New car - don't know what to do.

howareyoudoin'

Wrote off my 00 Nissan Almera 1.4 ltr before Christmas. It had 135,000 miles & was running fine with services every 6-8,000 miles. (The accident was my fault, not the car's)

Have to replace it & don't know what to do. Know a guy who is selling his 2005,1.9ltr diesel Audi A6 (38,000 miles) with all the trimmings (AC, leather seats, etc, etc). He's trading it to a dealer who is giving him €15,500 for it. I also know the dealer...his first word on the selling price is €20,000.

I don't want to get into the middle & go straight to the seller because the dealer is a relation of my mothers....makes things awkward at every level. Equally, I know that I could probably bargain the dealer down quite a bit, but obviously not down to €15,500.

So, I don't know what to do. Adding to the confusion is that I probably would never have gone for that type of car in the first place. It's just that I love the fact that I know the car's history & it does seem like a good deal. If I'd been changing the car myself though, I probably would have only spent €15,000 max & opted for a 2 year old VW or Japanese with as low mileage as I could get.

My own mileaage is about 20,000 /year.

Any advice?

onemorechance

Offer yer man 16. I would feel sorry for the car dealer!

Blazer

Fcuk the dealer and go straight to buyer.
He's already attempting to screw you to the tune of €4,500 extra.
Do yourself a favour and buy it.

peasant

Just another thing to consider:

You said you "wrote off" your old car. If that means you got money from the insurance for it, then your next insurance quote will be a killer. Have you checked if you could even afford the bigger Audi - insurance wise?

howareyoudoin'

....I can't just tell the dealer to screw himself...the whole 'being related' thing makes it really awkward & I'm just not the type of person who's any good at that sort of thing anyhow (yes...I am a wuss).

I had NCB protection on my insurance, so I'm hoping that the insurance quote won't be through the roof.

A more general question:

(1) What would ye say is an appropriate price for the A6 that I describe (I want to know how good a deal it is)?
(2) From a practical point of vies, does that type of car make sense for someone driving 20,000 miles a year?
(3) What are A6's like from a running cost & maintenance point of view? What I loved about my old car was how low maintenance it was & it NEVER let me down for as much as a second.

Thanks again.

leon8v

In fairness, if the dealer is related to you, I would have thought he would have given you the car for say €16000, allowing himself a few quid on it.
I think I would just go to the guy trading it in and buy it for €15500. He may be able to negotiate a better deal on the new car as he wont have a trade in and the dealer cant really complain as its one less car on his forecout and he only lost out on potential profit, not actual profit, big difference, in the current climate he should be happy.

biko

I don't see the point in paying extra just because dealer is a relation to your mothers. If the Audi hasn't changed hands already make the seller an offer. Dealers are not your friends, as you can tell by the 4500 markup by this relation.

Tigger

ask the dealer if you can buy direct of the other guy

if he is related he should let ya

see what he says

remberv he'll have to pay vat if he sells it on so offer him 500 cash to let you buy direct

if he dosent then give the 16000 to the guy with the audi

onemorechance

For 15 - 16 the price is good. It will be more expensive to maintain than an almera, tyres etc will be 2 - 3 times the price. For someone driving 20,000 miles per year, then yes an A6 would be a nice car to do it in! Fuel economy may be similar, if your almera was a petrol.

anthony4335

Buy it straight from the guy, for the dealers trade in price, is this the new model, lovely car I would love to trade my 02 IS200 for one of these.

Henry Ford III

Hang on a sec.

Assuming the seller of the A6 is buying something new - maybe €40k list. If he was trading in it'd cost him €24.5k to change.

If OP bought his A6 for €15.5k privately he'd then be able get a staight cash discount off his new car. Maybe €4k?

If that happens his cost to change goes down to €20500!

p.s. 1.9tdi!

zod

buy a 08 318D in the UK for €20K (including VRT) all in and suffer zero depreciation for a while

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+3+SERIES/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-51-62-141-240-4294967201-4294967202/advert.action?R=200851325635446&distance=71&postcode=HA9+7PT&channel=CARS&make=BMW&model=3+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=&max_mileage=&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2008&vehicleRegLetter=57

Henry Ford III

zod wrote: »

buy a 08 318D in the UK for €20K (including VRT) all in and suffer zero depreciation for a while

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/BMW+3+SERIES/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-51-62-141-240-4294967201-4294967202/advert.action?R=200851325635446&distance=71&postcode=HA9+7PT&channel=CARS&make=BMW&model=3+SERIES&min_pr=&max_pr=&max_mileage=&vehicleYearOfManufacture=2008&vehicleRegLetter=57

That's an 05 though.

Tigger

seems good value (edit oh it sez its an 08)

challengemaster

biko wrote: »

I don't see the point in paying extra just because dealer is a relation to your mothers. If the Audi hasn't changed hands already make the seller an offer. Dealers are not your friends, as you can tell by the 4500 markup by this relation.

I'd agree here. Screw the dealer and bypass him. €4,500 isn't something to shake a leg at these days. Especially if it's for absolutly nothing.

Graham_B18C

Henry Ford III wrote: »

That's an 05 though.

It says its a 08?

To the op, I think you'd be absoultely crazy not to but the car off the seller, and to be honest would the dealer rather get another car that he has to offload or would he rather straight cash?

If you know him, then just say it to him.

I wouldn't offer him anything but thats me!

roosterman71

I presume i can't advertise on this forum, but I know where there's a 07 leon for 14k. She's trading it in against a new one. Dealer is looking for 7k along with it for a 09 model.

alias no.9

Go straight to the seller and talk to them about it. Get them to contact the dealer and find out what kind of deal he would do on the new car as a straight deal. If he can strike a better deal, and you offer him €16k or whatever, he'll be winning on two fronts. The worst that can happen is that the guy with the A6 isn't interested in dealing with you or the dealer makes sure he gets the A6 because he's already got a buyer lined up. Either way, you loose nothing.

TomMc

Far be it from me to stand up for dealers but the 15.5 offered is probably against a reduced list (discounted) price for the new car. The cost to change figure is all that matters to the new car buyer so this can disguise the figures to a 3rd (independent) party.

Buy yes, no harm for OP to see what his friends/relations new car would cost if he paid fully in cash to the dealer and did a seperate deal with OP.

And also take it from me, family members are the worst to deal with in business, most of the time.

zod

Henry Ford III wrote: »

That's an 05 though.

tell me what makes you think that ?

mickdw

Get the owner of the A6 to go to dealer and ask for straight sale price. It will certainly be about 3K less that retail. Then offer him the 15.5k that the dealer was offering.

Result:
A6 owner saves 3k
You save about 3k
Dealer gets a straight deal and no other car on forecourt which he cannot sell (he shouldnt know you want the car)

Then stick 2k in the bank to cover any mechanical issues that buying at the dealer might have saved you through their 6 month warranty and have a holiday with the other 1k.

You seem to feel that the dealer will be upset. Its the opposite. They typically wont even take in cars against new stuff as this leads to a used car on the forecourt while not even getting rid of one off the forecourt as the new car is ordered from factory.
Fair enough, if dealer took in this a6 and you go and buy it the next day, he would be doing well on the deal but he could equally be left with the car for a year and make nothing. In these times, straight deal is music to their ears.

SpannerMonkey

go to england and buy a new shape BMW 320d very cheap at the moment great selection adn fantastic fuel economy , or look at audi a6 in uk much better value ,
P.S. i owned an Audi A6 and i wouldnt reccommend buying one, very comfortable and nice looking but horrendous to drive and fuel economy bad dont believe the official specs