Bargaining at independent car dealers

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Sun 19 Feb 2012 22:13
Bargaining at independent car dealers - Compo

Every time I have tried to buy a secondhand car (usually c.3-4 years old) my attempts to get a better deal have failed miserably. The advertized price is the price - no flexibility at all. This seems to be very different from buying new cars where there seems to be no fixed prices at all.

Has anybody got ideas or tactics to use in order to achieve a better deal from 2nd hand dealers?

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 00:38
Bargaining at independent car dealers - balleballe

independant car dealers dont normally have high margins

My father-in-law is in this type of business

Lets say he buys a car for 6k in an auction

He does £500 worth of work and gives it a new MOT

He would sell it for around 7k

that's £500 before taxes!

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 09:10
Bargaining at independent car dealers - Waino

The best ways to get a better deal are to feign indifference to the car that you are actually interested in and to do it at a time when the dealer needs to make the period sales figures look good - my mate claims that this is usually end of month.

I recall that a few years ago, my wife was attracted to a Fiesta but was being held back by financial constraints. She'd called to have a look at it on a couple of occasions and, by the time she was leaving for the second time, the salesman was on his knees asking how much further he had to drop the price for her to buy it.

I know the theory, but it calls for greater acting skills than I possess!

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 09:39
Bargaining at independent car dealers - tony g
Hi compo,
The discount you negotiate is not really the issue .If the dealer is willing to give a large discount it's possible that the car was overpriced to begin with .

You need to check that you are buying at the right price ,by checking the retail price of similar cars on autotrader and e bay .

Before I buy a car to sell on autotrader I check that I can retail it at a competitive price .

The thing to do ,is search for cars similar to the one you're interested in buying .Type in the mileage ,the year ,etc .The autotrader system will offer the cars in price order ,the lowest first .that way you can find the best deals .

If you have a part exchange ,the best retail or part exchange price is not the issue ,what you need to find is the best balance to change .How little of your cash do you have to give ,to buy the car you want .

Always ,always,do an HPI and VOSA check before you buy any car ,the forum is still seeing posts from people buying cars , who don't do the most basic checks and buy problem cars .

Regards

Tony g
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Mon 20 Feb 2012 09:46
Bargaining at independent car dealers - bonzo dog

Traditionally a used car dealer would have a gross margin of about £1500 (ie advertised price minus what he paid for it). Out of this comes VAT, reconditioning & a PX overallowance / discount.

Over the past few years however, the internet has become the prime advertising medium & in the used car world this has meant Autotrader. Autotrader searches by lowest price:- hence if a dealer wants his car to be seen by prospective customers he must ensure his advertised price is as little as he is prepared to take.

This means then that the gross margin is reduced & so the amount he can give as a PX overallowance or discount is reduced also.

Again traditionally, if a car is struggling to sell then the dealer would sell it for little or no money (or even a loss) then buy something else to sell in its place. What has happened over the past couple of years though, is a shortage of clean low mileage used cars.

So why would a dealer discount a car to a price where he makes little or no profit when he cannot replace this with another one? He may as well hold onto it.

Advice - if you see a car you like, offer him a price you are prepared to pay. If the dealer won't accept it then give him your phone number, say you are in no hurry but will continue to look around & if he is prepared to negotiate then to phone you.

Good luck

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 11:25
Bargaining at independent car dealers - daveyK_UK

When I use to visit relatives in Southport, England, there was an independant (Kew of Stretton was the name) who had a small pitch at the end of a row of main dealerships.

After years of driving past, I was on the look out for a run around as a 2nd car, and decdied to drop in for a look around.

I found him to be both helpful and keen to do a deal.

I negotiated £700 off the screen price, checked autotrader and couldnt get anything similar for the price; he even filled it up for me when I went to pick it up the following week.

When I later checked the book price, he had only made £300 over trade value, I presume he was desperate for the sale.

If I needed a motor and had any reason to visit the north west I would probably buy of him again. Its that kind of keen to do a deal & good customer service which wins repeat custom.

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 12:51
Bargaining at independent car dealers - tony g
(

When I later checked the book price, he had only made £300 ) Hi davey,you got yourself a good deal ,just a small point, There's not really an accurate book ,trade or retail price . So it's possible the dealer earned more than you think . It's always a matter of a dealers opinion .if you listen to dealers you will often hear them describing a car as behind book . What they mean is the car is worth less than glasses guide trade valuation .Glasses is an opinion not a guarantee . That's just one of the reasons why dealers offer different part exchange prices . Regards Tonyg

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 15:55
Bargaining at independent car dealers - Bobbin Threadbare

When I use to visit relatives in Southport, England, there was an independant (Kew of Stretton was the name) who had a small pitch at the end of a row of main dealerships.


I bought my current car from Kew Motors in Southport, but the chap was operating out of his house and had a lock -up for the cars (he said showrooms were too pricey to bother with). It was very fairly priced and I told him so. He had a bit of fixing to do on my p/x as well to make it saleable. Probably the same chap.

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Mon 20 Feb 2012 13:08
Bargaining at independent car dealers - The Gingerous One

I found that if the car is at a price that seems...

i) fair, and

ii) I'm prepared to pay

and I'm happy with the car (HPI check, prev owner(s), serv history) then I buy it.

4 years ago I was looking for 4 yr old cars (i.e. 2004-reg) with a budget of £4k. After upping my search on the internet to a £5k price level, a 3yr old Mazda 6 popped up at £4600.

Nipped down to the indy dealer to take a look, just the job, 2 owners (1st was main dealer), 66k miles and for the price he'd tax it for 6 months as well (fresh ticket was a given, as it should be). No deposit required, he'd hold it for me for 24hrs until I could confirm, HPI check OK, rung prev owner, AOK, all done, so I paid the money (after upping my budget by £600)

All in all, fair. Obviously if he'd put £5999 in the screen I wouldn't have bothered even looking.

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