Buying a car- haggling!!

Sammysmiths

Well-known member
A large, reputable forecourt dealership selling a car for £12,500.
A cash buyer with no trade in or interest in finance.
What sort of deal should you get?
Car comes fully serviced, new MOT, and delivered to door.
They’ve only offered to knock £100 off!!
 
They'd happily give you more off if you sign a finance deal with 19% Apr...

As a fellow cash buyer I suggest talking to private sellers for the vehicle you're after. Will get much better deal.
 
My son purchased his first car recently, just after first lockdown. Saw what he wanted at local Honda dealer. Ticket was £15,500. He enquired about a cash purchase and was offered £500. Salesman said that they were really busy - which did not tally with a used car forecourt which about 50% stocked. Told us the car was just in, which was not born out by autotrader listing.
Parting comment was that if he would knock £1k off he could have the sale.
A week later the ticket price was reduced by £500 and my son gave them another opportunity to sell for £14,500. His boss would not budge apparently.

Some 5 weeks later, whilst my car was having a tire fitted opposite, I took a stroll over to the lot. The car was still sat there £14,500. Same sales man approached me. I mentioned we had offered that 6 weeks ago. He was puzzled that my son put the phone down from his last fruitless conversation with him and made a purchase within 30 mins from Cazoo. Car was ordered Friday and delivered Tuesday.
Same car, 3 months older, same miles and £750 cheaper.

The whole Cazoo experience was excellent and the car was spot on. Suffice to say I will go that route for my next car. Dealers need to up their game big style imo.
 
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They definitely love a good finance option. I bought a new ish car in October and traded mine in with the rest cash.

They just kept asking me to either buy a newer model and make up the rest with finance despite me saying I'm not interested. Then the guy was saying 'why pay the 2k on top now?' I could keep in for Xmas and get 2k on finance. Did my head in😕

Then the constant offering of extended warranty / paint protection / breakdown cover. They even made me watch a 10 min YouTube video about the paint protection. It was some cr*p about contaminated rain droplets damaging paint.

I nearly walked despite agreeing the trade in price and having 2k to pay. I hate car salesmen as much as estate agents😂
 
Unless things have changed, they really don't like cash buyers - they want to make money on the finance.
That was correct a few years ago. They were knocking more of if I took out finance. About a week later I got a call from manager asking why I pulled out of buy. When I explained above and said I thought the salesman was trying to push me towards finance he wasn't happy.
 
Why should they have less so you can have more? If you want the car, just buy it.

because they artificially inflate the prices, you are a mug if you pay the sticker price at a car forecourt out of generosity towards the salesman. Same with house prices, people overprice expecting some negotiation. Unless highly desirable area or unique property that someone really wants, you can almost always get some discount.

Offer a price you think is fair, and look at what else is out there. Find it cheaper private or with another dealer and only deal with them via email. Let them know the best price you've found and tell them you will be buying from whoever gets you the lowest price at the end of the week. If they want the sale they will give you it, otherwise they wont and you go with the other lower price.

As above dealerships get money from finance deals so even if you pay off the finance on the 1st day, they are likely to give a larger discount on finance than they will on cash, which is no longer the bargaining chip it once was.

Agree though I would look at private sales unless you are needing a dealer based warranty or want to put it on a card.
 
Dealerships make their money selling on finance. They get a commission which fluxuates depending on what finance company is offering the best deal at the time.

Smart customers take out finance then settle up not long after. The salesperson thinks they are quids in but then the commission in the deal is taken away from them when the finance company re-takes the money back from the dealership (claw back)
 
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All fair enough, but if you don’t buy it, someone else will. If it’s a decent car in good order, it should save you money in the long term. Life’s too short, go and buy it, get some mats or something thrown in instead.
 
Remember once viewing a car at Stockton. Dealer offered deal but said he might be able to get another £500 off but would need to ok it with his boss. So off he went, I happened to follow him because I had thought of something else to ask and saw him doing his hair in mirror in a room by himself ( no boss in there )
I quickly went back to where I had been stood and waited for him to return. He comes out all apologetic cause his “boss” wouldn’t move on the deal. Look on his face when I told him I had followed him and saw him doing his hair in empty room was priceless.
Needless to say didn’t buy car from the lying git.
I do despise used car salesman.
 
I dont want to buy private at that price range.. If it was a 5-6k car then fair enough. I would like some warranty and customer service.
 
I dont want to buy private at that price range.. If it was a 5-6k car then fair enough. I would like some warranty and customer service.
By customer service you mean a car that’s cheaper than it should be, but you still want all the benefits (warranty) of a higher priced vehicle?
 
Remember once viewing a car at Stockton. Dealer offered deal but said he might be able to get another £500 off but would need to ok it with his boss. So off he went, I happened to follow him because I had thought of something else to ask and saw him doing his hair in mirror in a room by himself ( no boss in there )
I quickly went back to where I had been stood and waited for him to return. He comes out all apologetic cause his “boss” wouldn’t move on the deal. Look on his face when I told him I had followed him and saw him doing his hair in empty room was priceless.
Needless to say didn’t buy car from the lying git.
I do despise used car salesman.
That is all part of the sales psychology. The salesman knows what margin he has, and wants to give you thinking time while he blames the deal is being held up on a non existent manager, so that doesnt get in the way of the relationship that you have together.
Oldest trick in the book, just pretend to leave and watch them come rushing back.
 
A salesman once used an online site to prove a trade in value for a car I was part ex-ing, I knew anyway. Then he left the room to do the ‘boss’ thing. I used that time to find the trade in value of the car I was trying to buy and left up on his computer which he hadn’t locked as proof of figures I’d been arguing for. I pointed it out to him and also that I knew what price he’d try to sell my car on for and his potential profit on it vs the window price / profit on the car I wAnted and the relative trade in values etc when he came back and it proved the deal / price differentials I had been working to and told him originally taking all relative figures into account was correct (I had researched and researched). When I’d left him without a leg to stand on he went and got his actual boss who was not best pleased. I offered him £200 extra for his ‘profit’ and got 0ver £1500 off the window price.
 
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Car sales are through the floor, I find if you wait till month end they can become keener to get a sale. Don't haggle, be polite tell them you will buy at xx quids leave them your phone number and tell them you have an appointment to look at another car. It doesn't always work but I've had quite a bit of success with it, I've even had dealers call me a couple of weeks later to see if I'm still interested. Plus you don't waste your time while they run the play book.
 
Good customer service should not cost extra imo. And the ticket price of a car on the forecourt is nevert an accurate reflection of its true value.
 
Would it be feasible to get the finance with a good discount then settle early after a month? Not sure if there’d be any early settlement penalties though...
 
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