First new/used car in 10 years in the next 6 months. Looking at a 2 year old Nissan XTrail with 50/60k on the clock. We do 6/8k miles a year so figure over 10 years it’ll even out.

If it is on the garage forecourt at £15k what should I expect to pay? (ish)

Any opinions very welcome.

I know nothing about cars, but is that not a lot of miles for a 2 year old XTrail? Ex-business/lease vehicle?

Yes think so. High motorway mileage, but means that its not very old and will have been well serviced under lease/warranty. That’s the logic.

I get the feeling there’s less haggling space than there used to be.

Nobody wants actual cash any more, so doing a deal for cash doesn’t happen. Most of the profit is on the finance package. With the internet being so popular buyers are much better informed, overpricing a car will just result in nobody going to view it so the pricing needs to be (fairly) keen from the start.

I’ve not bought a car recently, mind. I looked at a couple over Christmas and it seemed like as soon as they realised you weren’t going to buy that exact car right now, they didn’t want to talk to you any more. Neither place even asked what my budget was – shouldn’t it be sales 101 to find out the budget and encourage you to spend all of it ??

Lol .

Thats what you think. Lease cars get the minimum required to keep warrenty in tact

Seems pricy to me . What are other 2 year old xtrails going for ?.

£14,250.

Depends on the spec, but new shape x-trails all seem to be about £14-15k.

We were looking, but staying put with the Kuga for a bit longer.

Write down the maximum you’d pay for the car. Get them to write down the minimum they’d sell it for. Agree that if your maximum is above their minimum, you will split the difference and meet half way. If your maximum is lower than their minimum you walk, no haggling, no second chances.

We only got a few percent off. We haggled pretty hard and they wouldn’t budge even when we were only £40 apart. It was actually priced pretty well and by far the best we’d seen so hard to walk away. I think the key is to know the right price. If it’s high then you should get some off, if it’s already cheap then you may struggle.

The right price is what you’re prepared to pay for it, taking into account similar cars.

We can’t comment on how much its worth, none of us have seen the damn thing.

Let them think you are going to get their finance and agree a price on that then tell them its a cash sale but you want it at the same price. When asked about finance – say something positive but non committal “sounds interesting might have to go with that”

I didn’t have much luck when I was looking. It does grate that now if you try and trade in they just look up the we buy any car and offer you that, it has killled trade in values imho.

I like the idea of something being new and used at the same time, a bit like Shrodinger’s cat

I got £500 off my last one by advising on mountain bike maintenance and diagnosing what was causing a chain to drop on a single ring set up.

This may not be normal.

Off a dealer two year old car I managed to get a cambelt and service before it was due, some door sill kick plates, mats and roof bars, tax (£30) and a tank of fuel. That would have cost me about £800 but nothing off the screen price.

Happy with that tbh, I’ve bought a few cars of the same dealer they dont usually over price.

Useful advice as ever. Thanks all.

In the spirit of STW, I’m going to ignore your question and ask which engine/spec X-Trail you’re looking at?

Sorry + is this a s/h car @£15k? In which case there’s probably £1-2k margin. A grand off would be a good effort. You might get a better deal with a p-x the garage can stick on their forecourt. A copy of what car guide is handy but not a bible.

As above you’ll probably get a better deal with finance…..

What you can do is take the finance, get the car, then cancel the finance under the 14 day cool off rules. The company will then promptly bill you for the value financed (but not for the interest of fees) – pay this in cash. Discount achieved.

It will piss off the garage tho i suspect!

A new Nissan will be 10% off maybe more (we where offered that today without even asking). How does that compare with used one if you finance both (new car will be 0% finance). As above our experience is small doscounts on used cars from dealers, we boight a series of ex-demos in the past.

Looking at NTec 1.6 diesel. 7 seats, 50 plus mpg. Looks ok.

The finance idea is a good one thanks.

Check the ts and cs obvs if you try the finance thing.

Just to point out a dealer will not have £2k across a used car anymore. Very rarely, used to work of around £1500 Martian prior to costs 10 years ago and the market is very different now. OP if you want some genuine advice about the price of the vehicle chuck me an email I am happy to help. Not willing to divulge what o do for a living on here, but always happy to help a fellow singletracker.

The used car market has changed dramatically of late, dealers no longer sell into their local area and compete for first page on auto trader so drive prices and margins down. F&I income often suplimebts the lack of front end margin now so you can get better deals if you take the dealers funding package, they even can be competitive as their commission is both front and back end loaded.

Again if you want any help with pricing drop me an email and I can do some homework for you.

6-8,000 miles a year and you’re buying a diesel?
I’d be looking for a petrol version, it’ll be cheaper to buy and run (and considerably better for the environment, if that bothers you).

Thanks all for quality advice and shared knowledge

Yes think so. High motorway mileage, but means that its not very old and will have been well serviced under lease/warranty. That’s the logic.

There are always exceptions, but generally this is flawed logic. The higher the mileage, the closer you can be to expensive maintenance/repair. Don’t get suckered into believing some of the crap written on here – most of it is people justifying their own position rather than good general advice.

Lol .

Thats what you think. Lease cars get the minimum required to keep warrenty in tact

Not always true, but definitely worth heeding.

6k a year?
Get a petrol. The maintenance on a low use/short journey diesel will be higher than the lower mpg.

We bought an ‘older’ petrol engine in newer car. It has no turbo, nor DMF, DPF, EGR, AdBlue or anything daft. So far it’s running a couple of mpg less than friends car with the ‘new’, MOAR Eco and higher mpg diesel model. In the two years nearly we have had them, they have already had DPF problems that way wipe out the more mpg savings.

With the new tax laws it may hold its price a better.

Reference lease cars. Mine gets the full works during a service and what ever else it needs so no idea what trail rat is on about.

you continue believing that.

Whats written in the book often isnt what happens 😉 ESP when the lease co is paying on a maintained lease.

Not all garages are at it …. but ive seen it. Im a stickler for checking work done in the book vs work done. to blindly believe that a lease car is better maintained and think its worth over the odds because it was a lease car is fools folly…. just like you wouldnt rush to buy an ex hertz rental would you …..

Whats written in the book often isnt what happens ESP when the lease co is paying on a maintained lease.

So you’re blaming garages not doing work on lease companies? The work in mine has been done.

I get the feeling there’s less haggling space than there used to be.

Dealer markup on a new car is about 2%*!

So unless the manufacturer is offering a discount, the dealer will be selling at a loss on that unit. They may however, do this to meet a quarterly target and get a volume bonus from the manufacturer.

* wife has worked for Peugeot/Citroen, VAG Group and Kia and they’re all about the same.

I’m happy for you.

I still wouldn’t say your car is a better buy than a non lease for the next owner because lease cars are better maintained.

I still wouldn’t say your car is a better buy than a non lease for the next owner because lease cars are better maintained.

It would depend on the price difference of course.

Not all garages are at it …. but ive seen it. Im a stickler for checking work done in the book vs work done. to blindly believe that a lease car is better maintained and think its worth over the odds because it was a lease car is fools folly…

With respect thats nonsense. I work alongside some of the biggest leasing companies and they do not operate this kind of practice at all. I have also worked for some of the biggest dealer groups in the country and again it doesn’t happen. yes there are parameters set for work to be carried out. As an example i needed to make 2 trips a week apart to the same tyre place because my rear tyres were 0.4 of a mm “too good” Dealership service departments have bigger targets to hit than the sales teams now, they will up sell everything possible to the lease company. Furthermore if its a recommendation the lease company cannot refuse the work (what would happen if you as the driver then ran into a school bus stop) As with any used car, you are going to struggle to find out the previous users driving and maintenance habits, but the general condition and reports held by a lease company should help you make an informed decision.

Dealer markup on a new car is about 2%*!

That’s for new cars not used and varies wildly between manufacturer. The front end margin on used cars are often much greater than new.

The margin is also calculated in different ways, can include supported trading bonuses etc.

I think its fair to say that ‘Most’ dealers now would trade away all of their front end margin and rely on the F&I income as well as volume bonuses. Which can equate to Serious money. Selling new cars at a loss is not a new thing. We were doing it 17 years ago when i was selling new cars. The growth of the internet and websites like Carwow, has really killed the art of selling new cars now and dealer groups are giving much more away as they struggle with increased new car sales targets.

Please please please don’t get a diesel for 6-8k a year. Especially one that’s on 60kish.
That’s a recipe for bills, especially in the DPF area. My wife has worked for several major car manufacturers in the business intelligence sector, and all I can say is that diesels reeeeeally don’t make sense for that little mileage unless covered by a comprehensive warranty and a willingness to part with cash.
Is there not a petrol option?

OP.

Have you considered a petrol Qashqai?

Definitely go for petrol

Our mileage has dropped massively. Wife only drives to see friends or do something kid related. I only drive for social stuff

Apart from a car based holiday than adds a couple of thousand miles in a week maybe, some weeks I’d be surprised if the car did 50 miles

It’s an auto and a big car so the economy isn’t brilliant, but the overall mileage is so low it really doesn’t matter