Second hand car dealers - advisability of haggling?

RainbowsInTheSpray

I've been told that the second hand market is "hot" at the moment and dealers are actually more likely to raise existing prices rather than engage in any haggling with would-be purchasers.

Any comments on this, please? Is that a correct take on things?

motorman99

One bid is worth more than 10 people having a look so go for it.

do your research tho……don’t be absurd by trying to get £2000 off a £5000 car 

El_Torro

It depends a lot on the dealer. Some expect to haggle and price accordingly, others don't. This is true regardless of how much demand there is out there. 

As mentioned a dealer is unlikely to turn their nose up at a decent offer, unless there are other people standing behind you with higher offers.

marlot

I've bought cars where the price is fair, and I've paid it without haggling.

I've walked away from cars which were over-priced and the dealer wouldn't negotiate down enough.

To buy at a fair price, you need to do some market research.  What is being asked for similar cars on autotrader, and are they selling?

PS. If you open an autotrader advert, the date it was first put up is in the header.  So this random example https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308150797645 has been advertised since 15th Aug.

Penguin_

Well the worst they can say is no really so you haven't got anything to lose.

CliveOfIndia

Haggling these days is often less successful than it used to be - for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, in the current climate there's something of a shortage of cars, both new and used, so dealers tend to be able to sell them fairly easily - as long as they're priced reasonably.

But also the popularity of online buying, whether direct from a dealer or via a broker, has changed the way they advertise cars.  In the good old days you'd wander round a dealer's forecourt, see something you like, look at the price on the windscreen and try and put a deal together.  Nowadays it's so easy to compare prices from several different sources with a few clicks of the mouse.  If a particular dealer has the same car advertised at a significantly higher price than his competitors then people will often not even bother coming to have a look at it.  So they tend to price the cars at pretty much what they're actually willing to sell it for.

It's always worth trying to ask for a little bit off, but don't be too surprised if the dealer refuses to budge.  If they won't move on the price then you can try and ask for some extras to be thrown in - a full tank of fuel for instance.  Or a set of proper manufacturer's car mats - often fairly expensive to buy retail, but very little cost for a dealer to source.  Or an extension to whatever standard warranty they usually offer (though do check that any warranty is actually going to be of use - often they have a long list of exclusions, especially on a used car).

Stubod

Will be interesting to see what happens with prices over the next few years as manufacturers "wind down" the production of IC cars, which I assume they will do well before the 2030 deadline to avoid having excess stocks of un-saleable RH drive cars?

I reckon prices will start to climb! It will be interesting to find out when is the best time to buy one of the last IC cars being manufactures before prices go silly. Assume you would not want to wait untill December 2029!!

Ectophile

Stubod said:

Will be interesting to see what happens with prices over the next few years as manufacturers "wind down" the production of IC cars, which I assume they will do well before the 2030 deadline to avoid having excess stocks of un-saleable RH drive cars?

I reckon prices will start to climb! It will be interesting to find out when is the best time to buy one of the last IC cars being manufactures before prices go silly. Assume you would not want to wait untill December 2029!!

The alternative is that we will see a load of ICE cars being sold dirt cheap as the manufacturers try to offload excess stock, rather than having to ship the cars to another country where they can still sell them.

We might also see a large number of pre-registered cars appearing on the market.

WellKnownSid

Stubod said:

Will be interesting to see what happens with prices over the next few years as manufacturers "wind down" the production of IC cars, which I assume they will do well before the 2030 deadline to avoid having excess stocks of un-saleable RH drive cars? 

I have wondered this.  Don't forget, there is supply and demand not just on the cars themselves - but on fuel and spare parts.  Plus we have a fairly dysfunctional market in the UK where secondhand cars have historically been under-priced compared to much larger markets such as LHD in Europe...

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