Haggling - Second Hand Car

ufitsy · 09-11-2009, 8:43 PM

Nor sure if there is already a thread for this.

I'm after a second hand estate car in the region of 10k, my car is only worth around £500 so not that bothered about a part ex.

I dont buy cars very often so does anyone have any advice as to what to say (or not) during negotiations please?

FZR400RRSP · 10-11-2009, 9:28 AM

If your car is only worth £500, then why not take advantage of scrappage and get £2k for it?

Sandman · 10-11-2009, 11:00 AM

Getting a discount on the price is one thing but you should also be haggling for a full MOT, service, car mats and a tank of gas.
To get money of the asking price point out everything you can find on the car that is not perfect, scratches, stone chips, kerbed wheels etc. Also depending on the spec of the car you can always say things like "I was really looking for one with cruise control/sunroof/air con/leather". Then mention that there are very similar other cars for sale with better spec for sale elsewhere. Then you need to take a deep breath and go in with your 1st offer. Dont worry about offending the salesperson, they have heard it all before a thousand times. On a 10K car I would go in at £9400 if the car was what I wanted and probably end up paying £9700.
The thing is it is your job is to get the car as cheap as possible and the salespersons job is to sell it for as much as possible. If you look on parkers guide website it will tell you the trade in value and the resale value of the car you are looking at so will give you a decent idea of what the garage paid for it, but remember they need to make a decent proffit to make it worthwhile to them. Hope this helps.

un1eash · 10-11-2009, 12:19 PM

If they really wont budge on the price then extras are a great way of getting the most for your money, as mentioned before free servicing, road tax, car mats, fuel, extras all add up.

I only managed to get £350 knocked of the price of my Z4 from BMW but then i got them to throw in tax, wind deflector and fuel.

My sister got a similar deal on her skoda octavia estate 2.0Td elegance with fuel, tax and a dog guard thrown in, and i would recommend the skoda, its a very good car and has all the extras. They paid 10k for there 07 plate just over a year ago.