How do you Barter with a car dealership? (Used Car)

reilly · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:34

Hello Petrol/Diesel heads, some advice needed please.

Tomorrow I will be going to a VW Garage to buy a second hand 11 plate VW Polo 1.2 TSI, book price is £10,995 with 9,000 miles on the clock. Brand new around £17,000.

Test drove this the other weekend and loved it, but for piece of mind wanted a family member to come and see it with me. (Never done this before at 24!)

My question is how do I barter? Obviously don't want to pay book price but I want the car at the end of the day. What would you guys aim to do?

Car already as
18 month warranty still
Optional extras - winter pack, alloys.

I thought I would barter on some of the below
Price - start at £9,999 and aim for £10,500?
At lease one free service.
free goodies, boot liner, matts etc.
6 months tax.

TLDR: Unfortunately I'm not as rich as 3.0L Audi Q7 guy's missus parents, buying a Polo how do I barter?

Thanks all.

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:37

Is there a reason why you want to spend £11,000 on a 2 year old 1.2 Polo?

cheechm · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:44

Which trim level is it? You could probably get the car to just under £10,000.

Matt82 · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:47

Barter
Verb
Exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money: "he often bartered a meal for drawings".
Noun
The action or system of exchanging goods or services without using money

If you cant afford the price they are asking for, I would be very surprised if they accepted goods or services in place of actual money.

If you cant afford the price they are asking for, you should consider haggling.

Haggle
Verb
Dispute or bargain persistently, esp. over the cost of something.
Noun
A period of such bargaining.

(Yes, Im bored)

Randomface74 · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:53

Spend time standing around until they offer you a deal you're happy with.

reilly · 4 Jan 2013 at 20:54

[TW]Fox;23492941 said:
Is there a reason why you want to spend £11,000 on a 2 year old 1.2 Polo?

Well I was looking for a small car that was cheap to run but had a bit of pace when required. I don't want/need a large car. I tried a Corsa and Fiesta but didn't like them as much to drive or visually. Someone decided to drive into me so need a new car as my current vehicle is a right off, had that for 7 years so it's not like I change cars regularly, and I think I will get my monies worth!

cheechm said:
Which trim level is it? You could probably get the car to just under £10,000.

Car is 1.2 turbo (TSI) VW polo SEL with optional extras of the winter pack (Heated seats+mirrors) and alloys. So I would say topline.

Ahleckz · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:06

Only the manager will be able to give you any sort of discount, salesman can play around with the figures a little bit to change around your payment plan to save you some money in the shortterm but for any money off/extras added on it has to come from the manager.
Free mats are a piece of cake to get, should be able to get 6 months RFL thrown in.

You really need to make it known that you are a serious buyer and tell them quite clearly what your budget is. Don't play games, just stick to your guns and be prepared to walk away. But make sure you've spoken to a manager first. If you're PX'ing then you may be able to get the manager to bump the offer up a little bit.

Most people don't barter, or if they do the most they do is "is there room for negotiation?" which a "Sorry sir, the price has already been heavily discounted" quickly takes care of.

So basically, if the manager thinks that you're a real customer and prepared to buy today then tell them the price you want for it and don't be afraid to walk away. They'll phone you back if they want you.

[TW]Fox · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:15

Ahleckz said:
Only the manager will be able to give you any sort of discount, salesman can play around with the figures a little bit to change around your payment plan to save you some money in the shortterm but for any money off/extras added on it has to come from the manager.

Thats simply not true - its down to the individual dealership what the policy is on discounts. Very few offer the sales staff zero descretion on price.

Third Opinion · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:20

Dump the dealer and buy private. Any problems and you still have a year left on the warranty.

Job done.

Edit: Are Polo's really 17k new nowadays?

Eliot · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:31

Third Opinion said:
Dump the dealer and buy private. Any problems and you still have a year left on the warranty.

Job done.

Edit: Are Polo's really 17k new nowadays?

I think a GTI is 20k so its likely given this one is like the "Zetec S" to the GTi's "ST" iirc?
I think its a lot quicker that it sounds if memory serves this one, Kind of mild warm hatch esque?

EDIT: 9.5 to 60 so I wasnt far off

Bear · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:37

[TW]Fox;23493260 said:
Thats simply not true - its down to the individual dealership what the policy is on discounts. Very few offer the sales staff zero descretion on price.

I'm not so sure on that, we couldn't get a VW dealer to knock anything off a Golf my wife wanted to buy. They said they price competitively and check nationally to make sure they are competitive and to be fair the car was below book price.

The same happened when I bought the XF, I phoned 4 dealers and none of them would offer any money off the cars at all (Stratstone). Not even a come down and we will see what we can do to tempt me in. They just wasn't interested.

celliott · 4 Jan 2013 at 21:47

Not a polo but when I bought my Golf R32 from a VW main dealer last year I couldn't get them to move on price but managed to get a few extras:

- new front grille as there was a small crack (large part of the bumper on R32's!)
- nearside door complete repaint as the laquer was peeling a little under the window
- parrot bluetooth kit moved from old car to new
- year of vw roadside assistance + 1 year all inc warranty

Try on price, but if not go for extras. If there are any cosmetic issues which you aren't happy about make sure you bring them up!

TripleT · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:10

The only extra there is the parrot and even then its not much work! The rest is to be expected...

Iamzod · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:19

Why does it matter if it's cheap to run when you are going to blow 11k on it?

Third Opinion · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:29

Frig me if you have all the optional extras it comes in at over 20k!.

That kind of money is dream territory for me for a car, but if I did have it I am not sure I would spend it on a 105bhp Polo. Saying that they got very good reviews even though it was noted the price was ridiculously high.

wesley · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:30

still a lot of money for 2 years old polo.........

LiGhTfasT · 4 Jan 2013 at 22:46

Glad i never blew £10,000 on a 1.2 polo when i was 24, you need money for house! buy a £3k decent car.

lordrobs · 5 Jan 2013 at 00:39

I don't think there are any set rules. I've been completely stone walled on price "the screen price is the price" on the flip side I've had a large percentage wiped off the price before even asking. Good time to be buying though, they should be seeing a bit of a dry patch I'd imagine.

iaind · 5 Jan 2013 at 00:41

11 grand to be "cheap to run"

Rroff · 5 Jan 2013 at 00:46

lordrobs said:
I don't think there are any set rules. I've been completely stone walled on price "the screen price is the price" on the flip side I've had a large percentage wiped off the price before even asking. Good time to be buying though, they should be seeing a bit of a dry patch I'd imagine.

Yeah - tho they will feed you any line they can to try and not move on the price - also if a car has been getting a bit of interest then you can try every trick you want and your unlikely to get a discount whereas if a car has been sitting around awhile with no interest in it you can get them to drops loads often without having to try too hard.

Back on topic a bit more - no way I'd drop 10 grand on a polo, not that there is anything wrong with them if your really set on it but you can do far better with that money.