Best way to negotiate a second hand car

treeroy

Have a really good look and check over the car to make sure it's in tip top condition. If you find enough minor stuff that's wrong with it then you could use that as some haggling power.

But in reality you can't expect much money off. Margins are so tiny in the used car business. Don't expect to get much off.
If you are looking at £10K cars when you are only expecting to pay £9K, then go elsewhere and find some £9K cars.

Unless the car is severely overpriced for what it is, I would not expect to be able to haggle. You can haggle a bit with private sellers, and with dealers selling brand new cars, but used cars from a dealership have extremely narrow wiggle room.

sweetsand

Hi OP
If you looking for a great colour like black all our cars are black and then top spec, all our cars are top spec, almost top spec, then hardly a discount if mileage is low and one owner and FSH.
If you go for a run of the mill, ford, vauxhal, pegout, renault, etc etc and a colour like white that does not wear well, red, blue etc and mid range spec with non dealer service history mixed with dealer stuff and especially if the car is one ownner and the one owwner was a rental etc, you will get more money off.

look at the car, if you like it, drive it, if you still like it, negotiate a bit then walk out and call them the next day just after lunch time when they are less busy and tell them you are going to be buying another car but prefer that as you like they way they spoke with you and stuff like that (lol) and then goo below your best price and meet in the middle. if the young man/woman is having to consult their "manager" with every offer tell them you want to speak to him/her as you do not have time to waste.
Don't worry about being slightly abrupt as car dealers IMHO fall into the same cat as estate agents, block paviours and solicitors

HTH

CocoM2020

sweetsand said:

Hi OP
If you looking for a great colour like black all our cars are black and then top spec, all our cars are top spec, almost top spec, then hardly a discount if mileage is low and one owner and FSH.
If you go for a run of the mill, ford, vauxhal, pegout, renault, etc etc and a colour like white that does not wear well, red, blue etc and mid range spec with non dealer service history mixed with dealer stuff and especially if the car is one ownner and the one owwner was a rental etc, you will get more money off.

look at the car, if you like it, drive it, if you still like it, negotiate a bit then walk out and call them the next day just after lunch time when they are less busy and tell them you are going to be buying another car but prefer that as you like they way they spoke with you and stuff like that (lol) and then goo below your best price and meet in the middle. if the young man/woman is having to consult their "manager" with every offer tell them you want to speak to him/her as you do not have time to waste.
Don't worry about being slightly abrupt as car dealers IMHO fall into the same cat as estate agents, block paviours and solicitors

HTH

What in the world is a block paviour? Seriously anyone got a clue? 

onlyfoolsandparking

CocoM2020 said:

sweetsand said:

Hi OP
If you looking for a great colour like black all our cars are black and then top spec, all our cars are top spec, almost top spec, then hardly a discount if mileage is low and one owner and FSH.
If you go for a run of the mill, ford, vauxhal, pegout, renault, etc etc and a colour like white that does not wear well, red, blue etc and mid range spec with non dealer service history mixed with dealer stuff and especially if the car is one ownner and the one owwner was a rental etc, you will get more money off.

look at the car, if you like it, drive it, if you still like it, negotiate a bit then walk out and call them the next day just after lunch time when they are less busy and tell them you are going to be buying another car but prefer that as you like they way they spoke with you and stuff like that (lol) and then goo below your best price and meet in the middle. if the young man/woman is having to consult their "manager" with every offer tell them you want to speak to him/her as you do not have time to waste.
Don't worry about being slightly abrupt as car dealers IMHO fall into the same cat as estate agents, block paviours and solicitors

HTH

What in the world is a block paviour? Seriously anyone got a clue? 

Think It's a less experienced block paver, maybe that's why they don't like them didn't get a good job done on the Palace, lol 

Grumpy_chap

CocoM2020 said:

What in the world is a block paviour? Seriously anyone got a clue? 

It is simply block paving.

Back to topic, the amount to negotiate on a car is all down to the fairness of the price for the car and whether the purchaser is willing to walk away (because most cars, if this one is not the right price, then there is possibly another just around the corner).

frost500

How to get a good deal on a used car? Buy privately. 

Nobody gets a good deal from a dealer.

Remember whatever you buy will lose money rapidly as soon as you become the third owner.

If I had £10k for a second hand car, I wouldn't bother. I would buy a Sandero for £7k. Or spend much less, a modern car with 70,000 on the clock will be worth £1000s less than a car with 20,000 on the clock, yet will be just as good, after you have spent £300 on a cam belt.

ontheroad1970

frost500 said:

How to get a good deal on a used car? Buy privately. 

Nobody gets a good deal from a dealer.

Remember whatever you buy will lose money rapidly as soon as you become the third owner.

If I had £10k for a second hand car, I wouldn't bother. I would buy a Sandero for £7k. Or spend much less, a modern car with 70,000 on the clock will be worth £1000s less than a car with 20,000 on the clock, yet will be just as good, after you have spent £300 on a cam belt.

Nobody gets a warranty from a private seller.  They are different markets entirely.  You have to decide your risk strategy.  There are far more scammers in private sellers, and no comeback when something goes wrong unless the ad was completely misleading.  Far harder to get any money back.

treeroy

Why would anyone looking at a 1-year-old car buy from a private seller...?

ontheroad1970

treeroy said:

Why would anyone looking at a 1-year-old car buy from a private seller...?

Some do.  Quite rare.  I wouldn't sell a 1 year old car privately.  Too many scammers out there.

Scrapit

EdGasketTheSecond said:

clive0510 said:

if you see a car you like at a good price, all ways try to find something wrong with it and use that as a bargaining tool. it may need new tyres, it might have large stone chip somewhere, it may have a mark on the interior trim. just something to get that extra few quid.

No we can do without this. If the car is already at a good price then pay the seller what is a fair price to them too; it's fair all round then.

No chance.
If I can get money off I'm gonna try. Worst case I offer money they say no we carry on with the deal