Where do car dealers get their cars from? And where can I get a half decent one?!

System

haggle with everyone!!

aliasojo

the_r_sole wrote: »

alternatively, no relatives that could help you out with viewings?

(or ask on here about particular models, plenty of helpful knowledgeable folks in here)

Unfortunately not.

My aunt offered to come and kick the tyres but I declined her kind offer.

bigjl

the_r_sole wrote: »

haggle with everyone!!

Most proper Car Supermarkets such as CarGiant, Motorpoint etc have a no haggle policy.

But if you compare prices you can see that they are cheaper than main dealers anyway and have very similar stock.

I personally have little time for the majority of hagglers, as they normally have no idea how much a car costs to buy and prepare for sale.

And firmly believe that a £6000 car has a £2000 profit margin in it.

By all means ask but don't be offended if you are politely told no.

The only exception to the above rule on profit margins is CarCraft.

They could buy their stock from Motorpoint or CarGiant and still have a healthy margin at the prices they charge, they are the kind of dealership that sells the unwary a monthly payment not an overall price.

Once went in there back in 2006 as I was considering changing my Subaru Legacy to a diesel. (They traded under CarLand back then if I remember correctly)

The Legacy had something like 18k on the clock with full Subaru History.

Salesman offered me £4500!

Which was odd as it was an 04, the car I was half interested in was a 51 plate Vectra which was up for £5995.

I told him to "f@@k off" and walked out.

The Legacy had a book value of around £10k at the time.

I have looked at their prices off and on since then and spoken to friends who have bought there and they have all been striped up.

If the price of the car you want is right and the interest rate is good and the car has a year or so left on the manufacturers warranty then buy it.

If a dealer allows haggling then his prices are inflated to allow for it.

That is why I believe the big supermarkets with no haggle pricing are a better bet, the price is the price, I think it aids transparency.

aliasojo

Thanks for the tips, all advice warmly welcomed.

I'll be paying cash and that's why I wondered about haggling.

I've had a look at Motorpoint online and the prices seem better than I've seen so far. I just hope the condition of the cars is as good too.

bigjl

It is a common misconception that paying cash makes you a better prospect for a dealer.

A dealer will make money on any half decent trade in and will also get a commission on any finance they sell.

If I have the cash in my pocket I will buy at auction.

If I want to pay over a period of time I will go to a car supermarket.

If I was in your position I would put down a hefty deposit and negotiate a low interest rate as you can, then leave the rest of your money in your savings account for a rainy day.

The only time cash is handy is when buying from somebody like a small home trader as they may drop the price a little as they can take the cash and go straight to the auction to buy more stock.

Not everybody will agree with my opinion, but it is based on experience and research.

albionrovers

Motorpoint Glasgow, from memory, ask for a prep fee. If you say no, you get it without the radio tuned and straight off the transporter covered in dust. This is, of course, irrelevant if your car is used and already on the forecourt. Ask them what it includes when they offer it. I've used them and they are fine, in my opinion. Except I bought a Renault and .... well that's for another thread. There is a wee gold mine filling station across the road which I wish I owned because every car that leaves Motorpoint heads for this garage to fill up. Good luck.

artbaron

aliasojo wrote: »

But you'd have some sort of comeback with a dealer, you've got no comeback privately.

That's true but as I say, you need to work out what it's worth to you. Say you spend £6250 on a car from a dealer. It develops a major fault. Let's be generous and say the fault is covered by warranty, two months later and you've finally persuaded the dealer to repair it under the terms of that warranty. He's done a minimal job but at least it's working. Total cost to you £6250.

Then you could have bought the same car for £5000 privately. Say it develops the same fault. You take it to an independent garage and pay them £1000 to fix it. They do a good job and it takes them a couple of days. Total cost to you £6000.

Obviously that's just an example, a simplification, but my point is that if you take care when buying a car, your savings buying privately are more than likely to cover the difference between the sale price and the dealer sale price even if you throw a few problems into the mix.

And another major advantage with private is you can talk to the seller and see where he keeps the car. That's worth a lot.

The only time I'd use a dealer now is if I couldn't get the car I wanted privately.

colino

If you aren't really into cars, not looking for a specialist vehicle and don't know much about them, the first advice is to buy local. Do as much homework on the trader as on the car as with anything mechanical, It has a high probability of going wrong.
Much better to be sauntering down the street to discuss face to face with an established trader what might be wrong, instead of getting web advice about how to recover a car to a distant finance broker.

Dippypud

aliasojo wrote: »

I don't have any set ideas, I'd consider anything small(ish) as long as it was reasonable in tax and insurance terms. We saw some nice cars that would have been fine if they'd been in better condition. Some were only a couple of years old but had shoddy/badly stained seats or had big bodywork issues. I was really surprised.

Considered so far : Corsa, Fiesta, Micra, Seat Leon/Ibiza, i20, Chevrolet Spark (but boot seriously non existent), Nissan Note (but road tax dear). Can't think what else we looked at.

We have a Note, OK so it's a diesel but the VED is £32 per year - :cool:
What's not to like ... maybe some holes in your homework
Happy hunting ...

aliasojo

colino wrote: »

If you aren't really into cars, not looking for a specialist vehicle and don't know much about them, the first advice is to buy local. Do as much homework on the trader as on the car as with anything mechanical, It has a high probability of going wrong.
Much better to be sauntering down the street to discuss face to face with an established trader what might be wrong, instead of getting web advice about how to recover a car to a distant finance broker.

We're very rural so we need to travel no matter where we buy unfortunately.

Dippypud wrote: »

We have a Note, OK so it's a diesel but the VED is £32 per year - :cool:
What's not to like ... maybe some holes in your homework
Happy hunting ...

I was told not to get diesel as I do a lot of short journeys mainly.

*sigh* I just need a wee lottery win so I can buy a new car and avoid the worry.