new on here, would love some advice on buying a used car

kelevraz

Guest101 wrote: »

No don't kick off, but you can haggle abit more. If the sales person see other customers there waiting, he'll want to get you signed up quick, and you to walk away happy, as this is great PR for him.

Causing a scene won't help, well most of the time it won't.

yeh i didnt know what you meant here lol, didnt know if you meant he'll try and move quicker with you too move on, or whether it will make the sales person abit uneasy with the thought that i could try and make him look like he's trying to shaft me

kelevraz

Guest101 wrote: »

Like i say double check the agreement, but - under the consumer credit act, you can cancel the finance with-in 5 days (from the day after it was signed) - it is infact more common for credit agreements to have even longer cooling off periods. At this point the finance is cancelled (and you have zero liability) and you should be given the option to continue the deal as a cash purchase - no sales person wants to lose the whole sale.

Doing this towards the end of June is your best bet, as that is the end of Q2. The sales person will want to hit his bonus.

You should then, though i cannot guarantee this, be able to get the discount you seek. As a general guide towards the end of Q2 is best, if they operate a half year bonus, they'll be desperate to get it.

ok so for instance, do you mean, if they reduce the cost of the car itself from £5000 to £4000, and with the finance plan, i would end up paying back something like £7000 overall. if i cancel the finance with them like the next day or something, then the idea is they will probably say can you afford to pay for the car in cash - and i guess because they dont want to lose the sale completely , they will just say if you have the £4000 to pay for the car you can just pay that?

Ultrasonic

Don't waste your time and that of the salesman by going through finance offers you have no intention of taking. It's pointless. The dealer factoring in the margin of the finance deal on the sale price is not some dodgy business practice but basic economics. All that ultimately matters to them is the profit they will make on the sale, wherever that comes from.

I would suggest that you are best off using the cash purchase to your advantage by using it to (hopefully) convince a salesman that you are a serious potential buyer and that you could easily go elsewhere to buy an alternative car. You will be spending the money on a car in the very near future, and they are going to want it to be with them. Assuming you don't play childish games like pretending to want finance...

OddballJamie

Do your homework on local and national prices on the actual model you are interested in before you go in. Print the adverts out if you can find the same car cheaper elsewhere and use that to haggle.

If you can't find it cheaper, then I doubt you will be able to negotiate anything like 20% off the price, especially on a popular model like a Focus.

I've always found been friendly but stern gets a better result than trying to embarrass a sales person into getting a deal. The customer is not always right.

Horizon81

Indeed - no point talking finance. Be straight from the off, saying you're paying cash. If you don't like a dealers sales tactics then go somewhere else. The chains like Evans Halshaw will add on extras like admin charges for HPI checks etc which are just a con to get more cash out of you.

As the car you're after isn't exactly rare, you might be better off trying your local smaller independents where the salesman aren't quite so greasy and trying to upsell all sorts of extras you neither want nor need. But if you don't feel happy about a deal then walk away. Plenty of Ford Focuses about. Do your homework so you know what is 'market price'. As has been said before, imagine a car that to you is worth £4500. If it's up for £4500 then you're better off getting £100 off it, compared to an identical car that's up for £5,500 with the dealer willing to take £1000 off it.

colino

You start off with the faulty paradigm that any trader will negotiate below a bottom line price to get the finance commission. It wont happen, it never has. (Even though a book, "Wheels" suggested it did around 40 years ago).
Pick the car you fancy, drive a few of them and then do a search through ebay and autotrader to find the shortlist. Buying cars is easy, buying well takes investment.

Guest101

kelevraz wrote: »

ok so for instance, do you mean, if they reduce the cost of the car itself from £5000 to £4000, and with the finance plan, i would end up paying back something like £7000 overall. if i cancel the finance with them like the next day or something, then the idea is they will probably say can you afford to pay for the car in cash - and i guess because they dont want to lose the sale completely , they will just say if you have the £4000 to pay for the car you can just pay that?

That exactly. I worked closely with sales (i paid their commissions), and trust me not a single sales person ever let a sale just go. Especially no at the end of Q2.

Christ they wrote so many junk deals in June it was a running joke. 80% off by the 26th onwards..

(please not this wasn't cars, before you ask me where this is but the principle for sales is the same accross the board)

Guest101

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Don't waste your time and that of the salesman by going through finance offers you have no intention of taking. It's pointless. The dealer factoring in the margin of the finance deal on the sale price is not some dodgy business practice but basic economics. All that ultimately matters to them is the profit they will make on the sale, wherever that comes from.

I would suggest that you are best off using the cash purchase to your advantage by using it to (hopefully) convince a salesman that you are a serious potential buyer and that you could easily go elsewhere to buy an alternative car. You will be spending the money on a car in the very near future, and they are going to want it to be with them. Assuming you don't play childish games like pretending to want finance...

Sound slike your in sales.....

DKLS

If your after 500 off a 5k car, I suggest you look in the classified ads to find a bargain, am not in the trade so cant be sure but I would imagine there isnt much of a margin on a 5k car with the running costs of a dealership.

Rather than go to a dealer, there are plenty of ford focus's about so buy on condition and service history and not on age or mileage. But do walk away from anything wearing chinese ditchfinders, if an owner has scrimped on tyres what else have they scrimped on?

OddballJamie

DKLS wrote: »

If your after 500 off a 5k car, I suggest you look in the classified ads to find a bargain, am not in the trade so cant be sure but I would imagine there isnt much of a margin on a 5k car with the running costs of a dealership.

Rather than go to a dealer, there are plenty of ford focus's about so buy on condition and service history and not on age or mileage. But do walk away from anything wearing chinese ditchfinders, if an owner has scrimped on tyres what else have they scrimped on?

I second that about the tyres, four different brands can also mean part worns have been used.

If it has FSH, ask to see receipts of work undertaken when serviced and the type of service. Some cheap skates opt for the cheapest interim service just to get stamps in the book.