Major Dealership: Used Discount Haggle?

unclebatman

Hi there,
 
After six years of company car driving I’m stepping back into the world of private ownership and have a test drive booked at a VW dealership tomorrow.

This a 69 plate diesel vehicle which has <50 miles and I’m told has been sat at the dealership unregistered since December. 

As this is my first time buying a car effectively new I wondered what success stories people have had in their “haggling” at this sort of range. The vehicle is priced at £20k and it would be a cash purchase. 

Could there be any bargaining at all? 5%? 10%?

Obviously I want the very best bang for my buck so any pointers would be much appreciated. 

Thanks in advance. 

fred246

List prices are useless. You need to find the best broker's price or whatcar target price. That will tell you the cheapest you could get the car brand new. Then you need to negotiate a discount over that because it is 6 months old. The last time I did it we got down to the lowest he would go. I walked out and when I got home I thought "that's daft. They can't give cars away. Someone will buy that tomorrow" so I phoned him back and we agreed on the lowest price he had offered.

The_Rainmaker

If I gave you £2.5k off a £25k car would that be a good deal?

Until you know the answer to that question you can't decide. Research, research and some more research until you know the answer.  Of course we have the added fly of covid which could (not will) have a big effect in the market probably nearer the end of the year or going in to 2021.

Also look outside the box for bang for your buck; eg forget the VW and get down to the Skoda dealer.

Jonesya

unclebatman said:

Obviously I want the very best bang for my buck so any pointers would be much appreciated. 

In which case, why are you buying such a new vehicle, the depreciation in the early years of new car ownership is so huge that buying any new car is probably the worst bang-for-buck decision you can make. 

Generally you get far, far more bang for your buck buying a used vehicle that's a few years old and let someone else pay the heavy depreciation.

You mention you are leaving a company car scheme, do you have the option to buy your former company car assuming it's suitable? I did that once myself, worked well, I'd had the car from brand new, regular servicing, I knew its history, I'd been the only driver and bought it off the company at a fair price at 3 years old.

motorguy

unclebatman said:

Hi there,
 
After six years of company car driving I’m stepping back into the world of private ownership and have a test drive booked at a VW dealership tomorrow.

This a 69 plate diesel vehicle which has <50 miles and I’m told has been sat at the dealership unregistered since December. 

As this is my first time buying a car effectively new I wondered what success stories people have had in their “haggling” at this sort of range. The vehicle is priced at £20k and it would be a cash purchase. 

Could there be any bargaining at all? 5%? 10%?

Obviously I want the very best bang for my buck so any pointers would be much appreciated. 

Thanks in advance. 

Use the likes of Broadspeed.com and Drivethedeal.com to see how much the same car can be bought for new with discount.  You may be surprised.

Also, a new car will qualify for any incentivised finance rates whereas a pre-reg one wont.

Also, do a national search on autotrader for that specific car of "2019 cars onwards, less than 1000 miles" and see what comes up.

That information should arm you as to how competitive the dealers price is.

Scrapit

Pre regged cars usually give a good bit of haggle room, but they wont give it away. If you think its a good deal against the price of a "new" car then go for it.

motorguy

Scrapit said:

Pre regged cars usually give a good bit of haggle room, but they wont give it away. If you think its a good deal against the price of a "new" car then go for it.

With the caveat make sure its against the discounted price of the new car - most car deals go for "Save £5,000 on the new car price", but conveniently forget that you might get that amount of discount or more on a new one anyway.

Also, worth bearing in mind that the car in question may have been registered in December 19 to meet targets then and has sat undriven since then.  It will still be valued as a previous plate / previous year car compared to a new reg plate one.

I'm always very cautious about pre-reg / ex demo cars.  Sometimes there are genuine savings to be had, but often a new car can work out the same or cheaper.  Our local BMW dealer had an ex-demo M140i for sale for £29,995 when we were able to buy a brand new one for £28,200.  On top of that, pre-reg cars are often previous model or pre facelift cars.

unclebatman

Thanks for all your comments guys and gals. Some homework to do for tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes. 

MinuteNoodles

Jonesya said:

unclebatman said:

Obviously I want the very best bang for my buck so any pointers would be much appreciated. 

In which case, why are you buying such a new vehicle, the depreciation in the early years of new car ownership is so huge that buying any new car is probably the worst bang-for-buck decision you can make.

Maybe they want a new car, one they're the first owner of. If they have the money to hand and can afford it then that's up to them. Nothing wrong asking how to get the best bang per buck even for someone buying new.

AdrianC

MinuteNoodles said:

Jonesya said:

unclebatman said:

Obviously I want the very best bang for my buck so any pointers would be much appreciated. 

In which case, why are you buying such a new vehicle, the depreciation in the early years of new car ownership is so huge that buying any new car is probably the worst bang-for-buck decision you can make.

Maybe they want a new car, one they're the first owner of. If they have the money to hand and can afford it then that's up to them. Nothing wrong asking how to get the best bang per buck even for someone buying new.

Except that's not what they're buying. They're buying a 69-plate pre-reg used car.

Car_54

Seems a bit confused "This a 69 plate diesel vehicle which has <50 miles and I’m told has been sat at the dealership unregistered since December."

If it really is unregistered, then the 69 plates will come off and it'll get a 20 plate when it's actually registered.

I suspect it's really a pre-reg. In addition to the comments about that above, I'd add that the warranty has been ticking away for six months, and the first service will probably be due in December.