Share your car haggling tips

StripeyMiata

Some people say to go in at the end of the month for new cars and you'll get better deals as the monthly targets have to be met, always thought it was an urban myth but happy to be corrected.

skivenov

Second hand - when they turn an offer down, especially if they think you're wasting their time - whip a roll of cash out of your pocket and say "I'll take this somewhere else then". Soon turns their greed glands on.

spotbot

Firstly and most importantly be prepared to walk away, not just threaten. I've had more phone calls the day after with the deal I wanted than Ive had hot dinners.Try if possible to get them to bring the car to your home, your comfort zone and they won't want to leave without a sale, I've done it and got a further £250 off. Have documentary proof from research of value of your car if your part exchanging & target price or online price from such as What car. Remember they want your money more than you need their car, whilst it on stock or order they have monies outstanding so it's costing them every day it's on the site. Work out what your willing to pay, i.e. Difference in p/ex & new car and stick to it, I work on top book for both. Don't forget stuff like tax on used cars, mats, flaps and a tank of fuel which I always insist on and get. If they give it the usual, "Your willing to let the car go for £?", remind them No it's actually them that are willing to do that and remind them there's plenty of other Garages happy to take your money and if they keep running to the Boss ell them to bring him over to deal if he has the final say so but also remember they have to make a living and you'll know when the boundaries reached. It works my last car a Q5 Cost £31k, I paid £24k, prior to that an A6 sline £29K new, I paid £18k 9 months old. Good luck,p.s. End of month best as need to hit targets.

Stoke

Meh, I've always been able to get decent money knocked off from a private seller. I go in armed with certain questions to begin with, MOT, Tax, last serviced etc. Any of these are slightly off/due, I indicate that this will need doing.

The big one is cambelt. Any reply of "uh, oh, don't know" and I will hastily point out that this is an essential part of the car and as such it needs doing at the correct intervals. The amount of people who genuinely don't know when their cambelt is done, and ultimately, you look in the manual and it was done 38k miles ago, is astonishing. For that, you should expect a good £200 off.

I don't go over the interior with a fine toothed comb, but I will point out when I think something is wrong.

The most I got knocked off a vehicle I was looking at is £600.

I still didn't buy it :P

tigger13

When I was looking for my new car ,a Nissan , I couldnt find any at a rreasonable price down south but as soon as I looked near Sunderland they were eveywhere at a sensible price.I guess all the folks who work in the factories that make them get good deals which they can pass on second hand.
I did buy a car in the south and get a good deal. A friend wanted a similar car so we tried our local dealer , joking 'buy one ,get one free'. He wouldnt have that but gave us a generous discount as we were buying two off his forecourt.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Buying a used a car:
1. don't introduce any part ex you may have at the get go.
haggled the screen price for cash, then when you feel they have hit their lower limit then introduce your part ex as food for thought, even if asked if your part exing at the start of negotiations, just say you haven't decided yet and don't let on its the one you've turned up in by looking over to it.




2.condition for mileage displayed, does the interior reflect the vehicles usage look at pedal rubbers, bolster wear, center arm rest wear, switches and stalks wear, seat belt wear, rear seat wear, boot interior wear, missing standard items, can all give tell tale signs on a vehicles life and use.
On a 40k miles 1 careful owner car, I would expect to see original items in place for the model such as the anti slip rubbers for center console coin storage area's and in the center arm rest storage, some models even have them In the door hand grab pocket on the door card, I would expect to see light wear and tear on the interior and a few interior trim scratches such as the foot plate on the door frame, around the pedals, and around the ignition key barrel cowling, and lower door card pockets, and light seat wear, I would be suspicious of a car advertised as the above but had allot of wear on the carpets and door cards the switches felt loose and worn out, the steering wheel stalks felt worn by lack of sturdy clicks and looked worn with faded out white paint that should indicate their functions, a drivers seat that looks hardly sat in and looks to appear in better condition than the rest of the interior, the outer part of the steering wheel looking like new but the center horn airbag center looks a little off colour and worn slightly, hardly touched pedal rubbers, and standard interior parts missing such as those rubber matts I mention above for center console, gear stick gaiter has cracking and holes and gear knob looks all but new and the key fob buttons feel extremely worn and about to fall to pieces.


3. service books, if its advertised as full service history, I'd be looking at the stamps, dealerships tend to have more than 1 stamp and ink color that leave different stamp markings, if theres a few blue ones few red ones and black ones with signatures below with different style of handwriting and the stamp marking looks different then odds on its genuine, if it starts out that way but then goes to and appears to be the same stamp markings for last few services, in the same color ink, with the same handwriting underneath that appear to have different names of the people who service it then I would discard that as doctored, look at the service book carefully normally the dealership prints a label off and places it where it says vehicle details mine even have the date of order and date of dealership delivery and vehicle build date on it. a part service history and receipts for works and parts is not a full service history some places pass this off a good as having a full service history its not and shouldn't be taken as if it is even if the sales guys says you should.


4.Dont always buy on the first visit and test drive, Leave a number mobile and landline e-mail etc, get the vehicle details, like MOT ref numbers logbook ref number and do your homework, look at MOT history https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history-vehicle, look in the logbook Notes section or important information sections and look for things such as Cat C.




5.research the car your interested in buying, don't just check review sites, look of owners forums and check the common prolems thread,
check for recalls on vehicle defect concerns https://www.gov.uk/check-if-a-vehicle-has-been-recalled even if a vehicle is 12 yrs old, a simple call to a local dealership with vehicle reg or vehicle VIN number they will be able to tell you if it has been done or not if not, then they should do it as a matter of course free of charge.


6.Ive left cars I liked and interested in just because I don't like the sales guy attitude if he has a pushy attitude with a lack of helpfulness such as retrieving vehicle documents to browse over and lack of interest in divulging information to you from simple questions, then ive walked, if its like this before you buy imagine when you have a problem with it after you buy!.


overall if there are a few things wrong with the car that's minor use them to your advantage, ive managed to get a radio swapped over because I didn't like the multi cd stack in the boot, so they swapped it for OEM radio CD player instead and the removed the wiring brackets and multi cd from the boot put it in a box and gave it to me "if I ever wanted to change it back in the future", I've got keyrings, umbrella's, and a jacket, mugs, pens.


when buying new or approved used from a dealership, look at the cheap personalization optional extra's, like say OEM sports pedals for £39.99 and include them in your haggling, color coded mud flaps, carbon trim strips anything and start to haggle them into the price.

MysteryMe

Do your internet research and particularly if buying a demo or pre reg from a main dealer be prepared to travel. I live in the SE and travelled nearly 200 miles to buy my Toyota. The starting price savings far outweighed the travel costs alone and I still got a decent discount on the sticker price and P/X value.

If they know where you have travelled from you are disadvantaged as they know you are definitely interested but also advantaged as they know you are a serious buyer so if a deal works for both parties then a deal will be had.

I saved over £1000 on a similar car if bought locally.

pforma1

I live in the NW and bought my last car on the internet direct from a dealer in London.

Show interest mid-month, dont respond to emails or calls overly quickly as to appear too keen and then nail down the deal as the month end nears as they all have sales targets to meet.

I got £4500 discount off a £22,500 list price car that was a demo with just 900 miles on the clock. I also got them to cover my one-way £40 train fare and to put in a half tank of diesel for the journey home - if you don't ask you don't get and the sales guy admitted it was just a small dent out of his commission to cover these.

PicassoMatisse

Never let the dealer arrange finance. Always be a cash buyer. If you haven't enough cash get a personal loan from another source. You will then own the car outright-if the dealer sorts out the finance he/she will be paid commission from the finance company which will be included in the finance agreement and you will be paying that dealer's commission. Also, if you get finance from the dealer, you will be entering into a HP agreement and will not own the car until you have made the final payment on that agreement. If you sell the car you must clear the HP agreement, whereas if you take out a personal loan you can do what you like with the car. If you no longer need the car, you can sell it to whoever you choose, settle the personal loan or continue to make the payments and leave it to run to the end or until you decide to clear it. It's the bottom line that counts. If you take out finance, work out how much the vehicle will cost in total; don't just look at the monthly payment or the interest rate-personal loans use APR while HP agreements use Flat Rate which will always appear to be lower than the APR. To compare like with like double the Flat Rate and add 0.5% to give you a close approximation to the true APR.

Igol

The question I forgot to ask when I got my wifes car in December.

Any advisories on the MOT?

We'd done the research and I knew what I was going to pay when we went back to have another look but it was the run up to Xmas and the dealer threw me by dropping the price £100 under my target without any effort.

The front tyres had a wear advisory on the ticket and when were were using it on our sooo well maintained roads we noticed it was pulling to the left occasionally. I was thinking tracking but as by now I'd seen the note on the MOT (yes I really should have picked it up on looking round) stuck new boots on and shes been fine since to the extent I want one too.

But that was another potential £200 off the asking price or new rubber before I took it away, though I'm a biker and I'm funny about what tyres I have and I doubt they'd have let me specify.