the press, radio and TV to presumably get people in their showroom.

Ultimately you have to stick to your guns and never be pressured into anything. Be prepared to just walk away if you're not getting exactly what you want at the price you want it.

EDIT:

One final point worth mentioning, and a very important one. If you're using car magazines for guidance, take what they say with a very large pinch of salt. These magazines masquerade as tools for consumers, but actually they are industry-driven. For instance, we were initially guided by the "Aim To Pay" price in the new car prices section in the back of Auto Express, but eventually ended up paying a staggering £2100 less than what Auto Express said was the lowest price you could reasonably expect to buy this car for.