How to haggle. Can you haggle with a dealer?

dellas1979

Hi all,
Been trying to buy a new car for the last few months. Ive decided to save up for half the car (by Jan2010) and get a loan for the other half. So, I should have around €12000 cash. Ive never bought off a dealer before. The car I want to buy is around €14000.
Would offering 12k be enough?
Thanks

mickdw

If its 14k now and you are not buying until January, well 12k would be too much to offer.
Im assuming its a used car.

Bearcat

go in to the dealer with ten k cash, put it on the table and slowly watch a grown adult turn to a babbling mess......they rode us in the good times. it's your turn to play daddy!!

Reesy

Hi,

I got this set of CDs out from the library in Tallaght http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Business/Negotiating/The-Secrets-of-Power-Negotiating/18628 and learned loads. He even has a special section on buying a car. Well worth spending 7 hours listening to. I guess you can ask for it via inter-library loan. Buying it would be an economic prospect I'd say!

As for my negotiating tips - they're nowhere near as good as R. Dawson's but:
- Do your research on cars & their prices. make a plan. Work as a team or alone.
- Don't fall in love with it.
- Test drive half a dozen.
- Ask for the best price for cash & pause. Wait. Say nothing. Don't commit.
- Negotiate with morethan one at the same time.
- Know when to say yes, when you get the right price, shake on it & do the deal.
- Be patient.
- Buy privately, you may get a better deal.
- Get the cars checked out before you make your offers.
- Don't be under time pressure.
- Practice, practice, practice. Go into a dealer just for fun & see how much you can get off the list price, then leave. Learn from the experience & do it again.
- Don't give in, know your budget.
- Carry the cash & show it to him/her, maybe, when you are ready to buy, to get a few quid more off.
- Make sure you agree what's included: 12 months tax, warranty, any extras or fixes you want done.
- Make sure you're talking to somebody who can do a deal.
- My opinion: be nice, but very firm. It takes time to develop the technique, so practice, practice.

Now get those CDs!

Good luck.

Berty

Reesy wrote: »

- Practice, practice, practice. Go into a dealer just for fun & see how much you can get off the list price, then leave. Learn from the experience & do it again.

This is the only one I would have a problem with.

The salesman is trying to do a job and, although, being used to time wasters I do not think suggesting somebody intentionally wastes somebodies time is a good technique or good advice.

maidhc

Haggling is very easy once you don't really want or need to buy what is being sold.

If you set your heart on a particular car, then you will find it hard to drive a good bargain.

dellas1979

Thanks for the replies and the tips.

Ok, the deal is that I am looking for a specific colour. It will be a 2010 car (sorry if that wasnt clear). So:

A) If I am looking for a specific spec on the car (I want it in a certain colour) and I need to order it, would I have to do it now?

Can you haggle on new cars then in this case?

Honestly am very new to all this. Never had anything new in my life (ok except for clothes/shoes).

mickdw

Ok so new car, well you are buying straight so there is a discount there straight away. Even in the good times there would be maybe 5% knocked off retail price for a straight sale. The amount of discount would depend on what car you are buying. You can expect a much better discount if you are willing to take one from stock. If its a common car, they will possibly have your preferred colour.
In the current climate, anything is possible. The retail price may even be reduced to try to encourage sales. Manufacturers are knocking down prices all the time it seems.

KerranJast

Hey guys. Can I ask a related question or should I start my own thread?

mickdw

ask i guess?

KerranJast

My bad. That long post above answers my question.

-Chris-

Bearcat wrote: »

go in to the dealer with ten k cash, put it on the table and slowly watch a grown adult turn to a babbling mess......

It's a nice thought, but that won't actually end up being as much fun as it sounds...

dellas1979 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies and the tips.

Ok, the deal is that I am looking for a specific colour. It will be a 2010 car (sorry if that wasnt clear). So:

A) If I am looking for a specific spec on the car (I want it in a certain colour) and I need to order it, would I have to do it now?

Can you haggle on new cars then in this case?

Honestly am very new to all this. Never had anything new in my life (ok except for clothes/shoes).

Can you give us more info on the car? VAG/BMW/Merc will take 12 weeks from order to delivery, Toyota can probably be delivered within the week.
In terms of pricing, again it depends on who you're dealing with - you'll get much more off any Renault than you will on a Fiat 500.

knifey_spoonie

Bearcat wrote: »

go in to the dealer with ten k cash, put it on the table and slowly watch a grown adult turn to a babbling mess......they rode us in the good times. it's your turn to play daddy!!

I don't even know where to start with this comment.

Your a big man aint ya, trust me if you go into any dealer with that attitude you will get know where.You must thing that all sale people are some sort of alien species from the land of bad b*stards.

I dont suppose you have looked into how much the motor trade has contributed to the country all you see is what happened to you when you let some fly by night dealer get on your back and screwed you.

Maybe if you consider the fact that in the last year there has been the over 3000 job looses in the sector.

Also in 2007 the tax revenues generated by the motor trade, actually paid for the health service.

Also why not look at the profit margins that garages work off.The most i have ever seen is 4% of retail.I know its crazy a whole 4%.So if your idea of riding somebody if making 4% then your right.Also i don't think i have ever seen someone get full retail for a car.So in reality its back to about to about 2.5%, i know huge profits there.

The fact is in the good times people got the best deals ever, the price of used cars were over inflated for demand.People were changing year old cars for €3,500.

The fact is if you go to a well establish dealer you wont be rode.They are in the business to long, to try and make a fast buck and then feck off after making €5000 on one deal.


OP
Its a bit early to go to your dealer now for 2010, I would say leave it to about October .

colm_mcm

I don't know of many dealers that will factory order a car so they can make no money.

Anan1

Let's keep this on-topic, people, the OP just wants to learn how to get the best deal.

daRobot

What car are you looking at OP?

smash

If it's anything special then you should be able to dig up it's history on forums etc. This is very handy for haggling!

daRobot

I think it's a brand new car that he's after, Steve, so not much columbo work to be done!

stealthyspeeder

Be nice to the dealer, the more time he invests in you, the less willing he will be to let you leave without making the sale, dont be arrogant with the cash but if you have it, showing will show the dealer thatt you are serious about buying there and then.

I bought my grans car for her, and got £3,750 knoked off the original asking price of a new 207 and some extras added, I had two dealers and I informed them both that the sale was going to be made that day, either by them or the other dealer. I got on with them both, didnt lie, and actually used their phones to ring the compeditor and the price kept falling.


Im not too sure about how it works in the republic (maybe some of the car sales guys could enlighten me?) but in the north, car salesmen have performance quotas on which their bonuses are judged on, monthly or quarterly. Buying near the end of the month, or the quarter can make the salesman/managers willing to let prices slide a bit further into their profit margins than at other times.

The negotiations are all about leverage, if there is competition and you can exploit it, do! When I bought my car, I did it over e-mail negotiations with a dealer near Gatwick in England. I had very little leverage as dealers are quite reluctant to offer discounts to a faceless e-mailer, It was a particular specification of car (the Gatwick dealer had the lowest listed price), so I had very little leverage with which to negotiate a deal.

Top tips

Shop around (know what your alternatives are!)
Be honest (tell the dealer you want the best deal and you'll buy from the cheapest!)
Be pleasant (make the dealer want to bust his balls for you, he doesnt have to and he wont for an A-hole!)
Have the cash with you and let the dealer know this (dont be arrogant about it though!)