Is there a recognised percentage we should expect them to drop?
Would we be better to ask them to fit a tow bar and pay the full price?
My usual technique is , ” can you do anything on the price?” They say no and then I pay them full list price.
As with buying a house are car dealers expecting you to negotiate?

My limited experience of negotiating on cars, pay, houses etc is that you must be prepared to walk away. It has paid dividends from me many times. If you show too much interest or “love” then you are screwed. Enter the process reluctantly, get the seller committed and near the end find some dealbreaker, tell them about your compelling alternatives where you are going to spend your money, and walk away unless the price goes where you want it. Then wait.
Either they crumble or you spend elsewhere.

If it’s the car you want and the price is fair why walk away?
Your time has value too.

Not all cars are born equal – some older models from less desired (at whatever price bracket) brands will have more room than others, or at least they will be more keen to get shot of them.

One thought – look at drivethedeal – I don’t think it is as popular to actually buy through as it once was but still a good guide to see what you should be looking for in terms of discount.

Don’t expect anything daft in terms of discount though. I have a friend who used to be in the trade (Ford) and I was surprised talking to him how tight the margins are – they might be scummy car salesmen but they still need to eat and keep the lights on. Most of the money seems to be made on the finance deals – cash buyers are less valuable to them.

There always used to be folklore about getting your timing right with salesmen more prepared to make deals close to the end of the month to make their targets – not sure if this still stands.

I’d always walk away , there’s always a better deal around the corner, just depends how much you want to look for it. They generally call you back anyhow… They want to sell that particular car asap . Play them a little. Always worked for me.

The car is on for £9300 . This is a good price from what I’ve seen.
To me it looks like they really want us to pay £9000.
When I worked in a garage we were always paid less to do sales work and obviously they got parts a trade so I might go on getting a tow bar and parking sensors fitted.

What’s the car? As said previously, the wanted cars keep their price. T4/5 as an example go for crazy money as they are apparently “cool”.

If you think £9000 is a fair price offer them £8500, deal done, there and then, cash sale. When they give a sharp intake in breath and say no can do. Say, never mind, you have another one to look at so won’t be making a decision till you have checked that one out anyway. Leave your number and disappear. Even if you don’t have another to see. If they are prepared to reduce the price I bet they will be on the phone to you ASAP saying you can have it for £9K or less if you’re lucky.

I was looking at some of the “car supermarkets” recently.

They were not interested in offering a discount on the advertised price.

Their business model seems to be turn cars over quickly and make money on the finance, warranties and extras like paint protection. The warranty they wanted to sell me was £1500 for something I could buy myself for £500 on line.

The cars were priced very competitively, a lot of ex-lease cars, which can be good or bad thing depending on your viewpoint. From visiting the auctions, there was little price difference.

Everything is internet driven now so it’s quite easy to get a good idea what the asking price for any car is.

As above it depends on the garage, the car and your purchase position (cash, finance, part ex etc).
More and more places are starting to put vehicles up at the price they are looking for or very near too – with the internet everyone can see prices over such a wide area that the days of pricing very high and offering large discounts are limited. Car supermarkets take this to the extreme with no discounts on the listed prices at all.
You need to view the vehicle and mention the missing bits you want, ask them what they can do on price or extras(or what the part ex value is if you have one). They’ll push you to offer first so go low and see what they say. Finally be prepared to walk away if needed but always keep in mind what the value is like compared to other similar cars.

We will be paying cash and no px. In the good old days that would have been a bonus . These days I guess they make money on finance. Car Giant will even charge you for paying with actual folding money.
It’s a 2012 Grand Cmax with 26000 on the clock.

I think the old days are gone for most – the decent dealers are all competing online where you can’t haggle and prices are already very keen. Cash probably won’t be king to a main dealer, it’s a pain in the arse to deal with and they will be getting a kickback on finance – put my last one on a 4% deal which I could have paid off at any time. Debit card would be strongest bargaining tool for outright purchase. If you want options added you’ll get better value getting those chucked in than a discount.

I know I sold my last Focus for just under 8k and it went back up with ford for £8795, they had to do a bit of repair work to it and assuming they knocked a couple of hundred off the price they probably only cleared £500. Not really much of a margin.

I remember when I bought my Astra about 7 years ago, it was under 2 years old and i’d seen it up for 8500 with one dealer. I ended up picking it up a few weeks later when it moved dealer for £7400. Crazy cheap for a vehicle that had an invoice for £21500 18 months previously.

It’s a 2012 Grand Cmax with 26000 on the clock.

A quick look on Autotrader would seem to show £9300 is a decent price.

If you want to try and get any discount on that, I would suggest waiting until nearer the end of the month. They will sometimes sell a car at cost or even a loss to make a monthly target.

A few years ago, I bought a used BMW from a main dealer and “bought” the paint protection and extra “write off” insurance. Basically, I got the car for the bottom line I wanted and they sold some stuff the needed to towards their targets. It took a couple of hours mind!

We all shook hands afterwards, it was quite good fun but I called their bluff on every BS sales statement they made.

I can’t be bothered with salesmen these days and stick to the auctions.

Sod that – Offer them £8k and expect to meet them in the middle. I’ve never got less than £500, the next service, a years tax and a full tank of fuel off the price of a car.

What you doing next Sunday?!!

As above. I work within sales myself so had researched the engine / car I wanted and the price I wanted to pay. Within that, I was offered a car without leather – which I wanted – but the dealer wanted it off the forecourt. So, I stated in lieu of that, knock £750 off, give me the lower finance % of the two on offer include an extra 2 years warranty and I’ll sign the paper work. After a week,of umming and aaaarghing and trying to get me to buy a more expensive car with a couple of emails they said yes.

Knowledge is power, as is the willingness to walk away or make a compromise. You also have to accept that they are a business and need to make money, so don’t expect ridiculous discounts. Research properly to find the price you are willing to pay and the cars value and stick to that even if there’s a minor compromise somewhere.

i have a good friend who has three main dealerships.. he sells trillions of cars but he only clears 2/300 on each brand new car second hand he just wants them shifted and 95% go straight to traders.. its all about turnover not margin.. he d never do reversing cameras or towbars.. never. for one of his dealerships he sells more than any other dealer in the country..he doesnt haggle thats the price, you cant do much better and youd have to travel ..

If they won’t drop leave them a piece of paper with the offer of what you’re prepared to pay, a name and phone number. Be pleasant and polite and make it clear you’re not taking the micky, it’s just that you don’t think it’s worth any more then leave. There’s a good chance they’ll get back to you, but by then you’ll probably have found a better deal if you were right about what it was worth.

gobuchul – Most dealers don’t have their key trading periods set to the end of the month as it’d be too obvious a leverage point for many people. People I know who work at dealers say that they’ll be a random date mid month for sales targets.

Best you can do is go and view the car, give yourself an hour and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Write down every scratch, no matter how incidental. Every single tiny ding or defect. Every dirty mark. Everything you can find. Then walk away.

Email the salesman a few days later and ask if the price is concrete. Wait for his reply then hit him with your list of faults. Then ask him how much wear is on the brake pads. The tyres. What condition the oil is in. When was it last serviced….length of mot. Make him send you a list of reasons to deal on. If he puts in writing that these areas need attention then you have some leverage. Engage them, make it a dialogue. You can’t do this if you’ve got nothing to say other than “I want money off”.

so we accept that its a good price for the car- and yet we want more off ?

Chances are by the time you **** around following jimjams convouluted process the cars gone and your back to square 1.

If i like the car i open the dialogue there and then with – nice car BUT it has XYZ(genuine issues) and that will cost me XYZ to sort.

Sort it out and ill pay you X or ill sort it and pay Y.

direct approach shows your serious and less likely to mess him about than someone whos trying to get money off for a dirty mark – just points you out to be a timewaster IMO.

got me a grand off a 4500 quid 3 year old 38kmiles old car last time i bought from a dealer.

trail_rat

Chances are by the time you **** around following jimjams convouluted process the cars gone and your back to square 1.

direct approach shows your serious and less likely to mess him about than someone whos trying to get money off for a dirty mark – just points you out to be a timewaster IMO.

Yeah sure what the **** would I know, I only bought a car two weeks ago, got £500 off it, full valet and polish, a full service, new brake pads and a tank of petrol and it was already a good price before I started haggling.

Sorry OP, ignore my advice. I’m clearly a misguided, ill informed gimp when it comes to that sort of thing.

and do you think it was the all important pause between showing up and actually speaking to the guy that got that discount or that it was all built into the guys price before you started ?

Two different methods – both work , How ever having worked in sales -ok not cars – nothing marks you out as more of a timewaster as a person who argues over non issues with the product.

As above it does depend on who your real dealing with, car supermarkets’ business model is no discount. Dealers still have a little wiggle room. Being prepared to walk away is key. If you think £9300 is a decent price for a car you’d be happy with then anything else is a genuine bonus. I would double check it doesn’t need work or servicing shortly, last main dealer used car experience I had they tried all the tricks on the book wrt add ones. FWIW I’ve got bigger discounts on new cars than used, friend recently got a healthy discount on a new DS3 (close to 15% I recall) and I’ve managed nearly 10% on Audi.

trail_rat – Member

and do you think it was the all important pause between showing up and actually speaking to the guy that got that discount or that it was all built into the guys price before you started ?

Well considering a franchised dealer said the cheapest they could a similar car was £1500 more than I paid, and the dealer’s reputation for being extremely terse and tight fisted I’d say I did alright.

trail_rat

Two different methods – both work , How ever having worked in sales -ok not cars – nothing marks you out as more of a timewaster as a person who argues over nothing.

Yes, I’ve worked in sales too. And yes both approaches work. If the upfront approach doesn’t go anywhere then you have to have a plan B. It often doesn’t work because some sales people don’t like being barracked. It helps to remember that sales people are actually human, and when you engage them in dialogue, no matter how innocuous or facile, it starts them down a process of bargaining and opens them up to co-operating.

I found a car I liked. Online, through AutoTrader I think.
Price was decent, there were not many similar cars around (and those were in England).

Phoned the dealer, paid small deposit, car collected me from station (I was car-less by this time).

It was a fair price it seemed to me, they’d changed tyres, took it for test drive, all fine, paid the asking price and drove away, no hassle. Am I the mug? Don’t know, but it was worth it to me to secure the car we were after with minimal fuss TBH.

With the amount of pricing information and options online these days means the market is more efficient and the price closer reflects reality. You can normally get a bit just to make the sale go through and get it off their hands, but not looking too much.

If you do want to negotiate then don’t just ask “what’s your best price?”. You need to say something along the lines of, “I’m looking at a couple of cars and want to get it sorted today. I’m very much interested in this one because the spec/age/mileage is closer to what I’m looking at, but the price is holding me back as I’m looking at a higher spec/newer/less miles one elsewhere at the same price. Both are over budget….” Hopefully your reasoning is based on some kind of reality!

Cross check your price online. If it’s seems good, smells good, and you like them, go for it.

PX and new car negotiation very much excepted from the above.

Get the car on a finance deal through them (they will have more room to discount more that way) then pay the finance off in one go straight after the sale is completed.

Depends on your situation. Last time I bought, I needed a vehicle quickly and having decided what I wanted (old cheap LWB vivaro) there weren’t a huge number available within a reasonable distance. Plus, at that price a 10% discount wouldn’t have been much. And he was obviously selling them hand over fist so it’s not like I had much bargaining power.

steveh – Member
gobuchul – Most dealers don’t have their key trading periods set to the end of the month as it’d be too obvious a leverage point for many people. People I know who work at dealers say that they’ll be a random date mid month for sales targets.

Ah, if only that were true. Trading periods ALWAYS follow the calendar, and (especially for new cars but just as valid for used) the end of the month or 1/4 are always key.

What you need to find is a salesman at the dealership that’s one short of his next pay banding with around a week to go before the end of the month. That’s always fun.

Or maybe offer what you think is a fair price? 😉

Depends on the dealer I suppose and so many factors; how much leeway the sales staff have, how much in demand the model is, how desperate to have your business, or not etc.
I went to buy a new Golf a few years back all set for some ‘negotiating’ after doing my research and getting broker prices for the spec I wanted. The saleman came up with a price, I went in with what I could get it for elsewhere, he then came back with about 5% lower than that. I was happy & deal done in probably 3 minutes.
Same dealer more recently I was back looking at a T5 or Caddy and getting prices for spec. When chatting to him I could see on his pad how much discount he could offer, seemed to be 8-12% depending on model. Nearly did a deal but couldn’t bring nyself to go for new again, went for private used where much of the initial hit of depreciation was taken by someone else.

Worth remembering that any finance deals have a cooling off period in them so you could buy the car under finance and then pay it all off in the cooling off period. This means you get the discount of buying the finance deal without actually having to use it.

pop the same car into webuyanycar to give you an idea of what it cost them. add on a fair margin and if its still miles off what they are asking you can assume you stand a chance at a decent haggle

I bought a new Fiesta , which was when the new shape came in. Told the local dealer , that although it was £11,300 , I would pay £8000. They said no. I had found that Ford in Southampton were selling at that and was happy to drive 30 miles to get one. I gave him my number and walked out. Said I would be going to the other dealer in the following week. Cue phonecall and that they would accept the offer if I was financing it. I said it depended on the apr. Next call a few days later , car was ready just sign the paperwork and off you go. They avoided all the questions on APR. When I eventually found out, it was 17.5 % !! LOL. How I laughed. Told them nope, I will pay cash. Car was ready, got a loan from Tescos (6.4%). Cleared in 3 days , new car on the drive the day after that.

Well, with my super haggling skills we paid full price but got front sensors fitted, a spare wheel (instead of a can of goo) and a full tank of petrol.

It’s better that you are happy with the deal than trying to top the willy waving stories that inevitably come out on these threads.

If you can get Thousands off a car you are looking at over priced stuff anyway.