Maybe a silly question but how much discount can you normally haggle off a dealer

Cyrus

Im going to go looking at a few 1.8t MK IV golfs soon, probably 99/00 maybe 01, what kinda of hope do i have of haggling say up to 10% off a dealer considering ill be buying outright and not trading in?

am i being naiive or is it possible

on another note, what is the procedure for passing ownership on my car, just fill out the tax form, have the other party fill it and send off?

Victor

I suspect 10% would be on the high side. You are **never** going to get a salesman to discount anything more than a third to a half of the margin on an item.

You need to talk concisely and briefly, no bull, "just give me the car for X, I have the cash in my wallet". Any waffling or humming and hawing and you've lost.

But do this after the test drive / mechanic inspection.

cormie

say "pop the bonnet there son" to the dealer and you'll get a good few quid off if you can keep up that attitude;)

Bluehair

Of course it depends on what they are asking in the first place but I've found that 10% usually isn't unattainable at all, you just need to make it clear you're actually buying the car if they accept that price and not just pissing around for the sake of it. Obviously you need to make sure you really do want to buy the car before doing that!

I also like to push for an increase in the warranty just before closing the deal especially if it's only 3 months on an older second hand car. Just sit there with cash in hand and say you're uncomfortable with the duration of the warranty, it'll cost them nothing if there's nothing wrong with the car and if they up it to 6 months then they've got a deal (hold out your hand to shake on it at this point).

Try to make it a bit fun and light-hearted too car salesmen are only human too (despite reputation ) and are much more likely to conclude a deal in a good mood than if you piss them off.

Thumper Long

if you ar buying a 99/00 gti golf you mightn't get much of a shift in price they seem to be in high demand at the moment, it took me ages to find mine before i bought it in may, everytime i rang an advert the bloody thing was gone, but good luck anyway, great car to drive, not as fast as the new gti but this is ireland and the roads here are small enough.

Eoin

Bluehair wrote:

I also like to push for an increase in the warranty just before closing the deal especially if it's only 3 months on an older second hand car. Just sit there with cash in hand and say you're uncomfortable with the duration of the warranty, it'll cost them nothing if there's nothing wrong with the car and if they up it to 6 months then they've got a deal (hold out your hand to shake on it at this point).

Good point - I would feel better with a longer warranty, even if it meant a slightly higher price.

whizzbang

I bought a Golf this time last year and the guy gave me a 9 month Warrenty as he wasn't able to take much off the price. When we went to sign he wrote in 10 months, I pointed this out to him and he was happy to leave it.

I almost wanted the car to break down

J

stevenmu

Compare it with what similar ones are going for in the buy and sell, and aim for somewhere in the middle. That leaves them with a margin (they'd always buy cheaper than buy&sell prices), and you with a good deal as you're getting a warranty. As Thumper_long said though, when they're in demand it's harder to get money off, the longer one has been sitting there the more they're likely to discount it.