Why, oh why, Car Stealers

OK so things have probably moved on, according to the above it seem you now just have to pay asking price then?


Nasher said:
It's funny how much prices have crashed recently, especially EVs. There are lines of low mileage i3s for 11-13k which dealers can't shift for months on end. If dealers aren't willing to budge on price, business will be even slower for them.

Good time to buy, but if your selling don't trade in because the offers will suck.
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Well it seems not, you just 'have to pay what they ask' :confused:

[TW]Fox said:
Or to ensure you keep the stock for months before eventually selling it for less than you were offered by the people you told to go away in the first place.

Saw this a lot when I was last buying a car. One of the cars I tried to buy is still for sale now, half a year later.
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Exactly this, I've had exactly the same!

I think the they need to learn the adage 'something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it'. They somehow think that if they keep there car on the forecourt long enough they will get their price, I'm sure that sometimes works out for them ;)

dave28 said:
Find people who are not obviously greedy dealers.

Sell your car privately yourself, buy a car privately from a family home with tidy people living there and not a dodgy geezer Arthur Daley type.
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Never in a million years, you have zero comeback if buying a car privately!
 
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Gibbo said:
Does not quite work like that.

As a punter your not buying from a dealer at the WBAC price, in fact if you try to do so some will probably boot you off the premises. ;)

The price WBAC offer is the absolute lowest typically, as they will then sell the car at auction to dealers who in theory will pay more. So if a 36k retail car is WBAC at 28k, then said dealership probably owns the car at 30-32k, so at the very best expect to get 2k of realistically, if they are desperate to move it and you time it right then you may get it at cost or a slight loss to them, as such around 4k off. Be cheeky it is a buyers market afterall.
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Yes, I realised that WBAC was never going to be a starting point hence my thoughts on trying for £2K or thereabouts below dealers asking price if it was indicated as a "Good Price" by Auto Trader.
I mainly wondered what sites other prospective buyers were using to get an idea of a price to aim for from a dealer. I have no reservations about offering low ball to dealers in a buyers market, just thought to avoid complete rejection of offers it might be usful to have a guideline or reference as a target.
 
HEADRAT said:
Never in a million years, you have zero comeback if buying a car privately!
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You think you have comeback at a dealer?

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Having recently bought a second hand car I feel your pain.

I had to do silly amounts of research on the cars we were looking at just to find haggling points, in the end we bought private (not that I wanted too) but it's the only way I felt like I wasn't getting my eyes completely taken out.

Good luck, apparently the market is crashing (typically right after I buy) but I know a month or so ago dealers just didn't seem to care, stock coming out their ears, most of it in ropey condition with higher than average mileage, not being upfront about accident damage recorded or not, just typical car trade stuff....
 
Having been looking on/off for 8 months, things have changed IME, there are still some places like big car supermarkets that largely operate on fixed prices, but they are generally fairly competitive anyway.

And I’ve already had dealers asking high prices who claimed ’the price is the price, the car is the car’ indicating no negotiation despite any issues with the car condition or service wise start to drop their prices and offer discounts to cover cosmetic & service issues..

It does feel like they are having to adjust after their glutinous 3 years..

I’ve been keeping an eye on a range of convertibles/SUVs and had some that are now below recent offers I made.
£43k AMV8 has dropped to £40k in 1 month, I offered £41k originally
£42k E53 cab, dropped to £36k in 3 months! I offered £38k a month ago


I am always polite, explain my reasoning for offers and never leave under a cloud, yet they never phone back before dropping the price to check if you are still interested.. this used to happen but with the glut they've had of under supply/over demand they do honestly seem very very lazy these days.. They aren't used to chasing customers anymore, just lauding it up on a wave of greed..

I've also had a glut of cars mis-advertised with full service histories that simply are not, either 2-3 year gaps, or not serviced to the schedule if annually.. and those described as spotless, or prestine example have been shockingly poor in many cases..

I think I might hang out until next year now.. dealers hunker down over Christmas anyway, but I am starting to turn my attention to getting the house fully sorted and that money burning a hole in my savings account ear marked for a car may soon eviscerate!
 
I don't 'need' a new car, there really isn't really anything wrong with my BWM 4 Series but I just fancied a change, it's probably been 10 years since I last bought a car from a dealer and unfortunately they haven't really changed (naive I know)

I think so many people now buy a car on a monthly figure they and the dealers have lost sight that getting lowest book on your car and top book on theirs isn't OK, I understand their a business but both parties have to think they are getting a good deal, they're not a charity and I'm not a mug.
 
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HEADRAT said:
I don't 'need' a new car, there really isn't really anything wrong with my BWM 4 Series but I just fancied a change, it's probably been 10 years since I last bought a car from a dealer and unfortunately they haven't really changed (naive I know)

I think so many people now buy a car on a monthly figure they and the dealers have lost sight that getting lowest book on your car and top book on theirs isn't OK, I understand their a business but both parties have to think they are getting a good deal, they're not a charity and I'm not a mug.
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It depends on how much they want to sell the car. On my current car, I traded in my E43 for it and I told them straight I would be happy to do a deal but I was only willing to put in £30k max plus my car, if they could make it work then we have a deal. Instead of reducing the price of their car (fixed price no haggling) they increased the trade in offer for my car (from their low ball offer) to make the numbers work.
 
The market is experiencing a degree of volatility. For selling, Motorway tend to be offering the best outcomes for sellers and the process is pretty good. Parkers is not a reliable valuation tool. Autotrader data is far more reliable and second only to CAP HPI. Most dealers/traders have access to CAP live data now. I'm not sure what car the OP is buying but pockets of the premium and luxury end are experiencing more notable depreciation over the last two months but in general most smart dealers are now offering discounts and some haggle room - if it's something rare then you might not have as much scope. For transparent no haggle pricing I find Big Motoring World to be good. They have one of the best web journeys and trade on lower margins in the expectation they will make it up in finance and addons.
 
i know its probably different ball game but couple of months back daughters boyfriend was selling his seat leon, as it was just coming out of pcp and he didnt have the money for the balloon payment.
tried all the big onlines wbac etc all quite happy to settle outstanding finance and pay extra to there value (less haggling )
after getting some offers by taking it to there depots , ended up ringing a local car sales in derby and got paid into there bank same day over a grand more than the other buyers.
they still put it on there forecourt 3 grand more the next week so winning all round.
try some of you local car sales.
 
HEADRAT said:
3. If they are going to use Autotrader to for the valuation it's only fair I do the same on my car, they've offered me £2.5 under that valuation.

What they basically seem to be saying it we want best book price for our car, lowest book price for yours and their in no negotiation!!
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there's a difference between trade-in value and dealer price. My rule of thumb is you should expect to get a minimum of £1.5k less trade-in compared to good price the same car is advertised for online. This would scale up a bit with more expensive cars. The bigger operators will have a bit more economy of scale so can run on tighter margins.

The reason is simple - if they bought and sold cars based on the same valuations, they'd go out of business because they'd have no money for overheads like premises, wages, energy, advertising, valeting/remedial work, fuel for test drives etc etc.
 
HEADRAT said:
Got £10.5K for my car through Carwow, dealer in the original post was offering £8.1K, I'm happy!
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I think this is the best way now - the reason being that the dealer who buys your car through a service like that actually wants it and the bid should reflect this. Generally, unless the dealer particularly wants your car in part exchange they are buying it from you to sell you a new one and this has a cost associated with it if it isn't a car they want to retail.
 
radderfire said:
Why are you surprised at this, they are in business to make a profit. You can only ever get a deal that someone is offering, not fantasy deals. If you don't like it, try and find something else.

Last time I went to a secondhand car dealer, they also didn't allow haggling. It's just a business policy to ensure profitability and reduce hassle. I didn't like it much because you can't feel you are getting a good deal, but at least you are buying from an established trader with more protection if something goes wrong.
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Don't mind them being a business or making a profit but I do mind being offered £2K less for my car than I easily achieved the Carwow and being immovable on their price, car is being picked up on Monday!

If others are happy for dealers to make money on both ends of the deal and be immovable that great, it just not for me.
 
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john_smith said:
The best way to get a deal is take finance out and then pay it off in full within 14 days.
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What is the reason for paying off in 14 days please?
Is it so that there is no interest accrued on the finance or something to do with the cooling off period?

Dealers are supposedly prepared to give a beter deal on the price of the car if finance is involved, presumably due to a kick back from the lender?
The "finance and pay off in 14 days" certainly seems attractive if it gets a good deal on a vehicle compared to a straightforward cash (bank transfer) purchase.
 
Bint Box said:
What is the reason for paying off in 14 days please?
Is it so that there is no interest accrued on the finance or something to do with the cooling off period?

Dealers are supposedly prepared to give a beter deal on the price of the car if finance is involved, presumably due to a kick back from the lender?
The "finance and pay off in 14 days" certainly seems attractive if it gets a good deal on a vehicle compared to a straightforward cash (bank transfer) purchase.
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There's more margin on financed vehicles, so you're likely to get a better price than buying cash. So negotiate a deal with finance to get a good price, then back out of the finance deal and pay it off, which you're entitled to do.
 
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