Buying car without Trade-In

Langerland

hey all, when buying a new car recently I found that it was cheaper to buy without a trade-in than with one. The car I bought was advertised for 20kin the garage. When he realised that I hadn't a trade-in, he said that the advertised price was for with trade i and the retail price was 19k. Is that normal practice? I would never have known only I said 20k was too much....

niceirishfella

sorry to tell you but You still paid too much for it............17.5k or 18k would have been my target price.....
Dealers are stuffed with cars..........and need to shift em.

Langerland

I paid 18,500 for it in the end. :mad:

Is there some standard extra fee that they add on to a retail price for trade-in's? I'm assuming it is for scrappag/disposal or something.

-Chris-

That sounds like sales waffle to me...

The price is the price, the margin is the margin. If you trade in a car, they'll use the margin to inflate the trade-in price. If you buy straight, they'll use the margin to give you a cash discount.

I don't know of any situation where they'd have a different price for straight purchase than they do for trade-in.

niceirishfella

You did ok - still got 1.5k off so fair do's.
Well, its all about space these days.........and taking cars in, they may have to NCT then , valet them, service them, park them up in display, market them - is easier and cheaper to do discounts on existing stock to clear stock - its all about turnover.

-Chris-

niceirishfella wrote: »

sorry to tell you but You still paid too much for it............17.5k or 18k would have been my target price.....
Dealers are stuffed with cars..........and need to shift em.

This is a pretty sweeping statement to make where we don't even know what car the OP's talking about, what mileage, condition etc...

What exactly are you basing this answer on?

Biro

Langerland wrote: »

I paid 18,500 for it in the end. :mad:

Is there some standard extra fee that they add on to a retail price for trade-in's? I'm assuming it is for scrappag/disposal or something.

They do it mainly so that they can give you what sounds like a better trade in value for your car. In one way they need the extra cash as they have given a car away and taken in an older one for a small percentage of that new car's worth, therefore need to sell your one on to make the money for the new one that's gone. And that might be sold against another trade in.
But looking at it a different way, they make money on everything they sell, and that's the nature of the business, so they're essentially telling you that it's a "discount" for not having a trade in, but in reality they're taking back off the fake "increase" for those that will be trading in.

niceirishfella

AudiChris wrote: »

This is a pretty sweeping statement to make where we don't even know what car the OP's talking about, what mileage, condition etc...

What exactly are you basing this answer on?

Hi Chris,
Cool your jets there young man! This is a forum for opinion - and thats my firm opinion - regardless of what you and other car salepeople(with vested interests) think or post here.
Its no secret what state the car sales trade is in at the moment - like the property market.
Cars (wherever they are being sold) are only worth what I or anyone would offer for them - simple.
I never pay asking, never have or will and always get the deal i want or walk away and get it somewhere else.
I worked in the trade for over a decade in service,sales,rental - the lot.......And i'll take any challenge from any car buyer to source and get at least 2 or 3k of the asking..........only did it recently for someone here on boards that contacted me through private messaging. Car sales prices are inflated and a mess right now, and cars aint shifting - I'm confident in what i'm saying.
However,Hope sales are good with you.
rgds,
Nif.

-Chris-

niceirishfella wrote: »

Hi Chris,
Cool your jets there young man! This is a forum for opinion - and thats my firm opinion - regardless of what you and other car salepeople(with vested interests) think or post here.
Its no secret what state the car sales trade is in at the moment - like the property market.
Cars (wherever they are being sold) are only worth what I or anyone would offer for them - simple.
I never pay asking, never have or will and always get the deal i want or walk away and get it somewhere else.
I worked in the trade for over a decade in service,sales,rental - the lot.......And i'll take any challenge from any car buyer to source and get at least 2 or 3k of the asking..........only did it recently for someone here on boards that contacted me through private messaging. Car sales prices are inflated and a mess right now, and cars aint shifting - I'm confident in what i'm saying.
However,Hope sales are good with you.
rgds,
Nif.

Sorry Nif, didn't mean to sound accusitory.

I'm here to give a salesperson's take on things, not to defend dealers, SIMI or salespeople (as per my first post).

Car sales are slow at the moment, and cars are worth what people will pay for them - absolutely agree.

I didn't suggest to pay the asking price, that would be crazy. I merely tried to question the very round numbers you're using. OP was asking for info on how pricing worked, your response was that he payed too much.

I still don't know how fair a deal the OP got because I don't have any info on the car. I'll reserve my judgement until I have info.

niceirishfella

Fair do's Chris. Fair do's -
Tell us, is the VRT? Emmissions? New tax regime reeping havoc for current car sales ya reckon? i'm told it is.

-Chris-

niceirishfella wrote: »

Fair do's Chris. Fair do's -
Tell us, is the VRT? Emmissions? New tax regime reeping havoc for current car sales ya reckon? i'm told it is.

Yep, it's made a lot of people wait until July to take their new car, or wait until '09. Some manufacturers will do brilliantly out of it (BMW, for example) and some won't.

I think if the change was done in January, it would have had little effect.
If it was done in July but it was the only change, it would be easy enough to manage.
The combination of change in car pricing, slowdown in housing & economic growth AND the global credit crunch has made everyone think very hard about buying a new car.

I'm just waiting it out, we've got a good economy based on solid foundations. We'll pull out of it again, and once consumer confidence is back up car sales'll start rolling again.