Haggling Tips

plastic-man

So a lot of you will have commented on my last thread about the second hand polo. If you didn't see it, basically I'm looking at buying a VW polo. Its 2002, 36000 miles, from a garage with one year warranty, basic car with no electric windows or alarm, few dents (very small but he said he'll get as many as he can out, so he told me to give him about 10 days)

Price advertised was €6000 which is a bit high for the car. I rang and asked him was that his best offer, and without any effort, he said €4900. Seemed like a good deal. Went down, nice guy, and I put a €200 deposit down.

Looking on carzone, there are some slightly better deals, however, I still believe this to be a great deal.
My Qs are:

Is it appropriate to haggle when I go to pay the rest?

If so, what kind of tips would you give me, **bearing the situation in mind?

**Please don't comment that the VW polo isn't a good car, unreliable etc. I've set my mind on a polo and am only looking at them, thanks**

Thanks in advance
plastic-man:cool:

Captain Slow IRL

If you've agreed on a price, probably not. The prices you're looking at - are they dealer sales, including warranty and the low mileage?

Try here for some haggling tips - http://www.howtohaggle.com/procedurelist.php

unkel

plastic-man wrote: »

Is it appropriate to haggle when I go to pay the rest?

No. You put down your deposit after you've agreed the deal with him for €4,900.

Edit: Captain Slow is Captain Fast this time

Captain Slow IRL

unkel wrote: »

Edit: Captain Slow is Captain Fast this time

lol:D

plastic-man

Yeah that is true, the whole excitement of buying my first car blurred my ability to haggle, when I went to look at it. The last thing I want to do is to come off rude or cheeky! Just I could do with the cash!! How about I ask for the car to be taxed for a few months? Is it unusual for a garage to tax a car for you?

EDIT: the car tax was up at the end of September

Captain Slow IRL

You can try, or ask for a full tank of fuel.
I'm not too familiar with polo prices, but for a 1 year warranty on a 2002 car, that isn't bad money.

bazz26

Considering you have already agreed a price with the dealer I'd say you have as much chance of getting road tax off them as renegotiating on the price. No harm in trying though the worst they will say is no and you buy it at the agreed price anyway.

BTW the garage are under no obligation to sell a used car with road tax. That is for the new owner to do, the same as insuring the car.

And just my 2c but I don't think you got such a great deal, the advertised price was way too much in the first place, in your original thread I posted a link to a 03 Comfortline Polo for similar money but its all irrelevant now, you have paid your deposit so to loose that would push the 03 out of reach I guess.

Best of luck with your purchase but my advice is next time take a step back before putting a deposit on a car, sleep on the deal rather than rushing into it. A car is the second most important purchase in your life so at least you can learn from this experience.

plastic-man

clearly you're entitled to your own opinion bazz, but I check carzone regularly and there isnt a deal near it, for a new model polo of that low mileage from a garage.I saw the other one you posted but I only have exactly 4900 to pay so.. I just thought I'd stand a chance of knocking the price down a bit due to the state of the economy and the 2009 budget.

Gary ITR

If you've put the deposit down then you have agreed the price.
I sold a car privately and the lad gave me a deposit, when he came to collect the car he gave me 50quid less than agreed. That pissed me off, I felt like he was trying to 'do' me. I wouldn't budge then and demanded the agreed price. And to be honest I was going to throw him back 50quid anyway for a luck penny but after that stunt I didn't bother

plastic-man

I wouldn't try this with a private sale! I think if I just say I'm unsure now and that I'm thinking twice about the deal... that he'll be quick to knock a bit off. After all.. if I were to walk away.. he'd have to re-list the car on all the websites and find another seller! Also I heard someone who was working there saying that they were full to capacity with cars and that they just want to sell off all the second hand vehicles asap! Its a pretty big garage too!!

bazz26

plastic-man wrote: »

clearly you're entitled to your own opinion bazz, but I check carzone regularly and there isnt a deal near it, for a new model polo of that low mileage from a garage.I saw the other one you posted but I only have exactly 4900 to pay so.. I just thought I'd stand a chance of knocking the price down a bit due to the state of the economy and the 2009 budget.

OP I'm not going to bother arguing with you over this, at the end of the day it's your money and it's up to you how you spend it. As pointed out in the other thread alot of posters here didn't think it was great deal and we were only offering our opinions which we thought was the point of the thread in the first place.

If your happy with the car and the deal your getting then best of luck to you with it.