Haggling possible on new car PCP?

scaredofdebt

Buy a 1-2 year old car with warranty (the balance of the manufacturers warranty), that gives you some comfort against buying a "dud" and if you check the service history (and it has comprehensive history) then you have some more certainty. You'll also save a shed load of cash.

Even buying a brand-new car is no guarantee you won't get a "dud" and you could argue buying one with some history behind it gives you more peace of mind.

I would only ever buy a brand new car again if money was no object.

Inksleeves

OK.

So, I didn't answer your original question.

Just because its a PCP deal, doesn't mean the purchase price is fixed....the dealer can make a 'deposit contribution'.....that means a discount.

You can also adjust the interest rate that is applied to the deal, a friend recently negotiated BMW from 4.8% down to 2%. This impacts you monthly payments.

Nothing impacts the final option payment, this is an anticipated value of the car at the end of the agreement.

You could 0% whack a great big deposit down and you'd just see the monthly payment drop.....the final lump would remain the same.

I've recently signed a PCP on Renault Zoe. The deal moved by 10% off the monthly payment through gentle haggling, plus increase to the yearly mileage limit.

Jeffnospam

There is more profit in a car for the dealer if it has a PCP than without so the discount should be even bigger. Start by looking at a few broker sites. I was offered a discount of over £5000 on a new Mondeo but read the small print. You want a broker that introduces you to a dealer so you pay the dealer.

In fact many car discounts are based on a PCP agreement but remember that when you hand the car back you will have to find the deposit again for the next car. Also any damage will have to be fixed before the car is returned if it is more than light wear and tear.

It is a fallacy that Fords lose more money than other brands as it all depends on your original discount. I brought a new Mondeo in 2010 with a fat discount and today it has still lost less than 50% of its value.

MaximumFish

Sorry to bump an old-ish thread, but I still haven't settled on a car, new or used! I did want to ask a follow-up question though...

I test drove a Skoda Octavia vRS yesterday and found I really liked it. I was all ready to go down the used route but they're currently doing 0% PCP for the life of the term for new cars. Is that something I should be considering? I was going to need some sort of loan to finance this either way so 0% sounds good from a money saving perspective, but there's still the depreciation of a new car.

As far as used goes there's plenty of stock available but the prices all seem to be pretty much the same everywhere.

Used is tempting me due to the 6-7K price difference and the speed at which I can get one, but then the 0% is muddying the water and confusing me as to what works out best. Either way, the offer expires at the end of the month so I've got limited time to mull it over.

Advice appreciated once again!

InsideInsurance

MaximumFish wrote: »

We've never bought brand new before so really don't have any idea if there's room for haggling? Especially seeing as it's a brand new style, I can't imagine there'd be much, if any wiggle room? Do different dealers offer different prices?

You can always haggle in whatever you buy, the more expensive it is the more the chance the merchant will consider it. Dont consider haggling just being getting prices reduced but also consider getting extras thrown in for free.

Price is always driven by supply and demand. As you've said, a new model tends to drive demand which increases prices (ie reduces the discounts available in real terms) but there can be exceptions.

Certainly different companies will have different prices, be aware of dealerships who are part of the same chain as they are probably less likely to undercut themselves unless they have very poor controls in place. Similarly what deal they will do can vary by sales person in the dealership and the dealership's appetite for doing deals will vary based on their recent performance. The commissions/bonus they (dealership and sales person) receive can be fairly complex and not as simple as 10% of all sales. It can work out that they can sell one car at cost and yet that increases the total commission/bonus they get despite making nothing on that 1 car.

Unfortunately its impossible to know who's in what position. Personally, I've always done much better from companies that arent my local dealer and there is some sense to as why you may. In fact buying my current car was the odd position of agreeing a price with a company that was significantly cheaper than my local dealer and after agreeing the price they then called me back saying they actually could lower the price further as they'd done their sums and it just pushed them into the next band of quarterly sales commissions.

forgotmyname

0% interest = they wont give you the bigger discount they were giving before they started the 0% deal.

Do you live in a good area and garage the car at night? They can be a bit of a target in some area's. Come out and find the VRS badge gone then bits of trim or the wheels, and no the locking nuts/bolts wont stop them or even slow them.

MaximumFish

So getting a lime green one may not be the best idea then?

I thought that might be the case with the 0% deal. I suppose I need to do the maths and work out the depreciation cost vs the cost of interest on a used model.

BeenThroughItAll

forgotmyname wrote: »

Do you live in a good area and garage the car at night? They can be a bit of a target in some area's. Come out and find the VRS badge gone then bits of trim or the wheels, and no the locking nuts/bolts wont stop them or even slow them.

When was the last time you saw a car on bricks at the roadside? Genuine question - as I don't believe alloy thefts are *that* common now.


I haven't seen or heard of a single theft of alloy wheels in more than five years. Steel wheels, on the other hand... I've heard of a couple of thefts of those locally within the last couple of years.

jaydeeuk1

Go to drive the deal and print off a quote. After youve tried and liked car, tell the salesman this is what you want to pay. If they're like the ones at Citroen the salesman will be annoyed, running backwards and forwards to his manager at which point you either see how close they get (derby got with £100 but had some extras chucked in) or you email each dealer in the area saying this is the car you want, this is what you want to pay and whoever rings you back first gets the sale.

Alternatively look at leasing, on popular cars it often works out cheaper, plus no salesmen to deal with, and as they're online no overheads to pay for.

dannyrst

I'd pick a 2 year old, sub 25,000 mile used car over new every time. Teething problem with the car sorted out and still in warranty for any hidden issues.