Haggling with a main dealer?

throughtheblue

I'm interested in buying a used approved Skoda, but the models I'm looking at locally are a little over my preferred budget.

With it being close to Christmas, and some of these cars being up for sale for a while, what can I expect in terms of haggling? Am I likely to be able to knock 1k off a 15k car, or are those types of negotiations a thing of the past?

I'm happy to take the PCP if it means a better deal, which I presumably can sort out a loan within 14 days if my preferred method was a loan?

njkmr

Don't ask you don't get.
Give it a go with confidence.
I would say bank loan will likely be better than taking dealers finance .

throughtheblue

njkmr said:

Don't ask you don't get.
Give it a go with confidence.
I would say bank loan will likely be better than taking dealers finance .

I didn't know if a salesperson would be more likely to lower the price if taking a PCP deal, if they were to earn commission? I was under the impression I could cancel that in 14 days, and arrange the loan?

njkmr

Personally I would just say it's a cash purchase and your ready to sign if you can sell it me for x, which is the price your happy to pay . See if you can find similar car elsewhere to say here's another one at x price and see what happens.
They will want to sell it ,so worth a try.
I have never had dealer finance in 30 years as it's never been cheaper than the bank loan. Unless they offer 0% finance of course. But that's usually on new car purchases probably.

400ixl

Saying cash is unlikely to get you any better deal, especially with a main dealer. Haggle, but don't limit the payment method.

Skoda will likely be like Audi as they are part of the same group. I could get the same discount for cash or finance, but if I put £10k of the car on finance I could get a free 2 year service pack. It did not matter if I cancelled (which I did) in the first 14 days, I still got to keep the service pack.

I was a cash buyer, but you could always cancel and move to a loan of your own.

Bigwheels1111

When I purchased my car I found 3 dealers with the same car.
I got a price from dealer 1 on the phone.
Went to dealer 2 to beat it.
Then called dealer 3 to beat dealer 1 & 2.
Dealer 2 did the deal.
I got £750 off, plus front and rear rubber mats, a boot liner and full tank of diesel.
About 1k discount in total.
I don’t think the believed me until I said the names of the salesmen at other dealers.
So take names etc.

Grumpy_chap

There certainly are deals to be done on cars at the moment and, as the OP mentions, there may well be a desire to do the deal before Christmas to meet month targets at a very quite time of the year.

Sometimes, the negotiation has to start before even seeing the specific car.  Say the OP has found an XXX car listed at £15k.  It can be worth suggesting that you are looking for an XXX car at £13k or thereabouts so that the sales person can "upsell" to the car the OP wanted anyway at £15k.  It is then possible to say you like the car but need to close the gap to the original budget and be flexible in how that is achieved - so maintenance pack, finance incentive etc.

One comment I would make is when I was looking for a car in June, SKODA were not entertaining any kind of deals then - they simply did not have cars available to view let alone buy.  That stock position may have changed by now, or may be different at a different dealer group. 

baser999

Bigwheels1111 said:

When I purchased my car I found 3 dealers with the same car.
I got a price from dealer 1 on the phone.
Went to dealer 2 to beat it.
Then called dealer 3 to beat dealer 1 & 2.
Dealer 2 did the deal.
I got £750 off, plus front and rear rubber mats, a boot liner and full tank of diesel.
About 1k discount in total.
I don’t think the believed me until I said the names of the salesmen at other dealers.
So take names etc.

We replaced our car earlier this year, bought a 3 year old Skoda. Dealer was reluctant to reduce the price, citing the popularity and marketability of the model we wanted. What we did get though was an extended warranty, roadside etc for a couple of years, worth £1k perhaps. 

motorguy

if you dont ask you dont get, but worth noting that at this time of the year the dealers know they're really just holding stock until january, when the market picks up again.

They wont firesale a car out the door that they're confident will sell in January.

I'd give it a go, but theres usually not that sort of net profit margin in the deal for such a big jump.

Couple of things though.

Firstly, you can see how long the dealer has had the car advertised, from the Autotrader URL.  For example, this car has been for sale since 29th September 2023 - /20230929

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309292490948

Secondly if you install the chrome extension "AT Price Tracker" it will show you what price changes there have been on the car since it was listed and the overall percentage drop.

throughtheblue

motorguy said:

if you dont ask you dont get, but worth noting that at this time of the year the dealers know they're really just holding stock until january, when the market picks up again.

They wont firesale a car out the door that they're confident will sell in January.

I'd give it a go, but theres usually not that sort of net profit margin in the deal for such a big jump.

Couple of things though.

Firstly, you can see how long the dealer has had the car advertised, from the Autotrader URL.  For example, this car has been for sale since 29th September 2023 - /20230929

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309292490948

Secondly if you install the chrome extension "AT Price Tracker" it will show you what price changes there have been on the car since it was listed and the overall percentage drop.

Thanks. I did look at the AT Price Tracker, but the main approved dealer doesn't list on Auto Trader so I won't be able to see price changes or how long it's been listed. Although the MOT dates plus Road Tax is giving me a good idea.
Some of the cars I've been looking at seem to have been up since late October. I have no idea, but if that's the case, there must be some room for a discount.

SaverRate

When I purchased a used vehicle recently they wouldn't budge on price (although it had been on autotrader for a good few months and had been reduced by £2k since listing). In the end they offered to pay for the road tax for a year.

It was the cheapest one on autotrader for the specification I wanted so was happy with it anyway.

As always if you don't ask you don't get so always worth asking