Dealing with Car dealers- Advice badly needed!

Thumpette

We are planning to go to a couple of dealers at the weekend with a view to hopefully buy a car. In no major hurry to get one, so hopefully no panic buying- but at the same time we are ready to move if we spot a good one.

We are kind of clueless though when it comes to dealing with garages. We have pretty much decided to go for either a Ford focus or a Volkswagen Golf or Polo (with preference for the Focus) Does anyone know if any good dealerships (or have warnings of bad ones) preferably in the North County Dublin area. Maybe by PM if its not Ok to post that kind of information in here….

Also, does anyone have any tips on how to deal with these guys? I know they are fond of the hard sell- but we don’t want to be taken for eejits (which in terms of cars we kind of are!) We are looking to spend €6k max, preferably lower…. Should we be putting cards on the table and telling them that- or is it better to hold back on that kind of info?

Also in today’s market, where I believe getting rid of cars is next to impossible, what would be a reasonable difference between the asking price and the offer price? If a car is on for 8k for example, what could we expect to get it for? Would it go down to 6?

Also, would you tend to trust a garage that cars are in good nick, not been crashed or welded together, or is it a good idea to try to get someone with some car know how to come out and have a look before buying?

Sorry if this all sounds very basic- just all a bit of a new experience!!

Thanks

Henry Ford III

Check out Mike Brewer's advice....http://www.wheelerdealer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3&Itemid=7

Thumpette

Thanks for that- it has some very useful information in it. It is more aimed at dealing with private sellers than with dealers. Would anyone have more specific information in dealing with dealers- and particularly in the current market?

Cheers
:pac:

Drummerboy08

One thing to remember is the sticker price is ALWAYS negotiable. Never settle for the price in the window, ask for some discount i.e. if the sticker price is 10k, offer €7500 and see where you go from there.

ALWAYS drive the car. You'd be amazed at the amount of people who would buy a car without actually driving it! Check to see if the car is driving in a straight line, brakes are ok etc.

If its a second hand car, see if you can wangle a little extra warranty from the dealer, or maybe AA cover for two years etc.

Make sure the car has been serviced where nessessary, check to see when the NCT will be due, when other major parts might be due i.e. Timing belf etc. Ceck the tyres too - you dont want to buy a car, only to have to fork out a few hundred quid on tyres!

If your really unsure, bring along a mate who is a mechanic, or is knowledgeable about cars. Any good dealer will not refuse to let you have some look at the car.

I'll PM you the details of some of the guys i deal with, i find them all very good.

Rob

S.I.R

Thumpette wrote: »

We are planning to go to a couple of dealers at the weekend with a view to hopefully buy a car. In no major hurry to get one, so hopefully no panic buying- but at the same time we are ready to move if we spot a good one.

We are kind of clueless though when it comes to dealing with garages. We have pretty much decided to go for either a Ford focus or a Volkswagen Golf or Polo (with preference for the Focus) Does anyone know if any good dealerships (or have warnings of bad ones) preferably in the North County Dublin area. Maybe by PM if its not Ok to post that kind of information in here….

Also, does anyone have any tips on how to deal with these guys? I know they are fond of the hard sell- but we don’t want to be taken for eejits (which in terms of cars we kind of are!) We are looking to spend €6k max, preferably lower…. Should we be putting cards on the table and telling them that- or is it better to hold back on that kind of info?

Also in today’s market, where I believe getting rid of cars is next to impossible, what would be a reasonable difference between the asking price and the offer price? If a car is on for 8k for example, what could we expect to get it for? Would it go down to 6?

Also, would you tend to trust a garage that cars are in good nick, not been crashed or welded together, or is it a good idea to try to get someone with some car know how to come out and have a look before buying?

Sorry if this all sounds very basic- just all a bit of a new experience!!

Thanks

bring someone whos great with words, even if they know nothing about cars get em along to burn the price down, also always get a warrenty... the two most important things (Y)

Seperate

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

One thing to remember is the sticker price is ALWAYS negotiable. Never settle for the price in the window, ask for some discount i.e. if the sticker price is 10k, offer €7500 and see where you go from there.

Come on, do you really think they make a €2500 profit on a 10K car? If you offered a dealer 2500 less then asking price, even in todays 'climate' - he will either laugh or tell you to look for something more in your price range.

Thats not to say you can't get 250-500 or a little more if you're lucky - but 25% off on a 10k car is just silly.

Drummerboy08

Seperate wrote: »

Come on, do you really think they make a €2500 profit on a 10K car? If you offered a dealer 2500 less then asking price, even in todays 'climate' - he will either laugh or tell you to look for something more in your price range.

Thats not to say you can't get 250-500 or a little more if you're lucky - but 25% off on a 10k car is just silly.

Sorry that was an example - I had €2500 in my head cos i just gave a discount of that amount on a 25k new car.....

chops1990

car dealers will only usually offer big discounts on 2nd hand cars. correct me if I'm wrong....

Seth Brundle

If you are as clueless as you suggest then I would encourage you to go with a mechanic who can structurally assess the car (bearing in mind things like clocking, etc.).
Discounts are always available but moreso approaching Christmas.
I'm assuming that you are not doing a trade-in. If so then prepare to be turned down on whatever you have.
Lastly, if you have any doubts about it then walk away - its a buyers market so don't buy anything that you ren't 100% satisfied with.

Darragh29

And make sure it has an NCT that isn't due within a year.

Brabus

Thumpette wrote: »

We are planning to go to a couple of dealers at the weekend with a view to hopefully buy a car. In no major hurry to get one, so hopefully no panic buying- but at the same time we are ready to move if we spot a good one.

We are kind of clueless though when it comes to dealing with garages. We have pretty much decided to go for either a Ford focus or a Volkswagen Golf or Polo (with preference for the Focus) Does anyone know if any good dealerships (or have warnings of bad ones) preferably in the North County Dublin area. Maybe by PM if its not Ok to post that kind of information in here….

Also, does anyone have any tips on how to deal with these guys? I know they are fond of the hard sell- but we don’t want to be taken for eejits (which in terms of cars we kind of are!) We are looking to spend €6k max, preferably lower…. Should we be putting cards on the table and telling them that- or is it better to hold back on that kind of info?

Also in today’s market, where I believe getting rid of cars is next to impossible, what would be a reasonable difference between the asking price and the offer price? If a car is on for 8k for example, what could we expect to get it for? Would it go down to 6?

Also, would you tend to trust a garage that cars are in good nick, not been crashed or welded together, or is it a good idea to try to get someone with some car know how to come out and have a look before buying?

Sorry if this all sounds very basic- just all a bit of a new experience!!

Thanks

I would echo all the above advice given so far.

Also and this would be very important for someone not used to dealing when buying a car, take your time in choosing what you want.
If you have any reason to be suspicious of a particular car, just walk away from it. Remember you're under no obligation to anyone to buy it.

To a lot of people buying a car is a daunting thing to do, but don't panic. Just follow the good advice of the contributers here on boards and you won't go far wrong.We're all here to help in any way we can.

Happy Car Hunting & Good Luck!:)

245

Seperate wrote: »

Come on, do you really think they make a €2500 profit on a 10K car? If you offered a dealer 2500 less then asking price, even in todays 'climate' - he will either laugh or tell you to look for something more in your price range.

Thats not to say you can't get 250-500 or a little more if you're lucky - but 25% off on a 10k car is just silly.

250-500 off sticker price is far too small a discount in the current market. Most dealer secondhands are vastly overpriced at the moment as values have dropped considerably but dealer prices haven't followed. In any case, sensible dealers are going to be shifting stock at a loss. The main thing to remember is that you can increase your offer but you can never decrease it so start off nice and low. Don't be afraid to walk away either - there are lots of dealers with lots of excess stock and not a lot of working capital. You can't insult a car dealer (at least not in my experience).

You'd be better off finding someone who (genuinely) knows their stuff about cars and buying privately. You'll get a lot more for your money and the savings can be your warranty.

If you must buy from a dealer make sure that they're SIMI registered. Its not a great recommendation but many non-SIMI dealers are very shady and there's good reason as to why they're not SIMI registered. That's not to say that they're all crooks but its a risk. There has been a lot of negative posts about the non-SIMI dealers clustered around the Naas Road for example. At least you know that the SIMI will be around for any resultant bad publicity if you do get stung.

Also, remember that there are warranties and warranties so read the small print carefully and see whats not covered. I don't think that you'll get much of a warranty on a 6k car which is another good reason to buy privately and cut out the middleman.

00D911

From what ive heard from several dealers is that " cheap cars " i.e under the 10K mark are basically all that is really selling so think €500/€600 which is a 10% discount on a €6k seems fair to me......

-Chris-

Two steps to a good deal, as I see it:

1) Go to several dealers (3 or 4) the next day you're free. Look at one or two cars per dealer (preferably one).

2) Post the details of your experience here (don't mention dealer names, especially if reporting bad experiences).

Try and get links to the cars you're looking at. We'll guide you as to what's got the right or wrong price, what the known problems are with a given car etc.

This process will also slow the process down, and you'll feel less stress, as you'll know that you're researching and won't be buying a car that day.




Once you've narrowed it down to two cars, go back to those dealers armed with the information & advice you've gotten here. Go in with the intention of buying a car - you'll only get the undivided attention of a salesperson if you're at or near your tipping point.

My number one rule of buying stuff - only buy from people you like or trust, there are plenty of sellers and plenty of cars. If it doesn't feel right, walk away!

245

AudiChris wrote: »

Two steps to a good deal, as I see it:

1) Go to several dealers (3 or 4) the next day you're free. Look at one or two cars per dealer (preferably one).

2) Post the details of your experience here (don't mention dealer names, especially if reporting bad experiences).

Try and get links to the cars you're looking at. We'll guide you as to what's got the right or wrong price, what the known problems are with a given car etc.

This process will also slow the process down, and you'll feel less stress, as you'll know that you're researching and won't be buying a car that day.




Once you've narrowed it down to two cars, go back to those dealers armed with the information & advice you've gotten here. Go in with the intention of buying a car - you'll only get the undivided attention of a salesperson if you're at or near your tipping point.

My number one rule of buying stuff - only buy from people you like or trust, there are plenty of sellers and plenty of cars. If it doesn't feel right, walk away!

+1 - the two most important points being to take your time and his last point, assuming that you're a good judge of character of course!.

Thumpette

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Much appreciated

p0u1

check the inside of the car for wear that dose not match up to the mileage clock

check the oil cap and dip stick, if you see milky oil suspect problems.

HPI check the car, make sure it has no outstanding finance, and theres no horrible history.

service history, check it aganst the milege and make sure all outstanding work has been done.

cam belt, normally needs changing at 60000miles, if it not changed or theres no evidence that its been changed knock off 150pound.

take the car for a drive.

test the brakes by finding a safe road and stooping, also check there blead wright by braking with no hands on the stiring wheel and if the car turns theres a brake problem.

check the disc for cracks or unnormalle wear.

let the car warm up (i dindt and had problems), see if the raditor fan starts, if it dose, the cooling system is likely to be working.

make sure the cars not steaming out the exhaust ( on a cold day expect a bit of steam)

check tires.

when driving wiggel the car on the road from left to right and listing for knocking or creaking, if so look at spending money.

try get the car with MOT and TAX

there more to look for but theres some.

good luck
i paid £950 for my mk3 golf with 77k on the clock you should get something nice.

NinjaTruncs

I'm looking into buying a car and have the one i want picked out, list price was just shy of 17K, I'd gotten them down to 15,750, but i don't want to pay more than 15K. anyway i was checking the car on carzone today and noticed they have knocked a whole 70euro off the list price. do they really think the car will shift just because they have knocked 70 quid off?

OP like other people have said wait as long as you can, as the prices will only go one way.