Share your car haggling tips

bathtub

I recently bought a Yaris.
Local main dealer had the car I wanted for £13K (windscreen price).
They had that car on Ebay for £11K. So it's worth checking online sales medium to see if they're chancing their arm.
Motorpoint had one with the same age, spec and mileage for £9K. I confronted the main dealer with the evidence, but they wouldn't budge on price. They did admit they'd drive the fifty miles for that sort of price saving.
Guess what I bought. I can't fault it.

Look around and be prepared to travel.

desthemoaner

I've made some terrible purchases over the years, so I can certainly tell you what NOT to do. First, don't become so starry-eyed about the model you desire that you ignore the need for obvious and fundamental checks. I bought a Rover 820 from a dealer many years ago. I'd seen the adverts, "Das Fastback", and was determined to have one. When I found one at a local dealer I called to arrange to see it and the battery was on charge when I turned up. The bodywork, it eventually transpired, was in bad condition, but I was so transfixed by the beauty of the model that I ignored that and also failed to spot the serious gearbox oil leak. Car cost me thousands to fix because I only received a basic warranty for three months, and failed to invoke the protection of consumer legislation when after that period it began to go very badly wrong indeed. It had been clocked as well, but that's another story.


There was the Montego I bought from a dealer which cost a packet and which when I returned it to part ex for something else I was told was not a very saleable car. Well, they managed to sell it to ME alright.


There were other examples of my learning curve, but the last was a Rover which I bought for my son, and which was advertised for £2600 online. We went to look at it, drove it, decided it was a reasonable car and paid a deposit. Next week we went back to pick it up (instead of being there to meet us as promised, the salesman was down the road having his beard trimmed) and the dealer had lobbed an extra 100 quid on the price. Because we hadn't printed off the advert to confirm the price, nor ensured that the paperwork confirming the deposit showed the full balance still due, we couldn't argue with him. Obviously we should have demanded return of the deposit, which was paid by credit card, and then walked away; but my son was desperate for a car so we clenched our teeth and paid up.



I made a more minor mistake with my current car, failing to insist on a year's tax rather than the rather paltry six months that the dealer gave me, flatly refusing to stretch to the extra 100 quid even though he was taking over six thousand pounds from me. However, that pales into insignificance in comparison to the many, MANY car buying errors I've made over the years. I was planning to change my car this month but having decided that my old car is cheaper, and probably much more reliable than anything I could replace it with, I've treated it to two new tyres, will be replacing the cambelt soon and holding onto it for another year or two.



Final and more positive bit of advice: if, like me, you're not confident or particularly skilful at getting the best deal, take someone with you who is.

root

Probably a question more for the salesmen in the thread, but I was wondering why ex-demo cars always seem to be lauded as a bargain.

I would have thought these would be the most abused (staff, bad drivers on test drives etc)?

bathtub

Ex-demo and ex-hire cars are likely to have been run in better. Modern thinking seems to indicate a new engine should be thrashed within the first twenty miles or so of its life to bed in the rings.
I've heard of several newish cars drinking oil despite their owners thinking they'd run them in carefully. Probably too carefully.
I was quite happy to buy an ex-hire car that had done 8K miles in four months because of this.