Off to see about a used car tomorrow at a local dealership. The car is up for £15,995 but realistically my max budget is 15k … teach me how to haggle. I’ve been watching the Life of Brian sketch for hours and still can’t get it.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u75XQdTxZRc[/video]

Say ‘my max is £15k’.

Walk away if you can’t afford what they want.

Lots of ways one way os just to say I only have 15 k can you meet this price

I am not making this up it is all I have can we deal

Oh really well in that case i best be off etc

I think with cars you can get better deals with the finance from them – which you can then cancel within 14 days

It really depends on how hard you want to play and how much time and effort you can be asred putting into it

Having lived in the middle east I prefer the – I will pay this will you take it rather than spend 3 hours arguing over a few £

Oh the middle east way then involves you not actually having the amount you just agreed on but you nearly have it

I’m currently trying to buy a used car from the larger dealers – it seems that the screen price is what you pay. One dealer wouldn’t budge an inch. They offered to “do something with a warranty” which i didn’t want anyhow so was no saving. The car sold the next day, infact three other cars I looked at have sold within days of being advertised.

I’d be amazed if you manage to get anything like £1k knocked off, especially if its a popular model.

Tight top and short skirt

Best tips for haggling generically: no idea for cars specifically

Enjoy the silence. Don’t let the awkward silences bother you. if you make an offer and he takes a while to respond don’t rush in by interrupting. make them feel awkward into accepting or reducing the price.

Wince: sucking of teeth, physcailly wincing makes tehm think they’ve overstepped their mark to an acceptable compromise. ie, you’ll have ot do much better than that, rather than well we’re nearly there at a mutually acceptble point

If…Then: for a good dela, there has to be compromise. What do they get in return for dropping price. If…i offer silly low amount… then i can pay cash now and be gone in an hour. Phrase all offers with an If..then. rather than a question. please take silly low amount. TOo easy to say no.

Trade on High Value, low cost: it’s easier to negotiate around things that you value highly, that costs them little. Eg Servicing. would have cost you £100, only costs them £40. if you pay extra £50 but they throw in a free service, both end up winners in £ terms. They;’ve got an extra £10, you’ve got an extra £50

Mrs Fry – take her to buy your next car lol.

OP in a short skirt and tight top may increase the price of be arrested assuming he is a he.

Pics please.

Been through this recently. It’s not like it was in a lot of places. A couple of main dealers wouldn’t move at all (esp when they knew I didn’t want credit – they REALLY want you to have credit).
In the end I got £500 off the sticker price, a tank of fuel and doorstep delivery (it was a fair distance away).

if you have to ask you can’t

They also wouldn’t budge at all on the trade in value (which they got from webuyanycar.com).

We couldn’t get a penny off any S-max we looked at last year. Most I rang about had sold so I think the dealers had me over a barrel. I managed to get a 1 year warranty instead of the garages standard 3 months, an oil change, new tyres and disks all round which I didn’t expect.
Randomly the garage rang me a couple of weeks ago saying the value of my car was now higher than a year ago when I bought it and would I like to trade it in. I had a quick look on autotrader and I would need to pay an extra £1000 to get the same car now even though its higher mileage and a year older. Not that it benefits me because we like the car and would have to spend more getting a new one.

Say ‘my max is £15k’.

I’m hopeless at haggling, but wouldn’t you start lower? eg. My max is £13k – then the dealer has something to work with to make themselves feel better.

Number 1 lesson in negotiation…. Be Ambitious (but not offensive or piss taking*)

*Unless it’s one of those MASSIVE tie wearing wrong sized collar tw*ts

Tits and Teeth

I’m hopeless at haggling, but wouldn’t you start lower? eg. My max is £13k – then the dealer has something to work with to make themselves feel better.

Depends I find honesty pretty helpful and pretending not helpful

However some folk like the dance

I really wouldn’t go in with “my max is…”
I’d resist putting down any marker or opening value until you’ve got some movement out of them. I skilled salesman will try hard to get you to place that marker early. Try to resist. It’s a long slow game.

Take ownership of any offer to move that they give. Thank them, each time and make a big deal of it… but tell them it’s not quite good enough etc.
Ask them what they can do to make the deal better. eg I’d want at least another £750 off their otherwise best cash price if I was taking their finance on that amount (which I’d then cancel afterwards).
Built rapport, let them think they have created some value in the relationship that they’ve worked hard to build… then subtly start to threaten that investment they’ve made if they don’t go the extra mile to your target.

Don’t concede any movement at all unless you get another higher value concession in return. Make every little move you make conditional on something big from them. Conversely, try to avoid accepting any linking/trading of concessions offered by them (they’re trying to close down your options).
At the very end, close with a closed question eg “if you do…. then I’d be willing to …. WILL YOU DO THAT FOR ME?” (closed question and making it very pointed, personal and hard to wriggle from)

Walk away if you don’t get what you want.

[edit] Expect him to go away to “talk to his manager” at least 3 times, It’s all BS. You aren’t getting anywhere until his manager comes to you personally and with a better offer. [/edit]

or take the whole day and follow eckys approach 😉

That is what I found most infuriating about haggling the waste of **** time
you both know where you will settle so stop pissing about say it as it is and decide is you will deal.

Thanks all – out of interest, how would be best to go about cancelling any finance (if I went that route to get a better deal). Do I have to go through all the signed paperwork with the dealer and then cancel it with the finance company?

I think I’d rather cough up an extra £750 than go through all that guff 😆

the fast and loud/fired up garage way

“how much is this £13k car you’ve got priced at £15k?”

Lol at Ecky and the “Will you do that for me?” approach. 🙂
Where do you go and what do you say to recover from the first “NO!”?

Where do you go and what do you say to recover from the first “NO!”?

That’s the point you thank them for the time and walk out.

That’s the point you thank them for the time and walk out.

…and leave them your number.

Tight top and short skirt

Worked for me.

You hold the cards here, play them wisely.
The moment you tell your max bid is £15k, you’ve just given one of your best cards away.
Ask them what their best price is, no bullshit.
And as others have said, if you dont get the price you want, walk, dont EVER go back.

if you’re looking at a £16k car then you shouldnt tell them your max budget is £15k. they’ll expect you to pay that much at least as they know you can so they wont budge
start off low at £13.5k and say that its a cash purchase and you’ll take the car off them that day too so long s all the paperwork is correct…but dont expect them to agree to that price. you’ll go up and you should try and get them to come down….or at least get them to meet you halfway at say £14750 or £15k
then say something like “i’m gonna have to borrow another £500-1k to get closer to your price but thats as high as i can go. dont go any higher…leave it to them to come back to you.
if they dont budge then offer a bit more (say you’re raiding the kids accounts for the extra cash or something…make them feel guilty) but then demand extras such as a free service, new tyres, full tank of fuel, warranty etc

Expect him to go away to “talk to his manager” at least 3 times, It’s all BS. You aren’t getting anywhere until his manager comes to you personally and with a better offer.

I had this with double glazing. In the end they bought their price down by 2/3rds to match a mate’s rates quote I’d got. I told them to p!ss off.

start off low at £13.5k and say that its a cash purchase…

My understanding is that there’s very little mark-up on second hand cars now, hence discounts being given in other ways. Offering to do finance (and then cancelling) may be in your favour as they should theoretically make more from that than a direct cash sale via interest.

There’s books written on this very subject but FFS don’t ever break first. As soon as you give them a number “I can pay a max of £15k” for example, you will not pay a penny below that price.

The old-school way would be to stroll up, looking half interested, wait for the salesperson to come to you – let them think they’ve talked a tyre kicker into a buyer and offer £14k they say no way, you bounce back and forth until you get to £15k.

Or… you could just be honest, say “I’d like to buy this car please, but I cannot or will no pay more than £15k” I more new-school, pragmatic sales person will say yes or no, probably yes – but the more old-school “I could sell sand to the Abrabs me mate” will ignore pretty much anything you say and attempt to talk you up, talking about some little old lady who sold it, or how they paid more than that for it blah blah blah.

IMHO if you want to get a good deal on a car, don’t fall into the trap of setting your heart on that exact car, unless you’re buying a Bugatti Atlantique there will always be another one to look at.

lunge – Member

There’s books written on this very subject but FFS don’t ever break first. As soon as you give them a number “I can pay a max of £15k” for example, you will not pay a penny below that price.

Yes, if you say you are willing and able to pay £15k they will indeed ask you to.

But what’s wrong with buying the thing you want, for the price you want – it’s only ego that says you need to go 12 rounds
with the salesperson over every penny so you can think you ‘won’.

if you’re looking at a £16k car then you shouldnt tell them your max budget is £15k. they’ll expect you to pay that much at least as they know you can so they wont budge
start off low at £13.5k and say that its a cash purchase and you’ll take the car off them that day too so long s all the paperwork is correct…but dont expect them to agree to that price. you’ll go up and you should try and get them to come down….or at least get them to meet you halfway at say £14750 or £15k
then say something like “i’m gonna have to borrow another £500-1k to get closer to your price but thats as high as i can go. dont go any higher…leave it to them to come back to you.
if they dont budge then offer a bit more (say you’re raiding the kids accounts for the extra cash or something…make them feel guilty) but then demand extras such as a free service, new tyres, full tank of fuel, warranty etc

When was the last time you followed this advice?

eg. My max is £13k – then the dealer has something to work with to make themselves feel better.

They wouldn’t even bother taking it further – they would point you in the direction of the cars they have at that price. There is no way on earth a dealer would drop £3k (or even £2k or £1.5k) so if they thought that was your max it wouldn’t be worth their while trying to negotiate with you.

If it’s a “car supermarket” then they will not budge 1 penny on the price.

They make all the money of the finance and warranty sales.

If you think it’s priced too high then get on Autotrader and find out what price they are being offered at elsewhere.

As above don’t tell them max budget regardless.

The moment you tell your max bid is £15k, you’ve just given one of your best cards away

You want to buy a car for 15k what purpose is gained by keeping this a secret?
Its just means the discussion will take **** hours

..leave it to them to come back to you.
if they dont budge then offer a bit more (

YOu just contradicted your advice there

“I can pay a max of £15k” for example, you will not pay a penny below that price.

True but I am trying to get a car that they want more than 15k for and I dont have three weeks to negotiate

GOd I hated haggling ]I will offer you this ..yes or no…why all the wasted time?

When was the last time you followed this advice?

did it when we bought our current car 3 years ago and got £1.5k knocked off from an evans halshaw dealer

got a similar amount knocked off my nieces brand new mini last year

got £4k knocked off my other nieces husbands brand new audi a7 in october

you’ve never seen an asian guy haggle… 😉

15k… Second car?

YOu just contradicted your advice there

hardly a contradiction JY
the car is 16k and the OP wants to go no higher than 15k
he offers initially say 13.5/14k…they will dismiss that so he offers more saying its going over what he can afford/has in cash (any excuse can be given such as i’m having to borrow money of a mate/relative etc)
say his last offer is 14.5k and he leaves it with them at that the dealer will have to think about it and he may accept or will say sorry no we cant accept that offer

thats where he will need to come up with the “i’m now raiding the kids piggy bank excuse” and say i can squeeze and extra 500 to take it to 15k
you want them to think that your final offer is basically them taking every last penny off you

Haggling on second hand Morris wigs increasingly difficult if it’s trade. They’re all trying to get to the top of the page on sites like Autotrader so prude accordingly.

Last two cars I bought I tried to get them down on the windscreen price and was preparing to do the whole walking out bit when the bloke pointed pointed out he would sell it at the screen price as it was one of the cheapest in the country (it was – I had already checked).

Easier to get deals on new cars – much more movement to be had.