Buying 2nd Hand Car from Dealership in Covid Times

LouiseAH

I normally buy a second hand car from a dealership every 3-4 years. I don't do part exchange deals and normally manage to get around a 10% discount off the advertised price. Went into 3 Dealerships yesterday and asked what discounts they could do on cars worth £12-15,000 and they got very upset. One dealership said they couldn't knock anything off the price. Anyone else have a  similar experience.

neilmcl

LouiseAH said:

I normally buy a second hand car from a dealership every 3-4 years. I don't do part exchange deals and normally manage to get around a 10% discount off the advertised price. Went into 3 Dealerships yesterday and asked what discounts they could do on cars worth £12-15,000 and they got very upset. One dealership said they couldn't knock anything off the price. Anyone else have a  similar experience.

I'm not surprised if you get no joy from a general question like that. If you want a discount, pick a car that you fully intend to buy and negotiate.

demontfort

it depends if you're buying for cash or on finance and whether you're going to get any extras such as gap insurance. I pay cash and don't buy the extas and find when the salesmen find out they clam up and don't move on the price. In this position a 10% discount is a pipe dream. AnywayI tried to buy two used cars last weekend from separate franchised dealers and like to haggle:

First car - I got £350 off this one which was originally priced at £12k and that was very hard work but deal went through.

Second car - After lots of back and forth to his manager the salesmen offered £200 off, I insisted on £250, he refused so I walked out, crazy they wouldn't budge another £50 on a £17k car, especially as the franchised dealers are swamped with this model right now.

Both goes to show franchised dealers aren't interested in cas buyers, it's all about sellling the finance and the add ons

Zandoni

demontfort said:

it depends if you're buying for cash or on finance and whether you're going to get any extras such as gap insurance. I pay cash and don't buy the extas and find when the salesmen find out they clam up and don't move on the price. In this position a 10% discount is a pipe dream. AnywayI tried to buy two used cars last weekend from separate franchised dealers and like to haggle:

First car - I got £350 off this one which was originally priced at £12k and that was very hard work but deal went through.

Second car - After lots of back and forth to his manager the salesmen offered £200 off, I insisted on £250, he refused so I walked out, crazy they wouldn't budge another £50 on a £17k car, especially as the franchised dealers are swamped with this model right now.

Both goes to show franchised dealers aren't interested in cas buyers, it's all about sellling the finance and the add ons

It's best to let them assume you want finance until you've agreed the price.

Stubod

The last 2nd hand car I purchased was about 3 years ago. I asked for a discount as I did not have a part exchange and they did not offer me anything, it was pretty much "buy at the asking price or no sale".They didn't even put any fuel in the tank and I had to make a petrol station my first trip on leaving the dealers!

A couple of years prior to that I purchased another car and it was pretty much the same. It could be that margins are tighter these days?

The only leverage you may have is by selecting a car and then doing a price check on similar cars on Autotrader and use that information, but only if the car you are actually interested in priced "high"?

justworriedabit

Hi OP

Phone them with a car in mind you,ve seen physically or over then net and then talk about it ie

you are a cash buyer and the car you are interested in, negotiate, thank them put the phone down having shared your details, they call you if they say   xxxx+ price you say xxxx ie minus 5% or if locallyish, get a free serie, years mot, full or half tank of fuel etc, more often than not the call back

HTH

Herzlos

LouiseAH said:

I normally buy a second hand car from a dealership every 3-4 years. I don't do part exchange deals and normally manage to get around a 10% discount off the advertised price. Went into 3 Dealerships yesterday and asked what discounts they could do on cars worth £12-15,000 and they got very upset. One dealership said they couldn't knock anything off the price. Anyone else have a  similar experience.

Are you asking about specific cars worth £12-15k or asking in general? If you're asking in general then they'll view you as a time waster since discounts are very much linked to the car. They don't have a blanket 10% discount policy.

Stubod said:

A couple of years prior to that I purchased another car and it was pretty much the same. It could be that margins are tighter these days?

With the boom in online car sales, if your car isn't at the top of the autotrader list then the the phone doesn't ring. So the outdated idea of inflating the price by £1000 so you can knock £500 off just doesn't work anymore, and for everyone who spends an hour trying to knock £10 off there will be someone who'll just phone up and take the car with no effort, so it's really not worth spending any time indulging with the tyre kickers.

Ectophile

If you search on the Autotrader web site, you'll see that Autotrader now tells buyers how the price compares with similar cars.

Any dealer sneaking 20% on the price, and hoping they get haggled down by 10%, will find they get no customers any more.  All their cars will be flagged up as over-priced, and customers will move on down the list.

Being a cash buyer doesn't help, either.  they will get no commission for selling a finance deal, so the profits for them are slimmer.

Bigphil1474

OP, I think you need to be seen as a serious buyer. I bought a car last October from a dealer with a trade in. On a good day my trade in was only worth £1k, but I went in having looked at the car online, told them I wanted it, took it for a test drive, and then asked them what they can do. They knocked £1,500 off the car with my trade in, and a free MOT when due as it was 2 and a half years old. Based on everywhere else I looked for this model, I reckon I got it for £300 better than anywhere else. 18 plate Peugeot 2008. 

Biggus_Dickus

demontfort said:

it depends if you're buying for cash or on finance and whether you're going to get any extras such as gap insurance. I pay cash and don't buy the extas and find when the salesmen find out they clam up and don't move on the price. In this position a 10% discount is a pipe dream. AnywayI tried to buy two used cars last weekend from separate franchised dealers and like to haggle:

First car - I got £350 off this one which was originally priced at £12k and that was very hard work but deal went through.

Second car - After lots of back and forth to his manager the salesmen offered £200 off, I insisted on £250, he refused so I walked out, crazy they wouldn't budge another £50 on a £17k car, especially as the franchised dealers are swamped with this model right now.

Both goes to show franchised dealers aren't interested in cas buyers, it's all about sellling the finance and the add ons

It generally takes quite a bit of online effort/research to track down a suitable vehicle that meets all, or most, of your requirements and as stated very eloquently upthread, online prices these days need to be very competitive otherwise buyers will move swiftly on.

However, if I’d tracked down a suitable £17k car and managed to negotiate a further £200 off the price I’d probably be happy with that. I wouldn’t walk away for the sake of £50,... but that’s just me.

p.s. I have to admit I’m probably the world’s worst haggler. 😯

LouiseAH

My first post wasn't worded very well. When I went into the first dealership I selected a car I liked took it for a quick test drive and sat down with the salesman and discussed the price of the car and he went through all the extras and then i discussed a possible deal. I did exactly same in the 2nd and 3rd dealership. If you went into a dealership and asked a general question like what could you knock off a car worth £12-15K they would probably kick you out the door at the moment. Previously I have found the best thing to do is test drive the car, discuss the car and go through the numbers then ask about possible deals. Walk away and when they phone you back you can try and get the best deal possible. At the moment its probably the worst time to try and get a good deal because of lockdown just finishing and the garages being so busy. One dealership said when I phoned them this week they were so busy that I could not test the car I liked until I had sat down with the salesman and discussed the figures and worked out the deal. This is okay if you have already driven that car and know you want to buy it, when I pointed this out they didn't really have an answer. I think i will wait 6 months and then start looking around.