Buying a secondhand car-dealership won't budge on price?

motorguy

Weird_Nev wrote: »

It is entirely possible - but if a dealer has bought a car at such a price that they CAN'T discount it, that's their problem.

The bottom line is that these days people check online, search by the cheapest, then wade in expecting £££'s off when they get there.

Fair play to the dealer for setting the price realistically and sticking to it.

Oh, and if a customer doesnt like it, thats their problem - you cant have your cake and eat it.

motorguy

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Or they might just be pricing the cars realistically?

I know it's a radical thought in these days where everyone thinks they're in some Arabian bazaar, but it's just a possibility that they've actually priced stuff at what it's worth rather than work out what it's worth then add on 50% to allow for the 25% they'll let you haggle off. It never ceases to amaze me how otherwise intelligent people keep falling for that and believing they've got a good deal!

I'm not saying they have priced sensibly because I don't know their stock or prices, but it shouldn't be overlooked as a possibility.

I had a car for sale recently at £1995. I had already priced it at the cheapest online, even though mine came with full mot and a warranty, when most others priced above mine didnt. I'd some guy text 'I'll give you £1400 cash for it mate'. To which i replied 'do you really think as my car is already the cheapest on the market that i have such a massive profit margin that i can knock £600 off by text and still be worth my while to sell it? Its a business not a !!!!ing charity'.

Ironically, he came and bought it, and we settled on £1850. :cool:

motorguy

bodgerx wrote: »

More and more dealers and going for a no haggle policy.

As others have said, cash isn't always the best way to get a deal.

Best deal you can do is try and get something cosmetic fixed on the car to seal the deal - go through the car in some detail.

I got hardly any discount on the last car I bought from a dealer, and in the end the best I could do was 6moths tax and two alloy wheel refurbs.

As i said - its because people now check online and only go to view the cheapest ones. So dealers have to price their car online with the price cut to the bone just to get the phone to ring.

colino

Everyone will have their own strategies and if you want the car, you will have done your homework and doing a precise match, will know what to pay for it. Every day someone will come in saying they can get the same car for less just down the road. Stock answer is go buy it!
No longer surprised when they window shop for another week and come back wondering where the car they fancied has gone.

Herzlos

motorguy wrote: »

As i said - its because people now check online and only go to view the cheapest ones. So dealers have to price their car online with the price cut to the bone just to get the phone to ring.

Conversations with my local guy back this up; the majority of his sales are online viewers who usually just turn up, pay the asking price and drive away without even asking about test drives, which I thought was pretty odd.

Joe_Horner

motorguy wrote: »

The bottom line is that these days people check online, search by the cheapest, then wade in expecting £££'s off when they get there.

Fair play to the dealer for setting the price realistically and sticking to it.

Oh, and if a customer doesnt like it, thats their problem - you cant have your cake and eat it.

Get much the same in my business, with the used and new stock. People will try to haggle based on what they've seen things for on EBay without considering that:

They can only see photos of the EBay item, they can see, feel, compare and try on with us.

It'll be properly sized to fit for free when they get it from us

They don't have postage to pay with us

The chance of most EBay sellers honouring a guarantee for the next 12 months (which we do as standard, 2 years on some stuff) is slim.

The one from us will be working properly in the first place

We won't get abusive or block them when they make snide comments about our prices

There's usually less than the postage charge difference in our prices anyway!


The worse ones are people who try to compare the used stuff (all serviced and guaranteed) with what they might pay at auction for something that hasn't seen a workshop since it left the factory!

Personally, I blame Esther Rantzen, Watchdog and Bargain Hunt more than the internet

redmike123

I bought my current car a year ago, I looked at prices and specs on Autotrader and then looked at completed listings on e bay ( what they actually sold for) I knew the model and year I wanted, I drove 30 miles to see a car from Autotrader which looked good. I test drove it, I checked all the paperwork was ok and I chatted to the owner. He wanted 4k for it, I thought it was worth 4k so I paid him 4k.

When I sell a car, I set a price, if someone comes round to view, likes it and wants to buy, then the price I set is the price I will sell for. I am not interested in haggling.

Weird_Nev

I add 10% ish to the price when selling, so long as the car is up to standard (generally speaking I buy cars with good service history and low owners, and keep them nicely).

If the buyer wants to pay that, then I'm happy and so are they.
If they want to haggle, I can knock 5% off with a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and I haven't lost out.

I've always sold my cars to the first person to view them, and generally had a few people waiting too.

But that's private sales. Dealers will know their market and price accordingly, because that's their living.

When buying, I always haggle. I've saved myself thousands over the years. People will generally knock a few percent off to close the deal. Best was one bloke who talked himself down £500 without me saying a word on a £4k car!

motorguy

Herzlos wrote: »

Conversations with my local guy back this up; the majority of his sales are online viewers who usually just turn up, pay the asking price and drive away without even asking about test drives, which I thought was pretty odd.

Its the way its going.

I would go so far as to say that these days if someone has already 'done their homework' on your car and has come out, then you shouldnt have to move on the price as if it wasnt already the best value out there then they wouldnt be there - though i usually end up giving a token discount of £100 or so.

Guest101

harveybobbles wrote: »

We never used to knock anything off. We priced our cars to sell, not gather dust.

Pile em high, sell em cheap!

Even buyers with pound notes mean nothing as the banks charge the garage for banking it.

The bank charges the garage for paying money in? Think you were using the wrong bank.