Car buying from a dealership

motorguy

Peco141 said:

I've never bought straight from the dealer but hoping to do so in the coming days or weeks.

I'd be buying the car outright, no requirement to PCP and PCH and I appreciate garages make more of their money from customers paying up.

With that in mind, based on the car's value on Auto Trader/the dealership website, is that the price you can expect to pay, or can dealers be haggled down?  I've no experience in this whatsoever.

In other words, is it possible, or at least what is the likelihood, you'd get a car advertised for say £20,000 for £18,000 or £19,000 from one of the bigger dealerships?

I'f anyone has experience in this and able to share, it would be much appreciated.

Generally speaking, prices shown on A/T are what you will pay.  Gone are the times of knocking £1K or £2K off the asking price of a used car as a matter of course.  Cars have to be priced keenly for the phone to ring so any fat has been trimmed already from the price.

That said, no harm in asking.  BUT a better way to do it is find the right car at the right price in the first place.  Prices vary wildly and it sounds like you're going to be looking at cars under manufacturers warranty so it doesnt matter a jot if you buy it from a dealer 200 miles a way, as you can take it to your local dealer for warranty work.

So plug in the details of the car you want, you can even tick a "franchised dealer" box at the bottom, then sort by price.

Its better to get £50 off a car priced at £37K than be trying to negotiate £3,000 off the same car at a different dealers, priced at £40K.

born_again

Peco141 said:

Yeah, I've had a look, but we do like the style and are fortunate, for the first time in our lives, to pick up something we want rather than settle for something else.

We do a lot of camping, kayaking and paddleboarding, so it's been our preference to get a bigger car for some time.

I'll have a look at those others site too, many thanks.

Does anyone know if main or independent dealership are to be haggled with when paying the car up front?

If you are looking at your £40K price point & low mileage. 
Look at main dealers selling the brand.
Or you risk with the likes of Kia buying a car that despite being advertised with a 7 year warranty. Does not have one as not serviced in line as it should.

https://used-uk.kia.com/used-car-details/used-kia-sorento--16-t-gdi-isg-hev-edition---automatic-hybrid/id-8852542472416/

Car_54

Peco141 said:

By main dealer, do you mean Kia and Volvo and by independent you mean Arnold Clark, Evans Halshaw etc?

Not quite. A "main dealer" or "franchised dealer" is authorised by the maker (or importer) to sell its new cars and often "approved" used, and service them, carry out warranty work, etc. These days, many are actually owned by the manufacturer.

The big chains like Evans Halshaw usually operate franchised dealerships, but generally not all for the same maker, e.g. Ford in one town, Citroen in the next.

The independents aren't franchised, and range from chains like Car Giant to Arthur Daley.

WellKnownSid

Car_54 said:

Peco141 said:

By main dealer, do you mean Kia and Volvo and by independent you mean Arnold Clark, Evans Halshaw etc?

Not quite. A "main dealer" or "franchised dealer" is authorised by the maker (or importer) to sell its new cars and often "approved" used, and service them, carry out warranty work, etc. These days, many are actually owned by the manufacturer.

The big chains like Evans Halshaw usually operate franchised dealerships, but generally not all for the same maker, e.g. Ford in one town, Citroen in the next.

The independents aren't franchised, and range from chains like Car Giant to Arthur Daley.

My son works for a dealer group 'G' with franchise 'A' and sister franchise 'B' next door.  Franchise 'A' only sells brand A, whilst next door can sell anything including A and B and a different brand such as C.  They also sell through their 'G' branded supermarket, which is next door in the other direction and can sell anything.

Each one of these cars is prepared and sold to a different set of dealer standards depending which brand and which dealer, even though the customer is walking through the same multi-franchise site.

For example, brand A bought through A has to have impeccable service history and a full health check and everything sorted before being sold 'approved'.  A missed or late service may well see it ending on B's lot at a reduced price, but it will still get whatever it needs sorted. Poor service history or other issues will see it on G's lot, they'll probably just kick the tyres.  Crash damage or a need for major repairs will see it sent to auction or bought by one of the many local Arthur Daleys...

It's the food chain...

Peco141

Iceweasel said:

What is finance a no?
All dealers make money from you opting for finance so don't expect any reduction due to offering to pay cash.
The word NEVER to use is 'discount' - what you want is a 'buyer incentive' they take many forms - such as 'dealer promotion' or 'manufacturer's contribution'.
The end of the month is the best time as the salesmen want to up their monthly figures and/or achieve their target sales.
Checkout the finance conditions - the clever thing to do is to go for the finance to get the reduction - and then pay it of after a week- withing the legally allowed  'cooling off' period.
That way you get the money off and the dealers are happy - it's win win for both.
Some salesmen will actually suggest such a procedure as they have nothing to lose by it and everything to gain.
I'm very much old-school and for years paid in cash - I'd never had a loan or finance in my life, apart from a mortgage - that was until my grandson sat down and explained the above, successfully allying all my reluctance and fears of getting into debt.
On my last car I achieved 23% off the list price.
I managed to get both a promotion and an incentive - but no discount. Ha ha. 

Tremendous suggestion and something would not have crossed my mind!  I'll need to think this through properlyl!!  Thank you!

35har1old

HumberFlyer said:

Paying up front is what they don't want. It's having you buy the car on finance as they make good money from it. I have just bought a 13k car from a main dealer.... no way could I get any discount, they wouldn't budge on it.... but they would if I take finance (that's a no for me)...... I did get a discount on ceramic coating though with them

Was there any penalty for paying it off early?

Iceweasel

I had no penalty in paying off my finance early.
I did have to pay the interest due for the 6 days it was in place.

Mr.Generous

I negotiated a reduced price on my last 2 cars, easy on an £19k Skoda vRS Octavia - it was the cheapest under a year old low mileage one on Auto trader, but when I took a test drive the salesman said "We can talk numbers when we get back" so although I was ready to pay asking price I negotiated £500 off and a tank of fuel. It was settled when I got up to go away and think about it, and the boss jumped in and said "what would it take to get you to buy today" - so I caught them on the right day. No PX I gave old car to son-in-law.

Latest purchase was a Cupra Formentor VZ 310, it was £36k for a year old (£46k from new), I managed to get it for £34k with £16k trade in for the Skoda after 4 years driving (used values had shot up!!)

Various offers for finance, but it came down to 6% (I think) personal loan from the Halifax to borrow £15k or 19% (or similar) for dealer finance, with a £1000 contribution, or 2 services and a £500 contribution.

I figured If I paid it off in anything over a year the higher rate would overtake the saving, so I went personal loan.

On the Cupra I had to actually walk away and then ring up a few days later (they said they would ring me but didn't??)

to get the PX price increased by about £2k. However it's still a lot of my hard earned cash for a used car!!

I still feel better when I negotiate some kind of saving!!

Stateofart

Recently, due to supply and demand I've found that dealerships are not discounting much at all these days.

SuperExcelMan

Prepare for lots of sales patterns for things you never even thought of. Tyre insurance, wheel insurance (for kerbing them), paint protection, etc. 

I bought a one year old car last week, they tried four times for each item (one salesman twice, two others once each).

Very expensive insurances for what they cover.

For example, 20 wheel kerbings were covered (which is good!), but who on earth kerbs wheels 20 times over two years, which is what you are actually paying for. 

If they did it for 1/20 of the price and only covered one, it’ll be worth it (possibly)