Anyone got any experience with haggling for a new car?
Looking at trading the Soarer in for something a little more....frugal.
Is it best to pile on some extras and then haggle for those?
Best bet is to pickup a 1 year old car from a main dealer, we picked up a Mondeo for massive discount, it has 22 miles on the clock, they even threw in a set of larger wheels and tyres as well.
When I got my Mazda, it was 18 months old from a Mazda dealership. They knew I wanted the car as theyd been looking for the last month and ringing me up every week with a new one theyd found or could get in that met my requirements (didnt want certain colours or models of the Mazda 3 range). So when I came in and had a test drive in a black Mazda 3 that ticked all the boxes, right age, excellent condition, they pretty much knew I was sold before I did.
Given that new Mazda 3s are £15k, they were asking £10k for this one. I knew being a dealership and the fact that this car didnt turn up that often in the ads, theyd be able to shift it, but ended up sat in the car with my phone whilst the salesperson went back inside. I chatted to the parents about it and made sure to take my time. It was at the end of the day and they were hanging around for me to see if I would buy.
I got off the phone and went inside, and basically said that it was a bit more than I hoped, but if they could throw in some extras I might be swayed. "What extras?" he asked and I suggested getting the roofracks thrown in, as well as a free service. He went and chatted to the boss, and I got the car.
I think that maybe if Id gone in in the morning they might have felt better about telling me to sod off and trying another person. It also never hurts to ask for free services and the likes as obviously unlike the roof racks which have a set value, it costs them much less to give the car a service than it would if they chucked in a something of equal value to a £250 service etc. Or thats what I think anyway.
what cars are you looking at? you will have more luck with some cars than others. Its all about how desperate they are.
You really need to be hard faced with them tho and dont be afraid to be abit abrupt, if you go away with them disliking you then you probably did a good job.
It seems the brand Im looking at dont like to give much away, or so Im told.
The Soarer has been valued at £750, so thats more than I initially thought anyway.
You can never haggle a really good price if you trade in tbh, Isn't the Soarer an import? ...I would imagine you would be offered peanuts for it from a regular dealer, if you are trading in they hold a lot of the cards, if you have cash in your hand you hold most of them.
Your best bet would be selling it privately, then going along to a dealer and offer him a lot under the screen price (but not too much to make it look like your taking the piss) while waving a handful of 20's under his nose! Make it very clear that you want to do the deal today! If he isn't going for it put the money back in your pocket and walk away, the chance of a quick deal without much fannying about is appealing to most salesmen.
as above, youre much better off selling your car privately then going and buying the new car on its own...
from the people I know, if you walk in buying a new car, and pay cash for it most places can knock off 30% if youre good at haggling, but they wont knock as much off if its finance etc...
the trick is not to pick one car in particular, if you really want the car then youre screwed, if youre happy to walk away then you can do much better...
rule of thumb is, if they make a decent offer of a discount then expect them to knock off twice that much, if they dont offer much off at least expect them to triple it.... ignore all there crap about being able to sell cars easy etc.. because theyre all struggling right now, you can even get a better deal at the end of the month when they need to shift some cars to pull there numbers up ;)
could be a good idea to go look at a different make of car (even if you dont want it) and haggle the best price on that one you can as practice before you go for the real one ;)
I thought most dealerships gave les discount for cash, because of something to do with how they process it versus debit/credit?
From what I gather - having never bought new car myself - the markup is ludicrous as we already know and they will try all kinds of tactics like going out to pretend to talk to the boss "we wont make anything on that, the boss wont let me, etc" to get you to buy, lots of pressure from the salesman to cut a quick, expensive deal. So what knighty says it right and they basically will feed you a ton of crap, so the thing to do is bear in mind that you wont miss out if you dont buy there and then, you can go round plenty of dealerships to get a better deal and run them down on price and extras. Milk them for all you can basically.
Im pretty sure they changed around the way the credit system works for buying cars so they don;t make anything extra out of it any more ?
(or maybe that was just a few makes?)
On another note, dont forget, if your Soarer isnt selling for a good price used, you can always scrap it.
There is good money to be made in parts atm, and whatever is left can be either towed down to the scrap metal merchant or they can come and collect it, but remember if they collect you probably wont get any cash.
The problem is, with fuel being so expensive, no-one wants a big engined petrol car. So Id get a pittance. Its not the V8 or the TT version everyone wants.
So it may well get scrapped...After Ive kept the licence plate.
Basically, the Soarer isnt the best image for my business, Ive had far too many comments like "Thats a nice car, how much are we paying you again?"
Not that it matters, They dont care that I got the car for free, and my wife is a Doctor, ( a skint one at the moment, but that will change)
So, I was looking at cars that got me noticed. Some cars I wouldnt choose to drive myself, but Ive accepted the fact that Ive not driven them and they may be quite good.
Shortlist.
Nissan Cube
Mini Cooper
Smart ForTwo
Fiat Panda (100hp)
Toyota Yaris T-Sport
Budget of around £4k, for a small "quirky" city car, Colour not too important as it will probably be Vinyl Wrapped in black and have my Company stuff on it.
Quote from: knightyIm pretty sure they changed around the way the credit system works for buying cars so they don;t make anything extra out of it any more ?
(or maybe that was just a few makes?)
No, Steves brother runs dealerships and they make more from the finance than they do on the car (or the metal as they say in the trade).
Quote from: soopahflyNissan Cube
Mini Cooper
Smart ForTwo
Fiat Panda (100hp)
Toyota Yaris T-Sport
my brother has a few yaris (driving school) and my sister is onto her 3rd mini iirc
I think the mini boot might be too small if you want to put computers etc.. in it ? - nice cars, decent to drive, great gearbox (very quick gearbox anyway) if you get one, go for a diesel, you get a hell of a lot more mpg out of them, my sister only drives slow, but shes had a standard diesel, a petrol cooper and a diesel cooper, and theres not much difference between them unless youre really going to thrash it.... the diesel is quick enough that you can drive fast get in and out of gaps etc...
havent really gone many miles in the yaris, mostly just pottering about, decent enough, never driven one fast but theyre pretty nippy being so light (he has the lowest power ones available so its hard to compare)
QuoteNo, Steves brother runs dealerships and they make more from the finance than they do on the car (or the metal as they say in the trade).
maybe there was just a glitch from normal when the credit crunch etc.. kicked off ?
my sisters b/f went to a bmw garage a couple of months back, sat down and priced up a brand new Z4 with all the extras, cant remember how much it was, but when they gave him a price he knocked a rough 40% off in his head and told them that was the most hed pay.... they said no chance so he left his number and told them to phone him if they changed there mind.... a week later they phoned him and told him to come get it !
(p.s. mini has roll on flat tyres at £120+ each last time my sister priced them..... so if you get one make sure it has good tyres on it!!!)
Change of plan!
Gonna get the side of the Honda fixed from where some cock-sniff drove into it one night, and get it stickered up. Big Diesel estate car should do the trick.
Wife gets whatever she wants....typically, a Yaris T-Sport.
Although this is to late.
I think the best time to buy a car is at the end of December. From anyone.
Car dealers get a kick back if they sell x number of Y car in a month. If the dealer has a load of cars that they need to get rid of then end of December, when everyones spent money on Christmas is a good time.
When I was in car leasing we were getting £3000 to £5000 off the list price of Merc C Classes.
Although I tend to think that a lot of people dont buy a car around Christmas, but they are being sold so also good for private sales.
Quote from: mr_rollI think the best time to buy a car is at the end of December. From anyone.
This pretty much, but also be prepared to just walk away if the Dealer is playing hardball. Yes hell probably sell the car anyway, but at some points in the year hell be more inclined to give you discount. I picked up my old Mk2 Astra SRi for cheap because the guy came wandering out of the compound as I was about to drive off. Always be less willing to buy than they are to sell. Over the years Ive usually pulled back about 15% off the screen price of the cars Ive bought. Ive rarely gone over £2000 in actual payment, but Ive had cars with screen prices over that. Buy at Christmas, and the end of Feb as the Christmas Credit Card bills come in!
Quote from: BeakerQuote from: mr_rollI think the best time to buy a car is at the end of December. From anyone.
This pretty much, but also be prepared to just walk away if the Dealer is playing hardball. Yes hell probably sell the car anyway, but at some points in the year hell be more inclined to give you discount. I picked up my old Mk2 Astra SRi for cheap because the guy came wandering out of the compound as I was about to drive off. Always be less willing to buy than they are to sell. Over the years Ive usually pulled back about 15% off the screen price of the cars Ive bought. Ive rarely gone over £2000 in actual payment, but Ive had cars with screen prices over that. Buy at Christmas, and the end of Feb as the Christmas Credit Card bills come in!
That didnt work this year. Although cars were cheaper at xmas (like they should be), the price of used cars has rocketed since due to the scrappage scheme.
Time will tell this year, but the prices have been firmly high since, i dont see any dropping off as yet.
Quote from: BaconThat didnt work this year. Although cars were cheaper at xmas (like they should be), the price of used cars has rocketed since due to the scrappage scheme.
Time will tell this year, but the prices have been firmly high since, i dont see any dropping off as yet.
Worked fine round here, as per normal. Also since the scrappage scheme, and the follow-on deals from the manufacturers since then used car prices are bloody awful if youre a seller. Great if youre a buyer though!