Anybody bought a car lately? Post your tales here!

Sizzler

So has anybody got a change of car lately? Be it a brand new car or 2nd hand.

Did you feel you could negotiate a good deal, was the dealer willing to play ball on the price? We all know that there are wholesale bargains to be had across the water and theres been a lot made of dealers pleading for people to stay at home and buy local, so have they earned their chance have you seen true value here?

A friend of mine has been looking at Mondeo's (07-08)of late and although they are ten a penny dealers are laughing him off the phone when he offers €1,500 off their listed price. In fact one 2nd hand dealer had a 2007 Mondeo for €18,295 and he said his "best" price was €17,795, my friend offered €16,500 and the guy asked him if he was "on something" :rolleyes:

Considering in the above example you could pick up the same Mondeo for €14500-€15000 from the UK (inc.VRT) it seems the price competition seems nothing more than a placebo! This is just the most recent example btw, he has had similar experiences with several dealers.

Bandara

Sizzler wrote: »

So has anybody got a change of car lately? Be it a brand new car or 2nd hand.

Did you feel you could negotiate a good deal, was the dealer willing to play ball on the price? We all know that there are wholesale bargains to be had across the water and theres been a lot made of dealers pleading for people to stay at home and buy local, so have they earned their chance have you seen true value here?

A friend of mine has been looking at Mondeo's (07-08)of late and although they are ten a penny dealers are laughing him off the phone when he offers €1,500 off their listed price. In fact one 2nd hand dealer had a 2007 Mondeo for €18,295 and he said his "best" price was €17,795, my friend offered €16,500 and the guy asked him if he was "on something" :rolleyes:

Considering in the above example you could pick up the same Mondeo for €14500-€15000 from the UK (inc.VRT) it seems the price competition seems nothing more than a placebo! This is just the most recent example btw, he has had similar experiences with several dealers.

I don't have any connection or experience of the car sales business but surely this dealer is looking to make 2 or 3 grand on the car, you say he has it listed for 18295, he probably traded it etc and it stabds him about the 16k mark.

If he got it from England then fair enough, but if its an Irish car that he paid the irish price for then its not possible for him to sell it for nothing, any busines shas to make a profit to survive.

I just thuink people jump on this cheaper in England bandwagon for every car, I bought my current car in the UK and saved a lot, but you have to be aware that an irish car had a higher value/cost for both the punter and the dealers last year. Not to mentions Sterlings demise contribution to the saving you can make.

Sizzler

Hammertime wrote: »

I don't have any connection or experience of the car sales business but surely this dealer is looking to make 2 or 3 grand on the car, you say he has it listed for 18295, he probably traded it etc and it stabds him about the 16k mark.

If he got it from England then fair enough, but if its an Irish car that he paid the irish price for then its not possible for him to sell it for nothing, any busines shas to make a profit to survive.

I just thuink people jump on this cheaper in England bandwagon for every car, I bought my current car in the UK and saved a lot, but you have to be aware that an irish car had a higher value/cost for both the punter and the dealers last year. Not to mentions Sterlings demise contribution to the saving you can make.

Fair enough but thats part of being in business no? The car isnt going to make him any money sitting on the forecourt and should be worth another €500 less in a months time anyway. Surely he would be better off having the money in the bank and making some money on it now rather than being so cocky and assuming he will get his asking price? I doubt if theres a Q of people looking to buy his car

Anan1

Hammertime wrote: »

I don't have any connection or experience of the car sales business but surely this dealer is looking to make 2 or 3 grand on the car, you say he has it listed for 18295, he probably traded it etc and it stabds him about the 16k mark.

If he got it from England then fair enough, but if its an Irish car that he paid the irish price for then its not possible for him to sell it for nothing, any busines shas to make a profit to survive.

I just thuink people jump on this cheaper in England bandwagon for every car, I bought my current car in the UK and saved a lot, but you have to be aware that an irish car had a higher value/cost for both the punter and the dealers last year. Not to mentions Sterlings demise contribution to the saving you can make.

This post, in my view, illustrates the heart of the problem. Nobody but the owner cares what a car stands anyone, it's current market value is all that matters. A failure to understand this leads to a failure to realise the actual value of the car and, in the long run, bankruptcy.

colly10

Anan1 wrote: »

This post, in my view, illustrates the heart of the problem. Nobody but the owner cares what a car stands anyone, it's current market value is all that matters. A failure to understand this leads to a failure to realise the actual value of the car and, in the long run, bankruptcy.

+1 - These guys are in business, their supposed to know what their doing. If he's offering them more money than he can buy the car for up North and their laughing in his face then they deserve to go under. If they had any intelligence they would know that the market dictates the price of the car not them

Anan1

My brother bought a Passat estate recently from a major VW dealer in (as I recall) Limerick. The car was listed at €23,950, they agreed a price of €18,500 on the phone. The dealer delivered the car to Dublin a couple of days later, it was exactly as described, everyone left happy. See, cometimes it can work out.:)

Victor_M

Anan1 wrote: »

My brother bought a Passat estate recently from a major VW dealer in (as I recall) Limerick. The car was listed at €23,950, they agreed a price of €18,500 on the phone. The dealer delivered the car to Dublin a couple of days later, it was exactly as described, everyone left happy. See, cometimes it can work out.:)

That's a fair chunk of a discount there Anan1.

Would the dealer/Car industry not be in a better position listing the cars closer to their actual value, rather than listing them way higher than their market value and hoping the customer works out the real value of the car.

The guy selling the Passat would probably have sold it much quicker listing it at 19K, I can't help but think that the whole car industry is hanging to yesterdays prices in the hopes things pick up and revert back to the old day, which ain't going to happen any time soon.

Juan Pablo

bought herself a Mini cooper a few weeks back. Had been looking around at a few 01's for around €8.5k, on a Thursday we had selected 3 to see on the Saturday, when we got to the various dealers all 3 had been sold. Found that to be the case with a lot of ones advertised at decent prices, all sold in a couple of days. Some ressecion! By chance we stumbled accross an 05 Mini Cooper advertised for €10,350 in a dealer. We had a 01 Punto in fair condition to trade so that was an annoying factor, however we struck a deal for the Mini with €9k and the Punto. Cracking little car at that price.

afatbollix

bought a volvo yesterday.... bit of a impulse... but i used it to my advantage...

the sticker on the car said 5995 but after a chat to the dealer it was on his forcort for months and it was on yellow plates... he said he would go down to 3500... just said id give him 2800 and him put it through the NCT when i get the irish plates on. And that id pay cash today... so he ran away and came back and said yes... looks like they just wanted rid of it off the forcourt... It will cost about 5000 including the VRT so i think i got a good deal.... and a 2 year nct so sorted....

Anan1

Victor_M wrote: »

That's a fair chunk of a discount there Anan1.

Would the dealer/Car industry not be in a better position listing the cars closer to their actual value, rather than listing them way higher than their market value and hoping the customer works out the real value of the car.

The guy selling the Passat would probably have sold it much quicker listing it at 19K, I can't help but think that the whole car industry is hanging to yesterdays prices in the hopes things pick up and revert back to the old day, which ain't going to happen any time soon.

In a market without trade-ins, yes. It's not only the dealers who are being unrealistic about values though, they have to keep room for the inflated expectations of customers re their trade-ins.

BrianD3

I was offered a new Renault Laguna for 9k off list price. That corresponds to a discount of 28% off list.

Stevie Dakota

BrianD3 wrote: »

I was offered a new Renault Laguna for 9k off list price. That corresponds to a discount of 28% off list.

Was that discount purely from the dealer or did it include Renault Irelands cashback cheque?

BrianD3

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

Was that discount purely from the dealer or did it include Renault Irelands cashback cheque?

I'm 99% certain it included the cashback, however I could have bought the car there and then at a 9k discount. It wasn't a case of "buy the car and get the cashback from Renault 45 days later" as advertised on renault.ie