Car died, currently on eBay for spares and so need a new car. Decided on the make and model, found a few on fairly nearby forecourts and did the odd test drive over Christmas. Visited Car shop in Northampton but they had the one I want in their Norwich store, and it’s coming for me to give the once over, however, they just aren’t open to a deal. At all. I’ve found two others, nearly identical but theirs is better, one of which is at a main dealer for pretty much the same price, and still won’t budge. I’ve got the funds if needed but they say the best they can do they is a decent HP Finance deal – which while it would be cheaper than VW Financial Services, is still a couple of grand on top over 5yrs. So any advice on getting something off? Even a tank of fuel would be a benefit. Last time I bought a used car you would expect to get a few hundred quid off an £11k list price.
Should I push for a better price with the lure of taking there finance – though I’d pay off before the cooling period ends – or just accept its a fair price, the car I want and dealers don’t do deals as much these days?

I had this before “ours is the cheapest for the age/milage etc we check them all the time” so no haggle at all…

and tbf it was the best price anywhere…

I find the car supermarket places are already selling quite cheap so they are reluctant to haggle on vehicle price. PX, finance, service plan etc are all easier to get movement on.

Know the market, know what the car is worth, what else is available elsewhere and what you are prepared to pay. And, the old cliche, be prepared to walk away. Lots of other cars around.

But, if their price is fair then just pay it.

Should I push for a better price with the lure of taking there finance – though I’d pay off before the cooling period ends

Does that work though? If the entire car price is financed then go for it, but I thought they closed that loophole by financing less than the vehicle cost and requiring a final payment; you may find that clearing finance + final payment doesn’t work out any cheaper at all.

Wait til end of the month when the salesperson needs to hit their target? Of course, the car may have been sold by then…

When I bought from The Car People it was the same. They’re at rock bottom, they really are.

The sales people get something like £50 per car.

This is why they’re so keen for you to finance it, take out GAP cover (insider tip – never buy the dealer GAP cover. Much cheaper alternatives are available via third parties), tyre insurance, insurance in case a bird shits on your windscreen etc. This is where the real commission is.

With the ability for anyone to check prices of thousands of cars whilst they’re in the showroom on their smartphone dealers know they have to be priced there or thereabouts to get the sale.

We got a grand off the total price to pay for our Galaxy last month (off a 16k screen price) but it was hard to do & was put through as a higher trade in price rather than a reduction in vehicle price.

Car supermarkets have definitely gone with the no haggle model and dealers do seem to be following suit

Much more visibility on the market means everyone’s more aware of the right price these days so it has reduced the opportunity to price high and bank big profits from non-hagglers!

One thing dealers hate (apparently!) is cars sitting on the forecourt for months – both depreciating and taking up space for quicker-moving stock. If you can find one that’s been for sale a while, there’s still the opportunity for discounts, though you have to question why it hasn’t sold in the first place!

I’d agree car supermarkets won’t haggle at all on the sticker price. I found a few that would haggle on trade in price but that’s not an option for you.

Smaller dealers are variable. When we bought our last car, about 8 months ago, the guy wasn’t willing to haggle at all. He was pretty up front and said he priced the car to be the second or third most expensive for the age, mileage in autotrader. To be fair the price was spot on, I’d seen one which was newer/had less miles on for more and one that was older/had more miles for less.

Another dealer was willing to haggle on price but only by a couple of hundred quid, this was on a 10k car. When I did my digging he’d had the car for a while so was looking to shift it on. If you look at a dealers website you can often see the date a photo was taken in the image info (Right click on image – Properties/Image Info) which gives you a clue how long they’ve had it.

A member of my family owns a small car supermarket and he’s making less than £200 on cars against the in window sticker price, so not much scope for haggling on price. A lot of the issue is the cost to cover cars under warranties – he pays a third party warranty company to cover cars he sells which isn’t cheap. So they’re not playing with a lot of margin.

Heard on the radio today that new car sales dropped in 2017 and are forecast to be lower than previous years for the coming years, so maybe more deals to be offered on new cars, especially for owners of older diesels when scrappage schemes come in.

One thing dealers hate (apparently!) is cars sitting on the forecourt for months – both depreciating and taking up space for quicker-moving stock. If you can find one that’s been for sale a while, there’s still the opportunity for discounts, though you have to question why it hasn’t sold in the first place!

Yes they really do. Alot have a 90 day maximum on the forecourt. Some cars are financed by the dealer, the dealer pays say 10% and a thrid party finance co buys the rest. This cost money, obviously and with margins really low the dealers do not want static stock.

Also, it doesnt look great , doent attract footfall , and people ho drive past evryday think either their lemons , or the dealer will give them away. That is whay better deals can be done on the last 2 days of the month. Salesmen on tiered commision might need 1-2 units to hit a higher value, DP wants stock off the forecourt so it doesnt have to be auctioned

Lucky you …. I can’t even get them to take me seriously to buy a car…..

Soon as I say I want a berlingo /partner/doblo they seem to run away….even at the Peugeot dealer ship in town I couldn’t get a quote out of him on a new one (which I’m quite prepared to buy if I can’t find another as Peugeot are doing good deals on base models)

Going to kirkaldy today to the motability Arnold Clark to see if they have any without ramps fitted.

Then there are a couple in Edinburgh in dealers to go see.

One thing dealers hate (apparently!) is cars sitting on the forecourt for months – both depreciating and taking up space for quicker-moving stock. If you can find one that’s been for sale a while, there’s still the opportunity for discounts, though you have to question why it hasn’t sold in the first place!

You know whats fun about those – after a few months you get to see the price it was reduced from slowly appear on the bonnet after its sat in the sun with a vinyl sticker masking the paint. 🙂

We bought two nerly new cars last year (for wife and daughter) and got £500 and £750 off from a main dealer. This was on a stickered price of £11500 and £13000 and paying cash (debit card).

Homework was done before hand and as the cars were not for me it wasn’t emotional. I went to the dealer and said that I knew what I wanted and it was just down to a selection of garages and what they could offer.

Took some haggling and ‘going to their manager’ etc but was all done in around a week with each one.

The paperwork and checks involved in buying a car cash is a pain in the backside and more annoying than agreeing the price.

As mentioned above though, the actual prices they are selling for isn’t too far away from what the cars are worth anyway.

It’s all about the price to change, and what you are getting for the final price. People are wise (particularly due to easy comparison on your phone) to high ticket prices and ‘negotiating’ down to a price and just don’t bother – so dealers post a realistic market price and work on extras that they may be able to bundle as an upsell or a freebie.
PX is usually a gamble on the dealers behalf, though I too have had better PX values recently than I expected to get selling the car myself. I think there is some sales psychology in over valuing somones current pride and joy vs. dropping a few hundred of the sticker price.

Yes they really do. Alot have a 90 day maximum on the forecourt. Some cars are financed by the dealer, the dealer pays say 10% and a thrid party finance co buys the rest. This cost money, obviously and with margins really low the dealers do not want static stock.

I got a good deal on the Passat because of this – I’d been watching it for a few weeks so knew it hadn’t moved – the dealer was quite open and said he was struggling to shift it as it didn’t have leather, DAB and sat nav none of which were an issue for me.

Trailrat
Try Robert Black in Inverkeithing as well, he’s a ex invalidity dealer always has some nice motors and access to loads more.

So what if I say I’ll take the finance, should I expect to push for a bit off or something thrown in, and then pay it off in the cooling-off period?

The price is fair imho but, you know, I want a deal.

Lucky you …. I can’t even get them to take me seriously to buy a car…..

Soon as I say I want a berlingo /partner/doblo they seem to run away….even at the Peugeot dealer ship in town I couldn’t get a quote out of him on a new one (which I’m quite prepared to buy if I can’t find another as Peugeot are doing good deals on base models)

I actually bought a Partner yesterday and found the (Citroen) dealer pretty helpful. We went in a couple of days before Christmas intending to go for a new Berlingo via the scrappage scheme but they couldn’t find anything suitable in the system which would be available before the year end deadline. But they knew that we were happy to complete on something before year end so searched around and found us a 17 reg partner which had done about 1100 miles. In the end we didn’t quite complete before year end anyway because of the time to get it moved to them, but they were pretty good.

Not much haggling involved though.

Offer to buy it with no warranty, take it as it is and never come back. I’ve bought cars like that and got some money off (admittedly a few years ago now though).

The old days of ‘flaps and mats’ seem to be long gone – you’re lucky to get enough fuel in a car to get you to the nearest petrol station!

The price is fair imho but, you know, I want a deal.

Youre getting a deal. If its a good price why are you not buying just because youre not getting a discount? Youve said yourself its the best one at the price, the dealer knows this why would they want to reduce their margin anymore? Itll get sold and then youll have to settle for not as good a deal anyway.

I hate this, i can put an item in stock at a well researched price, compete with everyone else and then someone wants more money off because they wont pay a ticket price without a ‘deal’ If i put it in at a higher price, then do a deal for discount then i can sell the thing easier for more money because someone thinks its cheaper. Totally nuts.

It is nuts but it’s the same across any major purchase.

Offer to buy it with no warranty, take it as it is and never come back.

If you yourself are ‘in the trade’ as a car trader then the dealer would be able to sell you a car under those conditions, as for selling to a retail buyer…no.

Bought from car supermarkets a few times, and there isn’t and wriggle room. Loads of the cars are ex. motability – our latest was. Serviced on the dot, full history (and more) and a low mileage.

I had this conversation with a small used car sales business owner – peoples shopping habits have changed. These days people go on the internet and research price more and often times drive far away to get a car that’s priced and specced right.

As such, they have to price them super attractively just to get people to turn up to the forecourt – especially on common cars.

There are also more outgoings as a result of this – Autotrader isn’t free to businesses so there is cost to cover there also.

TL;DR – technology giveth, technology taketh away.

I work in the trade,for a large Car Supermarket,and youre far more likely to be upsold than discounted nowadays.
Our salesman earn just £40 per car sold,but mainly earn and are targeted on the extras that they are able to sell,so its all about paint protection,additional warranties,upholstery protection etc.
We never haggle or deviate from the screen price,so its screen price and whatever the salesman is able to sell you for his commission.
We realistically expect to sell @ 700 vehicles in January alone,after 7 record months in succession,so business is definitely booming.
Its almost a sellers market !

Soon as I say I want a berlingo /partner/doblo they seem to run away….even at the Peugeot dealer ship in town I couldn’t get a quote out of him on a new one (which I’m quite prepared to buy if I can’t find another as Peugeot are doing good deals on base models)

They’re around, one of the team I work with picked one up today from a Motability specialist in Newton Abbott, and another one earlier in the week from another dealer, both of which will end up either at a dealer or auction, which might be worth looking into, BCA hold Motability-specific auctions.
It might be worth getting in touch with the people we were picking up from, they have loads of different vehicles on their premises, and do sell direct;
https://www.gmcoachwork.co.uk/used-vehicles

When I bought my van from a main dealer last year they offered a better price if financed, which I then paid off completely a week later, the salesman actually suggested it, didn’t seem any problem doing this.

I got one atevans halshaw Edinburgh.

2015 pug partner outdoor with 5000 miles on the clock.

£8900 which knocked the spots off most of the prices I had been. Seeing for just out of warrenty low miles ….. Usually this age and price would be 30-40k

trail_rat – Member

Soon as I say I want a berlingo /partner/doblo they seem to run away….

Go to Arnold Clark- they won’t run away, they’ll just take you to see a Scenic. And when you say, that’s not what I asked about, they’ll say, right you are and take you to see a Cmax.

Ha he tried that in Aberdeen northwind.. he didn’t last long with my company.

Went to buy a car with my gf last year from a small dealer, car was OK in my estimation but she was completely smitten by it so it was a done deal.

I noticed several things that would need to be put right within 6 months, low rear tyre tread, discs were pretty lipped from having just pads replaced and the aerial needed replacing – Pointed these out went down the route of saying what they would cost to put right and would you knock a fair amount from the car (£500 on a £7k car so nothing mental as a starting figure) – Response was absolutely no way and he would be happy to say goodbye to us.

I then went down the route of just trying to get a gesture but he wouldn’t budge at all, not even £50 off for petrol, he still got the sale, not sure he would have from me…..

It seems indeed, many dealers just are not willing to haggle anymore, at all.

then went down the route of just trying to get a gesture but he wouldn’t budge at all, not even £50 off for petrol, he still got the sale, not sure he would have from me…..

Depends how it was priced against other compatible models tbh.

Some folk seem to believe that they must get something off a car to be alpha male.

Tbh if I’m in the forecourt I already believe their vehicle represents good value.

I don’t bother going to view vehicles if I feel they are over priced comparatively.

It’s not 1992 any more

Must admit I prefer this new no haggle way of buying.

I was spoiled for many years as I knew a bloke at the local dealers and he would sort me a great deal every time. Worked for everyone as he got loyal customers (I bought 6 from him, my mum a couple, my mate 1, etc) who kept coming back. He used to ring up when he had something decent but was never bothered if I went to see a new car but decided against.

He’s out of the business now, driven out by lack of margin to look after his customer base and by pressure to sell, sell, sell rather than the more relaxed approach he took for over 20 years. I know have to shop around and really can’t be bothered with all the poker eyes and game playing.

Bought a 18mth old Fiesta ST last year from Sandicliffe Ford. It was a high spec version but a couple around on web for comparison. The price was about about right for the vehicle but over our budget by £500 and I told the salesman this.

He said he couldn’t sell us the car for what we wanted to spend and showed us his breakdown of costs which left him a margin of £150, he did then look through the dealer stock and find us one from another branch that had lower miles and higher spec but they’d paid less for, so could sell us at the price we wanted to pay, so we did the deal.

After that he obviously tried all the ‘extras’ etc. But never tried to push anything too hard or any finance once I’d told him I was paying cash. Only thing we bought extra was pre paid servicing which was a reasonable price.

I left feeling happy with the deal and done on my terms. If he made a good profit, well done him.

We’d been shopping for a car for a year as the missus wrote mine off. I’ve been using the motorbike everyday for work and she has a little run around, so we weren’t in a rush to buy especially as we were looking second hand and a new model was coming out which we assumed would drive down the second hand price.

It did, but of the four cars we found and made offers on (all different dealers) I was surprised at the lack of any movement.

Of the four:
– first one wouldn’t move on price following a low ball offer, think I offended them. First lesson was offer a realistic price or they think you aren’t serious
– second dealer would give a token £100 off even though there was the same car with less miles and £500 cheaper in the dealer network. Second lesson that logic doesn’t work and they’d rather ship that car at no cost to them from another dealer than reduce their own.
– third was a car that had been on the forecourt for 6 weeks and they’d not move as they only had £300 in the deal. After a bit of digging it turned out this car had been in Portsmouth at the same price for two months and then shipped to Leeds, after our offer of £500 less being refused it was put in the Christmas sale four weeks later with £500 off before not selling and going to another dealer. Third lesson, don’t get suckered in as there is a deal to be done somewhere.
– Fourth car found in Newcastle (we’re in Halifax). Drove up to see the car, found it had more spec than they’d listed and a service package included. Asked him what the best they’d do on it was, ended up with £500 off, it delivered and a full tank of diesel in it. Over the moon with the car, and like others I feel I got a deal (it was the cheapest with the spec we’d seen in the 12mths we’d been looking).

Long story short, took 12mths to save £500 but I feel better for it and the cars great!

Bought it. It’s was spot on to drive. Had everything I wanted, although the leather colour was not as obvious in the pictures, and would not be my 1st choice, I can live with that. Not a single penny off, sod all fuel in it, however, I pointed out Work that needs doing including a windscreen fix and a lack of spare in the boot, and they sorting it this week.

Yes I wanted a deal but I got the car I wanted for a keen price.

I wouldn’t wait a year for 500 quid.

We just picked up a 2015 Peugeot partner outdoor with 5000 miles and FSH in dark grey with the best of their alloy selection

For £8900.

Didn’t feel the need to haggle given that the closest comparible milage /age and mostly in crap colours/alloy combo were all north of 10k(at which point id have been better buying new) not outdoor spec(which has the 3 individual rear seats and belly pan/rised suspension all of which I wanted)