How far can one trust the prices given in car price guides such as Parkers Guide? My wife is looking for a small car to get her to and from work. We have just been to the local Ford Main Dealer and saw a couple of Escorts. When I checked what the price should be in Parkers guide (November 2001 edition) there was a huge difference. A 1997 P-registered 1.8 Ghia X with 37,000 miles on the clock was offered at £5,800. Parkers suggests a price for an A1 condition car of 3£870 (having corrected for the mileage) - a whopping £1930 difference. The other car we saw was a 1998 S Escort Ghia with 20,000 at £6,500. This one ain't in the guidebook (it stops at 1997 P) but I cannot believe the price. We have also seen a VW Polo at a VW dealer where the difference between the garage and Parkers prices is only £400
Is the Ford dealer vastly over-pricing these cars or are the guide books not to be trusted?. I am confused
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I've just seen the thread on the apparant North/South divide in car prices. Perhaps I should add to my previous post that I live in Gloucestershire so defineitely a southern car
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The price you see on the sticker is a fantasy by the Sales Manager. He's going to see how much he can stiff you for!
Parkers is a guide to how much you should offer, try it, or even try a lower price. What will they do to you? throw you out! I don't think so!
If you want to see the truth about prices, try to get your hands on the latest copy of Glass's Guide or the CAP black book! You will be shocked at the trade prices for these cars, I was! Allow the dealer to make a reasonable mark up (say £500) and you will probably get it.
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A friend of mine told me that VW have a continuous price reduction policy on used cars, whereby they have to reduce the price of the car x amount for every x weeks / months the car remains unsold.
My friend had his eye on a Vento and watched it continually fall in price until he made his move and bought the car.
Do not know whether or not this is true but, if it is, is certainly worth bearing in mind.
Andy
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Main dealer forecourt prices often bear little resemblance to what you will find in the rest of the motor trade. They seem to get away with charging a lot more for their cars, presumably selling to terminally risk-averse individuals who are quite happy to pay 30-40% more for the 'security' of buying from a franchised dealer rather than an independent trader. Escorts are now very old hat and I would be wary of paying more than about £3K for one, as it will lose value at the sort of rate that makes a Perodua Nippa look like a sound investment.
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£500 mark-up? You must be joking!
Once you've paid various commissions, warranties, VAT etc etc., it would be giving the car away.
The industry 'standard' is a 2K margin. Few retailers realise this, though.
David
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£500 margin,that dealers premises would soon turn into a Macdonalds and then there would be tears.
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Sorry, loose the VAT bit!!
David
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I used to see Glasses Guide on a regular basis and would often see Main Agents asking £1500 -£2000 above top book for their stock.
Try the Auto Express site for used valuations.
www.autoexpress.co.uk/
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Parker's gives a price to be expected from a dealer when trading in. Start thinking about £500 over the top fig when buying from a dealer. Haggle for all you are worth and be prepared to walk away. There a millions of used escorts out there.
Peter.
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All right then here is a daft question, why do we pay VAT on second hand motors?
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There is a special scheme for the motor trade where for retailers account for VAT on the difference between purchase price and selling price ie 'the value added'
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Robin,
See my thread 'State of the market' below. People are not buying cars in any kind of quantity at the moment, so take your time to find a really good one and then haggle hard. In the current climate, I would not go above a Parkers guide price, they take their prices from live places like Autotrader.
Do expect to pay more from a franchised dealer, but even they must be feeling the pinch and should be open to some negotiation!
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Yesterday a reader e-mailed to ask me if £3,000 was a good price for an 'N' reg Clio with 80,000 miles. At auction she'd get a new shape W reg with 80k for that price.
HJ
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HJ,
Can you recommend any good auctions to go to for cars? I think it'd be a great idea for the FAQ page - Like car dealers etc there must be good and bad ones and good places maybe for certain types of car. What do you reckon? Even just a few recommendations from yourself would probably be useful to many people.
Cheers,
Dan
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