Advice on how to haggle?

PiKe

PiKe

PiKe

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Looking at trying to knock down a Honda dealer on a second hand Honda S2000 '55' plate with 32k on the clock, has anyone got any hints or tips that might allow me to knock off a grand or so from the asking price of £13.995?

I'm trading in my Fiesta Zetec-S '56' plate with 16k and hoping to get an offer of around £6000 for it.
 
Make sure that you show so much interest in it, go for a test drive etc etc, get the sales person eating out of your hand. When it comes to the end just say I will give you £12,995.

If he refuses give him your number and ask him to contact you when they can offer a better deal or one comes in within budget.

Worked for me, however I managed to get £2k knocked off a ZS :D
 
I'd say the complete opposite. Don't seem at all interested. Constantly talk about the competitor which I believe is the BMW Z4. Talk about how awesome the Z4 is and how much fictionally LESS you can buy a similar specced model for. For me, it's the keywords "take it or leave it". In this climate the dealership will not want to leave it so they'll take it. Obviously don't say "I'll buy it for a fiver and a packet of Skittles. Take it or leave it" but be realistic.
 
You need to understand 3 figures in advance. Have a good think about them in advance because indecision during the negotiation is a salesman's dream

(1) Your target price. This is your 'best outcome' price, and is typically on the optimistic side. In this case it could be £11k or even lower. Know your market and know the real value of the car.

(2) Your acceptable price. This is typically a range rather than a single value, so it might be 'between £11k and £12k'. This is likely the range where you will agree a price with the negotiator. Try and understand his target price and see where he's edging you toward.

(3) Your 'walk away' price. This is the hardest one to decide on as it is, as the name suggests, the price point you will actually leave the garage empty handed. It's really important to decide this before you begin; never change this during your discussion. If the salesman simply will not agree to lower than whatever price you've decided is your walk away then politely explain that you'll have to take your money to a competitor but thank him for his time. This can be used as a gambit to force his hand but is very risky. He has to believe that you're walking away and taking your dosh with you.

There's loads more I could write but this is the gist of a negotiation. Ask some probing questions to see what buttons get him going (finance? cash? deposit? payment in full?) and focus on those. The idea is to walk away with as much as you possibly can having paid the absolute minimum you can.

Be polite and interested in the car but not so much as to suggest you simply have to buy it. Being keen is fine but being desperate is not. If you can throw in something along the lines of "I really do like the car, great condition and I'm pretty keen to sort something out this weekend but I can only afford to go to <insert target price>", this will start the negotiation. You're going in low, probably unrealistically low, and his job is to get you up quickly and yours is to inch up or stall.

Finally, believe and understand your three numbers mentioned above and don't be afraid to walk away if you're not feeling good about how the negotiation has gone. Good luck.
 
Ricochet J said:
I'd say the complete opposite. Don't seem at all interested. Constantly talk about the competitor which I believe is the BMW Z4. Talk about how awesome the Z4 is and how much fictionally LESS you can buy a similar specced model for. For me, it's the keywords "take it or leave it". In this climate the dealership will not want to leave it so they'll take it. Obviously don't say "I'll buy it for a fiver and a packet of Skittles. Take it or leave it" but be realistic.
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But if you go this route then the sales person may think you have made your mind up on the competition, therefore not bother trying to sell and think your a time waster.

I am in sales and if anyone bangs on about how great the competition is / can buy a similar product for less, I dont bother with the hard sell and say go for that product then as you seem to have made your mind up, I often find they come back with their tails between their legs and buy from you at a higher rate!
 
GinG said:
But if you go this route then the sales person may think you have made your mind up on the competition, therefore not bother trying to sell and think your a time waster.

I am in sales and if anyone bangs on about how great the competition is / can buy a similar product for less, I dont bother with the hard sell and say go for that product then as you seem to have made your mind up, I often find they come back with their tails between their legs and buy from you at a higher rate!
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That's a very high risk strategy and I imagine you lose a considerable amount of custom. Also, the hard sell is often what stops people from repeat purchasing; you may get their money once but you won't see them again. Still, if it works for you then it's all good :)
 
PiKe said:
Would going in at £11,000 not be a little bit insulting?
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no,. it depends how you phrase it

always go lower than you want to actually pay

the best negotiation will always meet in the middle of the two prices

offer lower and let him tell you that he will meet you half way
 
PiKe said:
Would going in at £11,000 not be a little bit insulting?
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Insulting to whom? You're asking if you should worry about insulting a salesman? Most of them will admit that they'd sell their grandma to get an extra percentage on their commission! ("we're sharks, ******* sharks!" is how one Sales Manager explained himself to me).

Sure, he'll act annoyed, disgruntled, astonished, he might even laugh at your entry price but it likely IS an act. His job is to get as much of your money as possible. You owe him nothing.

Please, please do not go in thinking that you don't want to hurt his feelings. For £11k he'd gladly let you call him whatever the hell you want because he's got your £11k and you don't.
 
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Paul11 said:
no,. it depends how you phrase it

always go lower than you want to actually pay

the best negotiation will always meet in the middle of the two prices

offer lower and let him tell you that he will meet you half way
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Sorry to hog this thread :o but the best negotiation will NOT always meet in the middle. The best outcome for the OP is to pay the absolute minimum he possibly can and still get the car.
 
[FnG]magnolia;14167123 said:
That's a very high risk strategy and I imagine you lose a considerable amount of custom. Also, the hard sell is often what stops people from repeat purchasing; you may get their money once but you won't see them again. Still, if it works for you then it's all good :)
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I guess, but still bring in plenty of business from it :P If you know the market then it works, if you dont then yeh...its a very risky strategy.
 
[FnG]magnolia;14167172 said:
Sorry to hog this thread :o but the best negotiation will NOT always meet in the middle. The best outcome for the OP is to pay the absolute minimum he possibly can and still get the car.
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I thought generally that your should offer lower than your target price for this reason, as I think it's pretty unlikely to go in with a first offer that's a fair bit less than the asking price and then just be told "OK" :p
 
Jotun said:
I thought generally that your should offer lower than your target price for this reason, as I think it's pretty unlikely to go in with a first offer that's a fair bit less than the asking price and then just be told "OK" :p
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Agreed, but it's about positioning. Moving a customer from £11k up to £13k is much harder than moving them from £12.5 to £13k, for instance.
 
I'll tell you a great way to improve your haggling skills if you want.

The best way to see how far yuo can get is to go and haggle on something you don't want. Because you don't want it, you do not have any of the emotional burden of wanting the thing you're buying.

I work in a field that needs a lot of negotiation. Admittedly £mulit-million IT deals are not the same as buying a car but some of the same principles apply. The best negotiation skills course I went on set some "homework" to go into a car dealer and see the best price we could negotiate down to on a car we had no intention of buying. It ended up really helping when I bought a car earlier this year.

So go and try it with something you don't want. People may say it is a bit mean wasting a dealer's time, but I have no sympathy for car dealers generally. :) Once you've done it a couple of times go for it at the dealer who has the car you want.

The hardest part is walking away a couple of hundred punds less than they're willing to budge and waiting for the inevitable phone call that says, "OK it's yours if you come and pay cash for it now". But unless you're going for something quite rare and exotic, there'll always be another opportunity if you're patient.
 
try and befriend the guy a bit first, once you've tried haggling a little, say a figure above what you've previously said, then offer your hand to close the deal

he can either leave you hanging (and both parties feel awkward) or he'll crumble and shake your hand :p
 
Cash, 'chopping' in my car would be easier all round.

Does a trade-in make haggling more difficult?
 
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