Haggling over the price of a car

How must Steve feel now the greedy ****.
Well done that man. :cool:

I have to say that if someone rang me to buy my 17k car and was Seriously interested then there would be room for negotiation.
The 100 quid he denied you will probably now be spent on re-advertising and he will still end up selling it for less than 17k. :D


I love the car trade sometimes it's great fun. :cool:
 
Totally daft man! I would never quibble over that. If I thought it was unreasonable I would simply offer to refurb the wheel myself (if I knew I could get it done for less than £100). Otherwise I would say "no, lets go halves and I'll knock you £50 off if you are serious about buying this car". You've got to keep the positive speak coming out, there is nowhere for the buyer to go if you just say no. If they wish to continue negotiations then they have to make another offer. They may not do so as your no may make them scared of rejection. What an amateur!!! ;)
 
If I was selling a £17,000 car, I'd fully expect to have anywhere up to £500 (possibly a bit more) knocked off my asking price when selling.

By the sounds of things, with the car being up for sale for well over a month already, it's priced too highly. My guess is that he'll get back to you Steve in a week or twos time, still not having sold it, and begging you to give him £16,900 for it. That's when you pounce, go to his house with £16,500 cash, wave it in his face and say - I'll give this wodge of cash for the car if I can drive it away now. I bet he says yes!
 
Well atleast you tried mate, but unfortunetely he's the type that's not going to budge.

If it was me in that situation, I would have firstly asked for the list price, then offer £1k below it. I'd make up some bs and say that the price of his car is way above market value, that similar cars within its range are going nearer to £15.5k - £16k, and that your offer was generous. If he says the price will not drop, I'd make up some more bs, offer him £16.3k and tell him the balls in his court whilst reassuring him that he's got a fantastic offer. Then go from there to be honest.

Did you know the price of the car before you asked him about what sort of offer he'd consider?
 
go round to his house at night and strip loads of parts off it, then call back up in a week or two and ask if the car is still for sale, buy at greatly reducd rate and refit stolen parts.

Easy!

Sadly I know of someone who did this
 
depends if there was anything wrong with the car as that is always your bargining tools. Look at consumables, Tyres, discs, pads, check exhaust for rust etc

Jacking it up donning some overalls and getting under it scares people and they think you know whats what, be vocal to your mate what your seeing so they can hear "oooh the back box has almost rusted through and these brake lines are really corroded and need to be changed" etc.

Also look up common faults on the internet for that car even if they aren't a problem on the car play on that. "The VANOS has never ben changed then? Bit of a risk me buying it then to be honest as that is £1500 off the bat if it fails, tell you what knock off £500......"

for example my Calibra was up for £1100 and I got him down to £850 as one arch was a bit rusty and needed sorting

My e36 M3 had a small scuff on the rear bumper so haggled down from £9100 to £8900

My current (if I ever get to pick it up) e46 M3 I didn't bother as it was sooo cheap and I was the first viewer and knew that the next person to see would buy it at that price. I just used my non haggling to get him to do bits to it wheels refurb, bumpers stripped and sprayed and now sat nav so currently 3ks worth of work has been/being done lol

If there is nothing wrong with a car then aim for 5%, make sure you take cash and count out the amount you want to pay into his hand.

Or if they think it is A1 get them to stick another 12 months MOT on it, or 6/12 months tax.

I only look at a car that is for sale at the price I am willing to pay anything off is then a bonus

I know when I sell something I mark up as I expect it
 
It just gets better.

Yesterday the price was £17,000. This morning it was £17,195 and now it's £17, 250!!

Considering it's been on the market for a while and hasn't sold, what makes him think that putting the price up will help it sell?
 
He's probably desperate now and looking for somebody to come along and offer £17k for it. If he had left if at £17k, people (like yourself) would offer less for it, and wouldn't accept the list price.

Does that make you think, that a couple of days before you got in touch with him, the price may have been lower? ;)
 
Sounds like he's got the wrong end of the stick...you can't put up the price, then drop back to the original price and say - see, I've dropped £250 just for you!

It's annoying when people think that just because the car is "their car", it's somehow special and worth over the odds. I'd hazard a guess that it'll still be there in a months time. I'd email him back with a couple of ads of cars in better or similar condition for less money, say "I'll give you £16,500 cash now" and see what he says.

If he's putting the price *up* (!) after the car's not selling, it's not going to sell at all. So it'll still be there in a month's time. If it is, email him again saying £16,000, and he might take it. If someone does buy it, you've not really lost out - as you say, there are plenty of Elises out there :) But if it doesn't sell, and he starts to get desperate, realising that he's overcharging, you could be in for a bargain when he finally cracks, so hang in there!
 
Could be that he actually doesn't want to sell it, but his mrs is forcing him to.

This way he can say the car is for sale, but gets to keep driving it.

The mans a genius! :p

I may be looking into this a bit much..
 
To be honest I'm not gonna bother contacting him again. I made what I thought was a fair offer, he could've had the funds in his account today but instead he decided to hold out for that extra £100 so I'm just gonna leave it.

As you say, there's plenty of Elises out there. I've got the cash and I'm not in a hurry, might as well use that to my advantage.
 
eidolon said:
To be honest I'm not gonna bother contacting him again. I made what I thought was a fair offer, he could've had the funds in his account today but instead he decided to hold out for that extra £100 so I'm just gonna leave it.

As you say, there's plenty of Elises out there. I've got the cash and I'm not in a hurry, might as well use that to my advantage.
Click to expand...

I'd keep an eye on it mate - like I say, when he cracks in a month or so, you could be in for a bargain.
 
eidolon said:
Am I being unreasonable expecting something off the price or is he just being awkward?
Click to expand...

Its a private sale so he can be an **** if he likes, but I think you are completely reasonable and with an amenable person you could expect a lot more than just a £100 discount
 
eidolon said:
When selling a car, what sort of amount do you feel is acceptable to knock off the price?
Click to expand...
common mistake number one. to use the sticker price as the starting block.
in todays marketplace you should look up bottom book price and see what specifically distinguishes the car above this point.
many sellers overprice to allow a discount to be deducted and still return the price they wanted while the buyer drives away thinking "he da man" for haggling a "great" deal.
eidolon said:
That's what I was thinking, it's not like there's a shortage of Elises out there.

The search continues!!
Click to expand...
good attitude.
never lose sleep over the car you didn't buy, a better one is always around the corner.
Mackass said:
As it's 'or nearest offer', I'd personally start by knocking £1k off it, and go from there. I'd say around £2.5k - £2.6k if you waved the cash at them.
Click to expand...
this can work against you sometimes though.
wade in with a (to the seller) derisory offer and you can put them offside so to speak.the attitude you've just made them develop may now result them being more steadfast in achieving the asking price or as close to as possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom