Best way to pay for a car

Cornucopia

A few things to think about…

• Finance rates for used cars are typically higher than new (or even the best bank loan rates).
• Be prepared with some knowledge of what the cars should cost. e.g. a new Juke might have a discount of £4000 and the price of a pre-reg car ought to be cheaper than that.
• If you are trading in then have some offers already obtained.

Bigwheels1111

Have you looked at getting prices from online brokers, you may get a new vehicle for the price of second hand.

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82131516#Comment_82131516

We don’t need finance so unless they come up with something spectacular we shan’t bother.

I’m a bit obsessive with research, I’ll never do a quick 10 minutes when I can while away most of the day researching prices, even comparing prices locally (in a Ulez zone) to prices outside or further away. I may consider a pre reg , there’s a couple in their showroom at quite decent prices compared to new, or else I might go a year or two older.

I won’t be trading in, my car is currently a non runner I’ll probably end up finding someone like we buy any car to just take it away, it’s currently dead on my drive. Due to age it’s almost certainly beyond economic repair .

dnpark38

Shame you can't p/x it, as that is where my bargaining was in getting that increased.

forgotmyname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82131586#Comment_82131586

Unless they have a sales line for the car you are trading in they give very little for it. They just want it to go straight to auction
and not lose them money.

You possibly could have got a good discount without a trade in, they have zero risk on a trade in vehicle then so know
all the figures in advance. Trade ins at auction is always a gamble.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82131586#Comment_82131586

When I was getting mine, as couple came in with a real banger. Dealer gave them the P/X they said they wanted more. He just looked & said that's the offer take it or leave it. They walked. Salesman & manger both had big grins as it was a pile of 💩

While I got a deal that was same as I would have got had I sold privately.

EssexExile

The dealer paid me £1000 to use their 0% finance over 3 years. It would have been rude not to take it.

Stateofart

Avoid the Juke, especially the CVT gearbox. It has known issues.

Frozen_up_north

Often main dealers need to sell cars "at any price" towards the end of the month. Unfortunately that is not likely at the end of September as they will have sold quite a few new "76" registration plate cars this month.

In the past my OH had an offer from a main dealer to take her 3 year old car as part exchange, we had only popped in for something minor, not to change cars. He was willing to give the price she paid for it new provided she took one of the cars he needed to shift that month, the downside was that none of the cars were of a similar spec and were more expensive than we were prepared to pay. Still it was an interesting offer.

At the end of November 2024, I got £4,000 off a £32,000 new car at a main dealer and I was paying "cash". There are a lot of fiddles involved with car discounts, in addition to the dubious finance deals, examples include "free" wheel/tyre insurance, paintwork protection, one or two free services, etc. You may not want these extras, and the likely price you pay may not be £28,000 (as above) but a figure higher than that to take into account the so called free extras. Buyer beware, check the bottom line on the paperwork before parting with your money.