[Closed] How to Haggle on a used car.

Some car dealers price to the market these days, so basically it's probably already the cheapest in the market, if you want 2k off it why not look at something for 11k and not 13k.

[i]plus he offered me a really insulting p/x price for my mazda 6(8k for a 60 plate 2.2 sport estate)[/i]

But you've failed to sell it, and if I remember wasn't some at that price anyway?

To be able to haggle properly you need to know what he's owed by the Ford, and what he'll sell/pass yours on for. And he won't sell at a loss, not for a car that's only been on for 3 weeks.

How are you financing the difference, as this may give some leeway.

And give me 25% of any saving over and above what you've achieved, and I'll haggle for you 🙂

Br

I've got a buyer lined for the Mazda at a Price I'm very happy with thanks.

For the cars above it will be cash or dealer finance.

Oh and there are no 60 plate 2.2 sports on the market at 8k

Andy. Only wanted 2k off the price of that one as I thought he had massively overpriced it at 13k for an 07 plate.

Possibly mate, but look at the mileage, S-Max's are a very popular model. Also people's perceptions of the car industry are all wrong, if they've got £1k margin/profit in it I'd be surprised, the industry average for a used car is approx £750-£1000 metal profit, anything else comes from finance & products, I.e. paint protection, GAP etc.....

The one in question was a 2.5t so nit the popular diesel and it also had no service history either so even though it had only done that mileage it had never been serviced!

07 plate Smax with 5300 or 53000 on the clock? If 53000 then £13K seems like a hell of a lot of money. Walk away, try to sell you Mazda privately, that improves your bargaining position. 8K for a 60 plate car seem a low ball offer.

I wouldn't even consider spending £13k on a car with NO service history and a claimed 5k miles. Not a chance in hell.

well, unless the VOSA history can confirm the mileage...

Every 10k miles under the 10K average is approximately £800-£1000 on the price of a car with average miles.

Daffy it was 5300 Miles not 35k or even 53k

Not serviced for 6 years to!!

13k for an 07 ford! Jeebus!!!

Daffy it was 5300 Miles not 35k or even 53k

Not serviced for 6 years to!!

I've been living this for a couple of weeks now as well. Initially after a 2.0tdi Mondeo estate but widened that also to the s-max later on. In my (limited) experience, the used car dealers are much more pricing to market than was my experience last time I was buying a car, and have far less to play with compared to new ones. I've been using parkers and what car to get ball park figures to work from and they're generally within a few hundred of the asking price, certainly not 1000's away.

That said - I've agreed a 2.0tdi zetec smax on a 10 reg with FSH and 28k miles for £600 below the asking with a year warranty and dealer fitted parking sensor upgrades but I've had to walk away from a few cars and keep looking as well. There are some good value cars out there so my advice is to check out fair pricing on the sites I suggested, be prepared to travel (and look far and wide for comparisons) and haggle for things that are useful but might not actually be cash like warranty, tyres pads and discs if they're worn, etc.

Walk away. No service record to confirm the mileage makes the mileage irrelevant. It could have done many more miles before the first MOT. I'm also fairly sure that any car - no matter how few miles should have inspection services.

This is how the market works, believe me I'm a car dealer 🙂
1, dealer buys car at X to make a profit of Y
2, hopefully dealer has done his research & knows what he is doing*
3, dealer sells car for profit after due diligence, IE the lazy arse last owner wanted a quick out.
4, you don't have to buy something for a price your not prepared to pay, but the dealer is not obliged to sell you a car at a price he is not prepared to except.

* the world can cave in on this point

HTH.

[Cockney accent] Flaps, mats, 12 months ticket and a full tank or no deal [cockney accent]
That's what that Dom bloke used to plump for...

And +1 to that 13k 6 year old one; diesels aren't built to do 1000 miles a year, I'm not sure a mileage that low is as valuable as it looks. To give you a ballpark, the one I bought is 38 months old and 28k miles and cost me 11.9. Someone will tell me I overpaid I'm sure but it was equivalent spec and condition to others I saw at significantly more so I'm satisfied.

Something else to consider with a low miles car. Are the tyres perished? Are the hoses on the engine? Are they tyres still round? If it's done 1000 miles per year, that could be two round trips to Scotland and it's been sat still for 363 days per year.

A car should have an oil service and a brake service every 2 years at a maximum, both collect water.

Tell them the (realistic - ie. not full retail price for your p/x, minus a trade price for theirs) deal you want, don't move on it. Make sure they have your details, and ask them to get in touch if they change their minds.

They'll either find someone else willing to do a deal that gives them more profit, or they'll get sick of looking at it and give you a call.

Agreed though, an 07 car with <6k miles and no service history is a stupid buy, especially at 13k.

How to Haggle on a used car

Walk round, kick each tyre, crouch down and look along the lines of the car, suck through your teeth, make a silly offer and then walk away. Thats how you haggle for a used car.

And then accept that no matter how good it looks it's how it runs and you'll never know that until 500 miles later when you're calling out the AA with the phrase Caveat Emptor bouncing between your ears.

Daffy it was 5300 Miles not 35k or even 53k

Not serviced for 6 years to!!

In that case, you shouldn't be touching it with a bargepole!

There's a reason that service intervals are either time or mileage based. Low mileage can be as bad as, if not worse than, high mileage when it comes to causing problems with cars.

How to haggle?
Start from a position of strength - get shot of your car and have cash ready.
If you are going to finance try not through them and have it lined up so in effect you are a cash buyer.
Make an offer - walk away, if it's still there in 2 weeks you can try again but the dealer will have a price and if he's not taking offers then it's not for sale at your price.

Never accept the first off, or the second. Always be ready to walk away. Make a cheeky offer.

mikewsmith has it.

If the vehicle is worth what's being asked, pay up. I recently sold my van at the advertised price. If not make a written offer and walk away.

I've ordered a new car, I didn't haggle, I'd checked the "mandataires" on the Net and found they were only 3% cheaper than the dealer. If manadatiares are cheaper you can generally haggle to within 5% of their price which is 25-30% below list on unpopular models.

However, when I have seen a vehicle that interested me that I thought a little share I've made an offer. Last year I got to within 500e of buying Peugeot but the salesman wouldn't budge so I walked away. A month later he sent me a price by e-mail but it still wasn't the price I was prepared to pay. It's still on the forecourt!

Tempted by another van I dropped into ADA yesterday. They're selling one of their hire Trafics in September, if I decide to buy one I'll make an offer in August. They offered me an big Opel van with 110 000km on it for 9000e. The Opel is too big but at that price I could have run it for a year or two and sold it privately at the same price.

So, the point of this post: call in on a couple of rental companies, they're franchises and the owners will often be keen to move on vehicles between 50 000 and 120 000kms especially after the summer holidays.

I'd rather buy a 2 yr old car with 100k nice motorway miles on it than a 5 yr old car with less than 25k chugging around town on short trips, gumming up its EGR and DPF.

The high miler is probably on a new clutch, cambelt, decent tyres and second set of brakes. The low miler will be on the original tyres, still need new clutch soon due to town driving, and probably had nothing done to it except an oil change or two.

[i]So, the point of this post: call in on a couple of rental companies, they're franchises and the owners will often be keen to move on vehicles between 50 000 and 120 000kms especially after the summer holidays.[/i]

I bought a car that I later noticed was first registered to a rental company. It was a pile of crap, it had a new clutch and a reconditioned gearbox and when I found the MOT history online it had a list of advisories as long as your arm on every MOT. Several of them it still exhibited. I'd never deliberately buy an ex-hire again unlesss it was the type that are sold after just a few months... i.e almost new.

Just to point out the low mileage one has a petrol engine!

If you are going to finance try not through them...

Wrong. Dealer would make more through their own finance so would have more to play with.

Wrong. Dealer would make more through their own finance so would have more to play with.

Ive never seen dealer finance work out as cheap as high street finance.

Some times it sweetens the deal on new, or gives an incentive ie free insurance..

The first rule of buying anything is be in a position of strength but don't translate this into being bolshy. Negotiating is a process, just follow it and have a bit of fun.

Know your onions - price, spec, popularity etc. You could get a great deal on a less popular model; crap colour, crap engine (look at the recent £10k Zafira thread). If you're going for a popular combo (VW Vans good example) you'll struggle to drive a really hard bargain.

Be flexible. It's the cost to change that's important not how the numbers are made up. If the dealer makes a bit more on the trade in and a bit less on the sale, so what.

Knowing the above, know your price. Tell them you're serious, want to do a deal and make your offer. Stick to it.

Best bit. Buy at leisure. Do not rush and do not buy when you really 'need' a car. This allows you to leave your offer and details and walk away. If they want to sell, they'll be back.

Get extras, fuel, mats, tax, service, tyres, mot, warranty etc. These are all up for grabs. Some you'll get, some you won't.

I bought one car in a rush as I'd just handed my company car back. Had it for a week then it spent 3 in the garage as it wouldn't start. I won't ever do that again. I usually buy ex demo's and now make a low offer (using the valuation sites) once I've found what I want. 2 out of 3 times, I get a call at their next month/quarter end and mostly do a deal.

However, I hate changing cars as I never really know how much has been left on the table and therefore how much I've been 'stiffed' by. 🙁

Big petrol engines are very unpopular, as I'm sure you know Renton. I'm sure you'll get a good deal on another one.

If he won't do the price you want to pay then it's not because you didn't haggle right, it's because they won't/can't sell at that price.

Personally I'd also be a bit wary of payign a lot for a six-year-old car with 5k miles on. Do you change cars as often as you seem to change bikes? Will you end up takign a bath on this?

Chakaping...

We have already decided not to buy the six year old one which is why we are looking as new as possible with as low miles as possible for our budget which is what the ones above that I have linked to are.

The 07 plate was the 1st I'd driven and seeing quite a few 07 plates online for about 3-5k less I thought I would chance my arm, then when he said it had no history I got a bit dubious..

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleAdvert/Ford/S-Max/407749

Maybe a bit above budget but its practically new. The performance data would suggest that its almost as swift as the bigger engines you are after.

They should give you a price for your motor over the phone as well - they did with mine.

07 smax titanium with 5300 miles on the clock, dealer wanted 13k for it

+1 for not touching a car like this

I got my wife’s S-Max 2.0t Ecoboost in Feb last year from Motorpoint. It was over 2K cheaper than an identical one at a local Ford dealer, who wouldn’t shift on price, and they got within £400 of Fords trade-in value of our Passat estate so it was a no brainer really.

Surely it would be easy enough to verify its very low stated milage, could find out what tyres they are supplied with new, does it still have them on, that sort of stuff. It might be genuine, it might not.

However even if its correct, its too expensive at 13k for an 07. In fact at 11k it still sounds expensive.

IMO you are better off buying a private car with service history than a dealer one with nothing. Just make sure you do the HP and "wrote off" checks, I got stung with an insurance write off, the signs were there but the checks would have picked it up. For the right car and manufacturer high miles are not a worry, I've a 6yr old Audi A6 Avant Quattro diesel with 100k on on clock and the car is still rock solid feels like new, worth about £6-£7k, makes those Fords look pretty pricey to me.

I've never seen dealer finance work out as cheap as high street finance.

I had an extra £500 off my current (£7k Mondeo estate) car for taking the garage's finance package, which I promptly cancelled with the finance company for a minor exit fee.

When I did this, about five years ago, there was no cooling-off period for dealer finace signed on-site but I beleive that has now changed. Perhaps someone can confirm? If so, you'll be able to take their finance for a reduction in purchase price then cancel for zero cost.

+1 for adding stuff that costs them less than it would otherwise cost you, like servicing, tyres, etc.
RFL is a bad example, it costs them the same as it costs you.

Thanks for all the replies.

The one linked at motorpoint is a very good deal and something we are considering.

Yetiman... how are you finding the economy on your smax then?

The 07 with 5300 miles @ 13k is a bit dodgy in my opinion.

No service history
Wrong stereo in it and doesnt work
wrong year alloys on it(it is wearing a set of 2010 ford option alloys.

here is a link to it if anyone cares to have a look...

http://www.smc-cars.com/ford/used-cars/search/9702/ford-s-max

also how can they say my car is only worth 8k when it looks like this .....

[URL= http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures036_zpsb3d6b731.jp g" target="_blank">http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures036_zpsb3d6b731.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

[URL= http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures035_zpsdd9f599d.jp g" target="_blank">http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures035_zpsdd9f599d.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

[URL= http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures032_zps15a63ac8.jp g" target="_blank">http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/renton1/Cleanmazdapictures032_zps15a63ac8.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

I'd go as far as saying that it was in much better condition than the smax.

Negotiation is really just about knowing what you'll go to and sticking to it. There are so many cars out there so just take your time and be prepared to walk away as another car will always come up.

Simply saying that price doesn't work for me but here's my number if you can move a bit often works wonders, be polite but firm.

Your car is nice but a dealer is never going to pay top dollar so sell privately and turn up to buy the new one with cash.

@renton - looking at your Mazda I'm wondering why your're changing it as it looks mint, no longer practical with the kids ? When my 3 kids were young we had big 7 seat 4x4's but as soon as they were old enough to drive we switched to estates, my point is that you pay a big premium for the family style cars like an smax. I assume you've driven a few but I rented one for a trip with the bike up to the peaks and to do some minor furniture shifting and I wasn't overly impressed, not as big on inside as I'd hoped and a but sluggish all round.

BTW the dealer won't think 3 weeks is a long time on his forecourt and with the weather improving he'll be hoping of loots of people visiting.

Changing cars via trade in vs dealer forecourt is an expensive business, but then I'm the sort that keeps cars 10 years

Renton – Economy is pretty good for a near 2 ton estate car driven by a 240bhp petrol engine mated to an automatic gearbox. In fact I’m amazed what we’re getting out of it considering that neither my wife nor I drive with economy in mind. We do a fair bit of mixed driving and we’re averaging a fairly steady 31-32 mpg, which isn’t too far off Ford’s claimed 34.9 mpg. I also know someone who has the same engine, in 203 bhp guise, in a Galaxy and he’s getting about 29mpg. He does live in the centre of Aberdeen though so probably does more town driving than me and the missus.

jambalaya..

The car is pretty much mint condition apart from a few stone chips on the front and a couple of marks on the alloys.

We have a springer and two lads aged 8 and 6 and really are running out of room. with the dog in the boot we can barely get two bags in also plus the paraphernalia that accompany children and dogs and it gets full pretty quick.

We have similar space issues as you have (2yo, 4yo and a large dog) and I was considering trading up from the zafira to a vw t5. Was going to be huge money tho so we now use a cargo net in the boot so we can pile bags up on one half and the dog has the other and for longer trips we have a roof box. A custom fitted dog cage would be better but more costly, but still vastly cheaper than changing cars.
I can't see an smax solving your problem.

Renton your Mazda look great. I'd seriously be considering whether I could get along day to day with a roof box. Even if you need a bigger car for occasional trips £5K would buy a lot of hires of an Smax.

I also think your mazda looks liek a sweet-ass ride.

The front seats on the SMC S-Max aren't as taught as they should be for seats that have only been sat in for 5k, compare withthe rears. The discs look too worn too though the pic is at the wrong angle to see properly.

I agree that an ex-hire vehicle needs to be recent. I aim at 12-15 months as they buy for the Summer and keep them till the end of the following Summer.

I've never been the best at negotiating, but I did go on a work course recently. Key points seemed to be:

Be well prepared. In your case this would be knowing book prices, trim levels, similar local cars.
Trade, for example, if you... Then I.... This allows you to agree a lower price by stealth then bump it up with stuff.
Set your range. Your initial offer if they won't open should be lower than the lowest you think is achievable.
If you start trading, do it from your end, rather than theirs.
Move in small steps rather than big jumps.
Don't believe anything the salesman will tell you, trust your research.
Remember it's a game, and you can always walk away.

Remember your initial reaction when he offered you 8k for your Mazda. If you don't get that from the salesman with your first offer, it's too high.

Mmmmm, SMC Slough........Sister lives in Windsor, she got her Smax from Newbury........ She was able to deal a lot better there than for one in Slough.

also how can they say my car is only worth 8k when it looks like this .....

Sell private, the only down side is you end up without a car till you get a new one. Or take the PX offer and avoid the hassle.

I'd keep the Mazda.. Buy a roof box (for the luggage not the dog) for trips away. Looks lovely.

not reading the whole thread BUT you with your history of car issues from what ive seen on here want to buy a car with no service history.

dont do it.

Dont price on milage or age , price on condition and service history is part of that condition - no service history its not worth the top dollar price he is asking for it.

cars dont like sitting around for long periods - and the fact that has dont 5300 in 6 years would scare me alot - it certainly doesnt add to its value in anyway over an average milaged one.