Buying my first car from a dealer....how to knock some money off
- Thread starter DiCe!
- Start date
Some people have queer ideas of negotiation!
Go in, if you like the car and want to buy it then make it known that if the deal is right that you're prepared to buy it here and now, this shows the dealer that you are committed and they will do what they can to deal as you are a hot prospect and better than the customer who has gone away to pick their bum and have a think, then tell them you'd do a deal at £4500 (example figures) when really you are prepared to pay £4800 or whatever price you lowball them at.
They will come back with an offer of where they can afford to sell the car or a bit more, don't forget negotiation is about finding a happy medium that the customer is prepared to pay and the dealer is prepared to sell for, don't be stubborn with the figure in your mind because don't forget that if you like this car and its priced well and ticks all the boxes it could well be worth the extra money.
The worst type of negotiators are those who aren't prepared to be flexible, they expect to pay whatever they lay down and won't go up this is not negotiating this is demanding, for every used car there maybe 2-5 other people that have viewed it before its sold so if they can't afford to deal you they won't be bending over backwards to make it happen as they will sell it and make money from it.
Good luck!
Go in, if you like the car and want to buy it then make it known that if the deal is right that you're prepared to buy it here and now, this shows the dealer that you are committed and they will do what they can to deal as you are a hot prospect and better than the customer who has gone away to pick their bum and have a think, then tell them you'd do a deal at £4500 (example figures) when really you are prepared to pay £4800 or whatever price you lowball them at.
They will come back with an offer of where they can afford to sell the car or a bit more, don't forget negotiation is about finding a happy medium that the customer is prepared to pay and the dealer is prepared to sell for, don't be stubborn with the figure in your mind because don't forget that if you like this car and its priced well and ticks all the boxes it could well be worth the extra money.
The worst type of negotiators are those who aren't prepared to be flexible, they expect to pay whatever they lay down and won't go up this is not negotiating this is demanding, for every used car there maybe 2-5 other people that have viewed it before its sold so if they can't afford to deal you they won't be bending over backwards to make it happen as they will sell it and make money from it.
Good luck!
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When I bought my first car:
I stood there looking at it till the shop was about to close, so he came and offered a big discount to get the sale before close of business.
I stood there looking at it till the shop was about to close, so he came and offered a big discount to get the sale before close of business.
Cool story bro, what happens when they close the business? Do they lose the task and get fired by Lord Sugar?
More like they made an offer and you were happy with it so you bought it.
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When they close business without the sale they make no profit on the car that day. The car is actually a cost, and an opportunity cost because something else with a bigger margin could be in the space. Maybe the guy just needed to make rent.
Basic business shenanigans..
Basic business shenanigans..
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
This is fairly irrelevent, though. Perhaps they make nothing on it that day but make something on it the next?
Thats not really what opportunity cost is.
Not really.
Used car dealers don't operate like Tescos, trust me.
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Maybe. Maybe it's been there a month.[TW]Fox;24383422 said:
Yes it is.[TW]Fox;24383422 said:
Maybe it has. Therefore whats so desperate about that particular day that it absolutely must sell that day? It's true that they dont want cars hanging around for ages - some franchised dealers operate a policy whereby stock goes back to auction at a certain age - but it's unlikely to be right down to taking a lower price than they'd normally do just to avoid having to sell it tommorrow.
Not really. In reality you are more likely to be cursed as a nuisance than to get an amazing deal by waiting until just before they shut!
This.
I love all the "expert car dealers" out there that that think they know the job better than the dealers themselves. If the car is correctly priced then why should the dealer knock anything off it?
If the car is over priced then yeah, get something off it but go in forearmed by doing your research for what similar cars are selling for in your area but don't go in expecting money off a car that is correctly priced. In this case, you can ask but dont take the huff if the dealer does not discount.
Also, the people that will knock off money for a stone chip on a 5 year old car are usually the same that want top money for their heap of junk part exchange.
Because they want a sale.
Both of the last two cars I've bought from dealers were very well priced - infact both were the cheapest cars of their type anywhere on the manufacturers Approved site. I still managed to negotiate a better deal on both - one I got almost £2.5k off the price (in the form of a cash discount and extra warranty).
You might have to be prepared to meet resistence and eventually pay asking if it's keenly priced but there is nothing wrong some polite negotiation no matter how well priced the car appears to be. What have you got to lose? Nothing.
When I bought my first car I didn't get a penny off as I didn't know where to start. Fast forward on a few months and I went with my Dad to buy his Merc for around 12k..... They tried adding on all the admin fees, and then charging him for fixing the broken electric seats and respraying the bonnet. Ended up getting them to chuck in all that for free in the end just by saying we were only paying the price on the window.
Getting discounts is a lot easier if you can get in the position where you have found faults with the car. Sadly I'm not hugely mechanically minded, as I'd have found a crap load wrong with my first car when I bought it... I've learnt from that one though!
Getting discounts is a lot easier if you can get in the position where you have found faults with the car. Sadly I'm not hugely mechanically minded, as I'd have found a crap load wrong with my first car when I bought it... I've learnt from that one though!
some good reading in here. quick Q. beeing looking at audi A4s b7/b8. was looking at £8kish from private but after some chats with mates/family friends I am more inclined to buy approved from dealer for piece of mind/warranty extensions etc etc. this ofc mean spending more money xD
seen some lovely approved cars, most of them quite a bit over my initial budget, but I have seen a beaut for £18k... realistically.... how much could potentially knocked off this value? got cold hard cash to make the purchase, but seems like some give more discount/flexible when buying on finance. should i keep that i have it in cash more of a secret? lay out some initial cash deposit figure and make up paying the rest on card or something.....*shrugs* <<<<car buying virgin
seen some lovely approved cars, most of them quite a bit over my initial budget, but I have seen a beaut for £18k... realistically.... how much could potentially knocked off this value? got cold hard cash to make the purchase, but seems like some give more discount/flexible when buying on finance. should i keep that i have it in cash more of a secret? lay out some initial cash deposit figure and make up paying the rest on card or something.....*shrugs* <<<<car buying virgin
That's ehhhh, quite a jump.
Not £10k, put it that way.
It will completely depend on the car, the dealer and the time of the month / year. Your best chance of getting a big chunk off (where you otherwise wouldn't) would have been at the end of the financial year.
Not £10k, put it that way.
It will completely depend on the car, the dealer and the time of the month / year. Your best chance of getting a big chunk off (where you otherwise wouldn't) would have been at the end of the financial year.
[TW]Fox;24383677 said:
If you read the next bit of my post I didn't say you shouldn't ask. I stated that, should the car be correctly priced/cheap to begin with, you can ask but don't take the huff if no discount is given.
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What used to happen, may have changed is
Main dealers would have funding from the manufacturer they are affiliated to for used cars, typically 3 months.
So person A trades is a car against a new one, the manufacturer as an incentive to the garage then loans against the trade in value so the garage has full cashflow.
Once the 3 months is up the garage has to repay or start paying interest so they typically at this point want to shift the car.
These cars at this point are the ones great deals can be had on, its been there 3 months and its about to start costing them to sit there. This is often when you get these big sale weekends "no sensible offer refused" etc
Smaller places are just margins, they buy normally from auctions and have to have a turnover of cars as they are in effect self financing. Every day it sits on the forcourt is another day its cost interest.
Cars that show lots of interest will be harder to get a good deal on, find one thats show low interest and you stand a far better chance of getting it closer to what the dealer paid for it.
(Used to have friends in the trade and all said this was how it worked, it could have changed in 10-15 years though for main dealers)
Main dealers would have funding from the manufacturer they are affiliated to for used cars, typically 3 months.
So person A trades is a car against a new one, the manufacturer as an incentive to the garage then loans against the trade in value so the garage has full cashflow.
Once the 3 months is up the garage has to repay or start paying interest so they typically at this point want to shift the car.
These cars at this point are the ones great deals can be had on, its been there 3 months and its about to start costing them to sit there. This is often when you get these big sale weekends "no sensible offer refused" etc
Smaller places are just margins, they buy normally from auctions and have to have a turnover of cars as they are in effect self financing. Every day it sits on the forcourt is another day its cost interest.
Cars that show lots of interest will be harder to get a good deal on, find one thats show low interest and you stand a far better chance of getting it closer to what the dealer paid for it.
(Used to have friends in the trade and all said this was how it worked, it could have changed in 10-15 years though for main dealers)