Seen a car we fancy at a main dealer priced at £9k. How much could we realistically expect to knock them down, or should we be looking to get stuff thrown in instead?

There are some stone chips on the bonnet which they said they can touch in if we wanted. I think they mean they’ll just dab it with a paint pen. Should I be asking for these to be repaired properly?

Any advice?

No one?

Depends on the car.
Walk in off the street this time of year, cash in hand, I’d want £500 off, but I get I wouldn’t get it. But, it depends if it’s a model the next bloke through the door will snap up.

We bought a year old Focus from a local main dealer before Xmas.
I can’t stand all the jockeying for position that your supposed to do to get x amount knocked off.
I was happy with the car, it was exactly the model we wanted, at exactly the price we wanted, so we bought it.
It was the least stressful car buying experience we’ve had. Those car supermarket type places make me lose the will to live. I hate them.

Probably depends on how much you are prepared to not buy it.

Depends hugely what car it is.

Its a verso. Interestingly, the tax expired in October so they may have had it a while.

I spent ages going over a car once and picked up every little mark, flaw, etc. Tried to use it to knock some money off. The guy didn’t budge, told me that most people don’t look that closely and he’d sell it at the price he wanted. I walked away. It was gone the next day. I suspect he had a point.

Did the tax actually run out in October, or just the disc?

I would get a quote on how much to get it repaired and haggle that off if that’s what you’re going to do.

E.g. £500 repair = £500 discount unless you don’t to repair it and want some mats.

Sone garages should have accounts with repairs shops and might do it for you but get a warranty for it so it’s not cheap repair that peels off.

Look on Autotrader at similar cars and what prices they are on at. Look at Parkers used guide for an idea of the pricing. Offer a silly low price like £7k…you can then raise it. If you offered £8500 and they quickly accepted you’d kick yourself for not offering less. They can only say no, be prepared to walk away..there must be 100s of Versos on sale around the country…so don’t be afraid to get on a train and travel for one and don’t let their sales bullshit win you over.

Is it Evans Halshaw? Bought 2 cars recently for my teenage girls and both times got a cracking car at a price i was prepared to pay. They appeared significantly cheaper than local rivals with similar models. If it is Evans then they don’t negotiate at all. However this isn’t a problem as the cars were priced exactly right. They also made a fuss over it being the kids first car.

I went to a competitor and their first words were, “step into my office and we can do a deal”. “No thanks mate, car has too many miles and is £500 overpriced”. They dropped it £200 a week later. I still don’t think its sold.

Toyota at a Toyota dealer I assume. Its quite a low priced car for a main dealer, which suggests it’s a trade in and probabiy known to them. Would ask all this.

As above 10% off would be massive and unlikely, £500 do-able. My experience with Toyota (we bought ex demo Rav4 and 1yr old Yaris) is they’ll move a bit but not much as they know the cars are popular and their are no lemons in the range. Watch out for add ons after you’ve agreed a discount, eg it needs a service. Stone chips should be repaired to the point you can’t see where they where. You could try and get them to add stuff like replace car mat which cost them half or less of the list price to you.

Good luck

I’d have thought they’d price the car for the condition it’s in and the local market, so it you’d be unlikely to get much off…

We bought an Ibiza ST from local main Seat dealer recently.
On £7k car.
They gave us £700 trade in for a near scrap, about to fail MOT, 14ry old, 120k Yaris.
Two services.
Breakdown cover and proper SEAT warranty for a year.
When we said ‘what more can you do, we’re buying today’ they knocked £400 quid off.
When they went to MOT the thing, they popped two new tyres on, and full discs/pads all round.

I think we got a good deal.

The Skoda dealer offered similar, but we wanted the estate.

The Suzuki dealer couldn’t be bothered to clean the car, fix accident damage or let us drive it!
The Toyota dealer was cross we had kids with us, cross we came in to see a car with less than an hour before closing and wouldn’t let me drive the car (next day) as they said a Auris was not a car for five of us.

Cheers folks. Guess if I can push for tank of fuel, year of tax, sorting out the bonnet I should consider myself happy. We were wondering if we could push them to upgrade it to cruise control. As a dealer, the parts shouldn’t cost them too much.

No lemons in the Toyota range?

Don’t necessarily get hung up on the main dealer thing. We did and went that way for a bmw 1 series. Tbh the condition of the car is below what I would have expected. They also would not budge on price.

Saying that, my local ford dealer always looks after us. Usually new though.

Can you get cruise control retrofitted? I insist on it for my own car so I don’t even look at cars that don’t have cruise control

I think you can, but it seems some lazy dealers will deny its possible.

Depends on the car though – some won’t code properly no matter what you try.

Had many cars with cruise, never used it in UK. Roads too busy.

Then you need to reconsider how you’re driving Jambo – use it on all my vehicles (apart from the bikes) all the time.
Average speed cameras, roadworks, A34, M40, etc. No issues at all with it switched on.

It’s TR trim level. If the internet is to be believed, it can be done without too much bother.

I have cruise control in my current car and use it almost daily. I find it a real boon through the M1 road works.

If you’ve worked out what the cars is worth by checking online, the dealer is OK and it’s the car you’re after then just get it. Maybe some accessories or a free service or two and the chips fixed, main dealers usually use a chips away type service anyway so it will probably be a decent repair.
Main dealers do have some upsides, warranty and condition checks usually being the main ones.

Got fuel and tax but nothing more when I bought my Toyota from a main dealer. I tried for a tow bar but no joy. It was already cheaper than anything similar elsewhere though tbh

I’d more go the route of free next couple services/next mot etc.

Also you don’t get tax when you buy a vehicle anymore (but could get them to knock the cost of it off i suppose)

their are no lemons in the range

Read this,
Head Gaskets …

I bought a £9k list Rav4 from a Toyota main dealer, got £500 off, bumper scratch repair and it was already freshly serviced with a prior main dealer service history. The £500 was really hard to get had to nearly walk away. The salesman was very slimy and old school

I know the tax system has changed but a dealer can tax a vehicle, they just need your details which they’ll have if they’re selling you a car. There’s a difference between can’t and won’t.

I don’t think the cars are “over priced” like they used to be. I test drove a used car yesterday at a main dealer and free tax (£30) was all they would offer (I am a poker faced bargain hunter). That’s with me walking away too. To be fair nothing else comes near to it on autotrader.

cash in hand, I’d want £500 off

cash isn’t the King it used to be. Most main dealers don’t want to have to deal with it TBH. Also most chains and dealers won’t haggle any more the price is the price.

when the good lady was looking for her car we’d seen a good one at a main dealers. Research suggested it’d been there a while so we made them an offer based on it needing a bit of work, bonnet chips if i remember.
They wouldn’t budge a penny and they wouldn’t throw anything in.
We were cash buyers with no trade in but they just weren’t interested in negotiating at all.
It seems main dealers make the biggest profit from selling finance, a cash buyer isn’t that attractive anymore.
Be prepared to walk away..
we found a car the next week, lower mileage and better condition!

Earlier 02-05 1.8 VVTI was a oil eating bottom-end killer. Whereas the same 05-08 a peach.

2.2D had HG issues

Rather than focus on money off. Aim for a one year warranty. Alot of main dealers only offer 3 or 6months. What’s the point in paying their premium price over any indie?

Tbh though- buy privately.

I bought my Navara from a main Nissan dealer – 10 months old. Screen price was £24,995 + VAT – I ended up walking away having paid £25k including the VAT, so pretty much a £4k reduction

Some will – some won’t.
Above a deposit amount though I haven’t found one that will allow you to pay cash – at all!
Small dealers, back street, etc then yes – they like it but the main dealers will expect you to go to the bank and pay it in then give them a receipt.

I use cruise as a novelty in UK but rare I can use it without having to disengage it every minute. Even with average speed areas where it’s most useful. People in front just aren’t keeping bang on one speed.

Diving across US though, road that stretches for hundred miles, set cruise, relax 😀

France’s autoroutes work with cruise control also as rarely see major amounts of traffic.

Anyway, second hand from a dealer, the main thing I’m looking for with a dealer purchase is that it’s been properly serviced, is safe, they’re not hiding something that’s broken or needs doing, and most important of all I get a decent warranty.

That said the warranty tends to be an aftermarket one, not manufacturer and found in the past there are a lot of exclusions.

As for cruise control, I use it all the time – it’s especially nice in an auto, as you can use it on hills too.

I generally set it to 70 on motorways and can pretty much drive using the buttons, rather than the accelerator pedal, even if traffic flow changes. As said, it’s also useful for 50mph zones too. Also, if you want to sit behind a wagon in lane 1, their speed is generally pretty consistent, so you can set it and just sit behind them, maybe adjusting up/down by 1mph occasionally

@hammy I am very happy as I am thanks. Had 2 speeding tickets in 35 years and cruise control would have made no difference as both on deserted roads where I’d slowed down too late after limit went from 70 to 50. M3/A3/M25/M27 central London far too busy for cruise control.

OP let us know how it goes

I’ve got a TR, what do I need to do to fit CC? The M60 and now M62 is going to be 50 for years thanks to the current ruling party.

Disagree Jamba – I use those exact roads all the time and cruise is always on.

Last couple of times have bought from dealer have just phoned and said ‘I want to come and buy this car today – can you call me back with best prove for a sale today’ – have got price reduced before even setting in door. The got bit more off and stuff thrown in once there.

May not always work but puts onus on them to get you in the door….

Thanks all. Unfortunately, we found out earlier today, that the bikes don’t fit in the way we want them to due to the panoramic sun roof.