What to ask when haggling over price

motorguy

Bantex wrote: »

Best starter question "is there room for negotiation on the price"?

Reality "i've got a grand discount to play with"

What the salesman tells you "we've no real room to maneuvre on price, but if you're willing to buy today, i can talk to the sales manager and see what i can get him to do for you"

motorguy

atolaas wrote: »

Will you consider a part-ex on my current vehicle?
That should help lower the price on the vehicle you're looking at or enable you to afford a newer car that you couldn't otherwise have!

How would that work??

motorguy

AdrianC wrote: »

Or, even better, "How much room for negotiation?"

"Is there?" invites "no". "How much?" can be answered with "none", sure, but it starts from an assumption that there is some. The salesman has to be on the defensive if he's saying "none".

Reality "i can knock a grand off and still get my commission"

What the salesman will tell you "i'll need to check the figures, there may be some wiggle room on price, if you are prepared to buy today".

The problem with "how much room for negotation?" is that the salesman can close that down with "theres a small amount of room", so hes back in the driving seat, controlling your expectations about how much he can knock off.

motorguy

teffers wrote: »

Starting from the premise that 90% of what a car salesman will tell you is probably a lie ... most questions you ask them are pointless.

Absolutely. Its like playing poker. They're not going to be honest with you over direct questions like that.

Its what sales negotiation is all about.

Also, its not necessarily about lying its about perception of reality.

Salesman "theres another party really interested in this car"

Your perception - "someone else has been in, test driven the car, agreed a price, and is away home to check their bank balance and is probably driving back with the money as we speak".

The reality - "some bloke squinted at it for a second whilst walking past the end of the forecourt last week".

facade

F1F93 wrote: »

They won't let you leave the showroom, coming up with something like "oh, I'll just go and get my manager and see if I can get you a good deal.

They actually just go out the back for a quick smoke, or into an empty office for a couple of minutes, they already know the minimum they can sell the car for and keep their commission.

owen_money

redcard wrote: »

Well, if it's never been test driven then there's little interest in it, if its had 10 test drives then no one has liked it enough to buy it.

'It was test driven a couple of hours ago. The couple really liked it and have gone away to sort their finances out. I shouldn't say this but if you're interested you'd better be quick'

Kerching

motorguy

owen_money wrote: »

'It was test driven a couple of hours ago. The couple really liked it and have gone away to sort their finances out. I shouldn't say this but if you're interested you'd better be quick'

Kerching

+1

These people are trained sales negotiators. They're going to say what they need to.

Surprising on some of the naive questions on here. I can just see the scenario

"you've your car for sale at £7995, is there much room for negotiation?"

"yes i can take £6000 for it! D'oh! You tricked me into giving away £2,000 of discount!!"

Strider590

These days you probably won't get them to come down by much and IF they do, they'll try to sell you addons like "Super Quadraspaz" paint protection to make up for any discount they gave you.

What they will do is talk, A LOT, because human beings naturally trust chatty people, who "seem nice", like most of the worlds biggest cereal killers.

Remember they are not your friend, they cannot be trusted.

It's correct that they will lie to answer any question you ask, if your good at spotting lies then ask away, but if your not then you need to go purely on the cars merits.

One obvious question is about the cambelt, but the salesman won't know the answer to this and will probably lie. So always factor in getting that changed within a few weeks of purchase.

Take a look:
Does it have decent brand tyres fitted? If not then it was probably maintained on the cheap.

Are all the panels lined up nicely? Same colour? If not then it probably had an unrecorded accident.

Is it supposed to have been serviced recently? Is the oil filter looking quite clean? If not then it probably hasn't serviced properly.

Do the brake discs look worn? do they have a very defined lip on the outer edge? If so, then they could be ready for a change.

The list goes on really.....

vansboy

When I had my van sales business, I surprised a lot of people by advertising NO HAGGLE PRICING!!

I actually included VAT within the price, very rare for commercial vehicle dealers.

Also about a third of my advertisment in the press, would be hi lighting just what was included, fully serviced, new MOT, new cambelt, warrant, all done for you!

The majority of customers appreciated this price transparency, but those that that felt they needed a price cut, I'd simply ask them if they thought the vehicle was as it should be and that I'd got everything else right, then how come I've got the price wrong? (in friendly way of course).

VB

Bantex_2

motorguy wrote: »

+1

These people are trained sales negotiators. They're going to say what they need to.

Surprising on some of the naive questions on here. I can just see the scenario

"you've your car for sale at £7995, is there much room for negotiation?"

"yes i can take £6000 for it! D'oh! You tricked me into giving away £2,000 of discount!!"

So, if I (as a punter) were to ask you if there was any room for negotiation, what would you reply?