ross d

hi folks.just wondering how reallistic do you think it is to get £2000 knocked of a price of a car at a dealers priced at £18000,the car i have in mind is a lotus exige.thanks

john banks

Depends how competitive the price is already, what financial state the dealer is in, whether you have a trade in, whether you are cash or finance.

If you have an alternative car possible it will ground you and the dealers into getting you the best deal and strengthen your negotiating position. Do not become emotionally attached to the car, bid politely but hard. Do not give up anything in your price unless you get something in return. Do not feel that you have to meet in the middle. Be a hard ba$t**d but with a smile

Try to get more than £2k off if you can, certainly don't start with that price. Be clear you want to do a deal, but be willing to walk away and leave them to phone you to progress the deal if you think no one else will buy at that price.

Throw book prices out the window, they don't seem to be keeping up with what is happening on the ground - ie you should be much cheaper than book.

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

there has to be a reason for wanting money off a dealer car.

scratches, no mats etc usall crap, or a cheaper car elsewhere. if you go in with the attitude of wanting to screw dealers cos there *******s you wont get the deal you want, and you'll loose the car. remember they have the car, they have what you want.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

In my experience you'll get nothing out of them hence why I buy privately. They'll not reduce prices as they have to make a (mega) buck from every sale.

TX.

sti-04!!

How much margin do you reckon dealers have on used cars ?

They have to PDI the car, make sure its roadworthy, valet it & then pay VAT on the profit. Also staff wages, heating & lighting blah blah blah, its a business like every other one, they have to make profit.
Max £500 is what you might get from it if you ask nicely.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

If £16k is all you are willing to pay then make the offer. You have nothing to lose. There are plenty of cars out there, 61 on Autotrader alone. The cheapest is £16800ish. Bear in mind thar every month the dealer is losing on the car. Make your offer and walk away if its declined. Best of luck

war1974

imo delaers still think its the good ole days and want to charge the earth but go for it!

good luck

R 14NS R

as said earlier, go in, all you can do is ask.

make it clear that if the price is right you are looking to place the order and leave a deposit NOW.

as i always say it needs to be financially feasable for both parties, if they can do the deal they will, if not, they do not have the money in the car, there is not £1000s in every car, some of ours are advertised for less than they owe as they have been in stock for a while or the buyer paid to much for them (that does happen occasionally) just to make sure the price is competative so hey go.

however keep an eye on it and if it s still there in a month/6 weeks time they may have some 'write down' on it and therefore a bit more movement.

ross d

thanks folks,the car im looking at has been at the dealers for around 3to4 months now.my nephew might be buying my impreza at the end of jan,so if the exige is still there it might be worth a punt.

Dracoro

Are you a dealer?

There has to be no reason for wanting money off a car. The buyer can offer whatever they want, the dealer can either agree and sell or decline.

Remember the customer has the money, they have what the dealer wants.

OP, offer what you are prepared to pay. If the dealer declines, find another. Exiges are "toys" for most owners that owners can dictate and wait and in the current economic climate, toys and luxuries are the first to go so you may get a good deal.

Personally, offer £14k, you may end up at £15k, worse case at £16k which you're happy with or find another.

Dave Thornton

The customer may WANT the car, but right now, the dealer NEEDS the money. That's why it's a buyer's market, and will be for quite some time.

Hoppy

I think John Banks has given some good advice.

Having looked closely at few cars around this price for the last six weeks, I have had several offers of £1k off the screen prices without doing anything more than ask polite questions. So every car has some discount to be had, I believe maybe £2-3k might be there in some circumstances but I'm a cash buyer and would be prepared to walk away when making that kind of offer. Another good negotiating tack is to ask for value-added extras, like new rubber, brakes, servicing, warranty. These are worth a lot to you, and often cost the dealer very little.

Some cars I've been watching have had their advertised prices dropped by £1k to £3k during the same period, but having said that I don't think they were very keenly priced in the first place.

Things are still moving downwards at the moment and a lot of stock is still priced too high. Especially private sales. I expect the end of Jan/Feb to be the time when we really see what the new market level is, and it may then stabilise a bit, or continue to drop further. I can't see prices rising any time soon. Being cruel, post-Xmas is always a very sobering time (pun intended) when reality hits. Vultures will do well.

However, I've noticed several cars that have caught my eye as being good buys recently, all a bit newer than most, lower mileage, and generally reading well, at a keen price. Three of these have been sold in a few days, presumably very close to marked prices.

I'll be interested to see how long this RS4 hangs around for. It's £5k less than similar cars a few weeks ago

Sales - fontain.co.uk :: the audi specialist ::

Richard.

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

lol your suggesting he offer a dealer 14k for an 18 k car. If your more bothered about pub bravado redarding discounts then you'll problery loose the car you want.

nik52wrx

It all boils down to what the car owes the dealer.
That figure plus a bit of profit and its yours. Problem is, you don't know what that figure is .

Make a low offer and go up from there and you will meet at a point where you are both happy, hopefully! After all, the car you are looking at is a toy so buyers are very thin on the ground as compared to a Fiesta buyer for example.

A friend of ours has just bought a new hybrid lexus jeep and managed a main dealer discount of 6K which is one hell of a saving, its very much a buyers market at the moment.

Nik.

nik52wrx

Why not?
I'm not suggesting for a minute he would get it for that but its a starting point for a deal.
Nobody with any sense is going to wade in and pay screen price unless of course the car in question is already discounted. Most main dealers are discounting heavilly so independants will need to follow.
Nik.

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

were not talking about jeeps, rang rovers, etc. the lotus is a unique car. how much is one new? just having a quick scout on lotus, i cant fnd any exiges for less than 20k.

Jamescsti

Auto Trader UK - LOTUS EXIGE 1800 cc Touring 2dr

Took me all of 30 seconds to find a number under 18k, there were some slightly cheaper but that one caught my eye, and it's at a dealership too.

Do you work at a car dealer Ryan?

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

that atually looks like a decent buy, i was looking at full franchises, i did not auto trader it. reason that is a decent buy, is because its from a renult dealer, meaning they have part ex -ed it and couldnt shift it, so a deal is to be had.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

If you offered me £14k for a car priced at £18k I'd throw you out of the showroom! Hopefully you'd land on your **** ...

TX.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

I'm watching RS4s at the moment too They seem to get snapped up when they drop under £30k at the mo.

TX.

Edit - just under £27k albeit with nasty wheels & white interior

D.J. Sargent of Copthorne : AUDI RS4 Quattro

Dracoro

Some people really don't understand haggling or business.

People saying it's an £18k car, says who? I say it's a £16k car if that. Remember, BUYERS dictate the price, NOT the seller. You NEED a buyer prepared to pay £18k and guess what, they don't exist. There will be some with £14-£16k in their pockets.

Offering 20% below asking price is no problem, it's a starting point and a good dealer who wants to sell will start bartering, they may not go below, say, £17k but they may haggle someone up to that. Chucking them out means they have no chance.

A few years ago I got a "£22k" car for £17k. Any *dealer* throwing people out for making offers, low or otherwise aren't going to get much business. And guess what, half of them ARE going out of business as they didn't see the problems lying ahead.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Hopefully you'd land on your **** then roll over & crack your head too

TX.

Hoppy

I think the screen price/advertised price is almost irrelevant right now. Check out Auto Trader etc and see what can be had. There is no need to pay anything more than the lowest price there, and usually a bit less than that. I've seen loads of apparently identical cars priced up to £5k different in the £15-20k sector. No way can these cars be that much better. Why should I even bother to phone up about an expensive car when there are so many cheaper ones on offer?

The market is still moving downwards and of course there is a natural reluctance for sellers to follow. Cars that are above the going rate will just not sell, and those that are well priced will still shift no problem. I've noticed that for sure.

Dealers are going to have to take a loss on some stock. A very bitter pill, but better to do that and invest in new stock at the right price, or go bust sharpish.

Richard.

PS I don't expect anyone in the trade to agree with me

zip106

I had Christmas day breakfast at a mate's house who is an independant dealer.
He was telling me that he'd bought in an F430 optioned up 55 reg, that booked at £101k in July.(not sure what he paid but he hinted it was near £80k)

Last week someone came by and made a cheeky offer and they eventually drove home in it having paid £60K for the privilege.

So, he took a massive loss on that car but he had to sell it 'cos it was costing too much sitting on the forecourt and it could have sat there for a lot longer, losing more and more value

Therefore, cheeky bids are your friend!
You may just get lucky.

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

i think cheeky being the correct word there, i think an offer with a bit of tounge in cheek defo brakes the ice, bartering should be fun after all, your buying a car, having an ego trip is the quickest way to loose out.

zip106

Exactly.
Go to a dealer with a clipboard and a rolled up copy of 'What Car' in your back pocket, and they won't take you seriously.

Dracoro

Business not going well is it.

Maybe get some matchsticks to open your eyes a bit.

goodbye...

john banks

You're the one with the money to spend on a very discretionary purchase Richard. I'm sure I heard an Indian proverb that went something along the lines of, "If the seller doesn't chase you down the street you offered too much."

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

How's that possible though? A loss of £20k will put him / them out of business especially if he / they carry on loseing (sp?) money on every car. Plus I'd sack him for buying it for £80k in the first place ...

TX.

zip106

Thing is TX, in July that's what the car was worth.
All the lower end cars are selling quite well, it's just all the big metal that no-one wants now.