I have owned motor trade related businesses for over 50 years now, and supply a lot of garages.
Used car negotiation
- Thread starter winjim
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
I have owned motor trade related businesses for over 50 years now, and supply a lot of garages.
Or you could just run the number through WBAC, but of course that does not give you the real story. For example many of my dealers budget to in excess of £1000 refurb and servicing costs on each car they sell. Extra margin for main dealers lays with upselling paint coating, wheel protection insurance etc, a paint coating costing £500 can be easily done by most people for 10% of that price.
As above. Once pretty much agreed and if I'm happy with the deal I will ask for a full tank of petrol and a full set of mats, including the boot.
It's not a great deal of money for them and I assume that they are still making a profit but it gives me a warm feeling of having won a little something.
It's not a great deal of money for them and I assume that they are still making a profit but it gives me a warm feeling of having won a little something.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Pretty much covers my experience.
Last couple times I asked Motorpoint for instance (higher bracket cars tbf) if the price was negotiable...errr no sir, we pare everything back to the bare bones (not his words but same In essense), there simply isnt the profit nowadays, we work on volume / turnover .
Even the finance aspect has changed, your credit score dictates your interest rate (adopted the American model ?)
It's always worth pushing them on the trade in value offered, theyll usually move a bit..but its not big money anyway (proportionally to overall spend)
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Last time I offered cash, they simply didnt seem interested, various reasons given, money laundering etc...but of course, we know they really want you to do a finance deal, thats possibly where their money is made.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Bought a car for cash a year ago (a lot, their dearest used vehicle in the Dealership), couldn't even get a touchup pen. I kid you not. Came with 'rare' rear mats (this is a people carrier van) but no front mat. Eh... Wouldn't throw a front mat in, so ordered the posh mat fron carmats.co.uk.
I say cash, debit card. No checks from the bank. At the same time organised my insurance cover, the bank app wanted approval for £80, not for £31k.
My wife had nothing offered when she bought a car about 8 years ago. Margins are tight.
I say cash, debit card. No checks from the bank. At the same time organised my insurance cover, the bank app wanted approval for £80, not for £31k.
My wife had nothing offered when she bought a car about 8 years ago. Margins are tight.
Last edited:
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
It does depend on the dealership though, if they have a high throughput of cars then they might rather wait until the next buyer offers full price. I once offered 5k for a motorbike advertised for £5449 and the bloke basically spat at me down the phone as if I'd just set fire to his cat. The bike was still for sale 12 months after I'd bought another one privately. On another motorcycle, I did the same thing at a similar asking price and was told no, I haggled for every 20 quid, when eventually the dealer shook on it and said "well that's me not feeding my kids tonight". I think I'd knocked £300 off the £3000 asking price but it was a hard barter. I tend not to bother now, as a warranty is more important to me than a few hundred off the buying price.
That's why we went with Cinch; top quality customer service, they'll let you pay across up to 5 credit cards, 3 month any item warranty (except tyres, windscreen and wiper blades) and of course your 14 day return period as per distance seller regs. We took out multiple 0% interest cards instead of using finance or a loan
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
You can still negotiate extras; on SWMBO's I got them to include a fresh MOT as it had 7 months left, tax it for a year, service and new mats. Stuff that's labour to them is easier since they can do it with a member of staff.
Alternatively, do what I do: bid on a car auction (in my case eBay) with good and bad results, or win a car (done that twice).
Alternatively, do what I do: bid on a car auction (in my case eBay) with good and bad results, or win a car (done that twice).
vickster
Squire
Pay some of the cost on a credit card (I paid the deposit on my car purchase last year, the rest by debit card on pick up, granted a main dealer on a 20kish car) so you have some recourse via the bank in case things go wrong and the trader won't play ball. I think I got a bit of a discount on an extended RAC warranty
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
How generous of them to offer half of your statutory CRA 2015 rights!
Profpointy
Legendary Member
I'd heard that one too. Hardly worth the bother and embarrassment really is it?
Profpointy
Legendary Member
A friend was trying to buy a car and they pretty much told him they weren't really interested (in selling it to him at all) unless he bought it on tick
vickster
Squire
My car didn’t come with any…genuine ones that fitted were nearly £100 (hard to find online so ended up buying from the dealer who sold me the car)
