Deatership Negotiation

sandy10

sandy10

sandy10

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21 Feb 2004
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I'm looking at a few cars from several dealers (second hand) in the 13,500 ish region.

I can pay cash so no finance needed.

What sort of discount can I expect if any?

Thank you in advance for comments .
 
How long is a piece of string?

It depends on the car, it's price, the price of others and how long the dealer has had it.

Don't expect anything specifically because you have cash m
 
When I was looking at purchasing a new Focus ST3 the dealer offered me £3500 trade in for my Mini. If I took their finance I was offered £1600 dealer contribution and £5000 for my Mini. (plus I could've had a further £4000 "cash back" which was in reality just another £4000 added to the finance)

Cash is no longer king (unless you're buying privately that is)
 
eidolon said:
When I was looking at purchasing a new Focus ST3 the dealer offered me £3500 trade in for my Mini. If I took their finance I was offered £1600 dealer contribution and £5000 for my Mini. (plus I could've had a further £4000 "cash back" which was in reality just another £4000 added to the finance)

Cash is no longer king (unless you're buying privately that is)
Click to expand...

Of course the trouble with this is you never get the full story. It's absolutely true that they want you to take finance and incentives exist as a result. It's also absolutely true that on some occasions - though almost always new rather than used cars - you won't beat a finance deal using cash.

But of course the fact they'd rather you take finance skews peoples experiences. He offered you 20p for the Mini and no discount for cash because he wanted you to take the finance offer and felt reasonably sure you would.

Had you made it entirely clear that you wanted to purchase the car right then but that you would only be paying cash and you'd only take a decent deal then the conversation would eventually have progressed and the cash offer would have got as better as he felt it needed to get to secure your order.

Absolutely finance is a big thing but there is only so much money the lender and in turn the dealer is actually making on finance and many of the huge offers you get are using margin in the car rather than profit from the finance and therefore are obtainable to a certain extent with cash, too.

A quick scan of the Brokers shows discounts for cash of £3500 on the ST3 currently. Which is almost the entirety of the difference between the situation you find yourself in.

I only buy used and not new cars but I do buy them from main dealers and I do always try the 'I'll take the finance if' approach when negotiating the best possible deal but so far I've never been in a situation where they can't do a cash deal as good as a finance deal.
 
My problem is that I don't want to play games. I just want to walk into a dealership, view the car I want, pay a fair price and drive away happy.
I don't want to have to negotiate for hours, I don't want the salesman to have to go speak to his manager, I don't want to explain why I don't want GAP and paintwork protection, I just want a simple sale as if I was buying a Mars bar or a pair of shoes. I'm not at a Turkish bazaar so why should I have to play games?

I also went to a different Ford dealer to see what they'd offer me for the Mini. They were even worse, £2500.

As it happens I sold my car privately for £6000 so I didn't have to inconvenience the dealer with my trade in (which is what it felt like)
 
you may not get any discount at all, then again you may get say up to 1k..

until you try you dont know, it can be down to how many they have, how may on the market, how well spec'd and how well priced it is to begin with
 
eidolon said:
My problem is that I don't want to play games. I just want to walk into a dealership, view the car I want, pay a fair price and drive away happy.
I don't want to have to negotiate for hours, I don't want the salesman to have to go speak to his manager, I don't want to explain why I don't want GAP and paintwork protection, I just want a simple sale as if I was buying a Mars bar or a pair of shoes. I'm not at a Turkish bazaar so why should I have to play games?
Click to expand...

I agree with you but sadly this is how it works - so you can either accept the charade, or pay over the odds for the car.
 
I walked into Sytner Sutton a few months back, was VERY close to buying an M3 they had with massive spec in stock. I asked for numbers, I made it clear I didn't want any of their typical add ons, I was good with all the perceived benefits but having bought enough cars I knew what I wanted and more importantly what I didn't. I gave clear instructions on how I planned to fund it and what I could get money for and how much I was going to put down.

Off goes eager salesman, back comes business manager and presents me with a proposal filled with paint protection, gap, wheel insurance etc etc etc and an interest rate of around 11% on their finance option. I just looked, shook my head and politely left. I HATE people who don't listen and simply process, it's not how I buy. The reason I bought the R8 is I did exactly the same thing, made it clear what I saw as a good deal and told them if they wanted me to buy the car today, this is the deal I was happy to sign up to. Off they went, took about 15 minutes and it was done.

It is SO EASY when people listen.
 
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