impossible to haggle car price if bought on PCP?

Lungboy

Hi,
I've just test driven an Octavia 1.2se and loved it. I'd like to get it new and on finance to get the 3 years servicing, but the dealer said if we take the finance he can't take anything off the price. Is that just sales patter and can I haggle, or would I be wasting my time?

For reference, Drive the Deal are offering £2.2k off list.

verityboo

We bought a new Octavia on a PCP a few years ago a definitely got a discount as well as the free servicing a few years ago. Got the car for the same price as the Whatcar magazine target price. I would try ringing another dealer

daveyjp

The servicing has to be paid for and not giving a discount is one way of achieving it.

Haggling with a PCP is more difficult as you are haggling the price, the monthly payment, the deposit and the ballon payment! It is very easy to reduce the price, but it still end up costing you more once they start blinding you with figures.

arcon5

Esales patta

jaydeeuk1

Dealer telling crap, i got £1000 off mine on a high demand model via pcp. The GFV payment stays the same - you can't haggle that (unless they change it slightly to allow for options chosen like colour). Dealer didn't like it when I showed him the DtD price either, its basically his commission disappearing.

missile

Utter !!!!!!!!. Price for my PCP was cheaper than if I paid cash. Shop around.

InsideInsurance

Speak to other dealerships/ retailers - though make sure they arent part of the same group as the one you've been dealing with.

Same as most the stories above I called a dealership ~50 miles from me and they bit my hand off on the opportunity to quote. Not only did they come in lower than anything else I'd been quoted but even after I accepted the offer they then came back with a further reduction to ensure I signed.

Local dealer said they'd match it, despite their prior offer being "the best possible" but with some gentlemens agreement type conditions attached. Gave the business to the remote dealership who were willing to give a good deal from the outset

Strider590

Car salesmen are such slimey f**kers, that your probably not getting a discount even when they tell you that you are.

Most people fall for the sales patter and never question anything. In situations where one feels out of their depth (which is 90% of the day for many people), it's human nature to trust people who talk a lot, even if they talk utter sh*te.

I mean how many people believe the £500 free fuel offers that are around at the moment? How many understand that they'll just be paying £500 more for the car?

OddballJamie

Strider590 wrote: »

Car salesmen are such slimey f**kers, that your probably not getting a discount even when they tell you that you are.

Most people fall for the sales patter and never question anything. In situations where one feels out of their depth (which is 90% of the day for many people), it's human nature to trust people who talk a lot, even if they talk utter sh*te.

I mean how many people believe the £500 free fuel offers that are around at the moment? How many understand that they'll just be paying £500 more for the car?

Pentagon have been selling off the old shape Zafira for £9995 for some time now. Although this week it comes with £500 of fuel for the same price.

From what I've seen over the last year or two dealers have been pretty firm with the Zafira price and giving not so generous part ex prices, so £500 off is better than nothing.

InsideInsurance

Strider590 wrote: »

Car salesmen are such slimey f**kers, that your probably not getting a discount even when they tell you that you are.

Most people fall for the sales patter and never question anything. In situations where one feels out of their depth (which is 90% of the day for many people), it's human nature to trust people who talk a lot, even if they talk utter sh*te.

I mean how many people believe the £500 free fuel offers that are around at the moment? How many understand that they'll just be paying £500 more for the car?

Never heard that its human nature to trust those that talk alot. Sellers naturally do though, and you will find most (good) professional buyers are very quiet. Sellers hate the silence so fill it, often with discounts. The best ever buyer I dealt with was on the phone and when the seller gave the price she just did the air sucked through teeth noise and then silence. Seller asked "is that too much?", buyer said "we not here to discuss prices today" and then silence. By the end of the conversation the seller had halved their price and the buyer then churped up for the first time with "so I will arrange a call on Monday so that we can start the pricing negotiations" :beer:

They shouldnt be paying £500 more for the car with a £500 free fuel deal. For a start, lets assume its VW that are running the promotion as its a short name to type, if VW UK Ltd is estimating its going to sell 10,000 cars under the deal then it will be buying £5m of gift vouchers. If you buy £5m face value of vouchers you do not pay anything close to £5m for them! You have a combination of volume/ bulk buy discount plus the strong argument that not all will ever be used.

Secondly this is a marketing cost for VW UK but in most cases its not VW UK that sells you the car but a dealership who may carry VW in its name but its only a franchise holder. Whilst I have never been fully privy to the financial arrangement between a car franchise and the uk importer it would be rare in general for any franchisee to have to fully fund the marketing activities of the franchisor by direct costs

To take an example that I am closer with, one insurer is offering £70 cashback or vouchers if you buy via a number of marketing sites. If you compare the prices though they are about £40 more expensive via those channels. So you are still getting £30 for nothing but its not as good as the £70 headline would suggest.

So yes, you may end up paying some more for the car but its not going to be £500 more and so if you will actually make use of the £500 of fuel then it is a benefit for you even if its not as much as £500