how much to knock down asking prices

viztopia

looking at some of the car prices offered on carzone and cbg i think that a lot of them are over priced. is there are general rule in terms of offering less than the asking price? e.g. 10-15% less than what they are looking for or has the asking prices got nothing to do with it?

Anan1

viztopia wrote: »

looking at some of the car prices offered on carzone and cbg i think that a lot of them are over priced. is there are general rule in terms of offering less than the asking price? e.g. 10-15% less than what they are looking for or has the asking prices got nothing to do with it?

Best advice is to forget about the asking price and focus on what you feel is a fair price for the car.

seclachi

Haggling maybe dead for most things, but for cars its most definitely not. Many dealers I was talking to were willing to knock a bit off a car when I was looking around, you should definitely be able to do it in a private sale. Just dont expect to make a killing because its a recession, alot people must be reckoning it will get better soon and could be willing to sit on the car for a while.

-Chris-

Anan1 wrote: »

Best advice is to forget about the asking price and focus on what you feel is a fair price for the car.

+1

It's not how much they knock off it, but how much it costs relative to similar cars on sale.

Do your homework. Find out how much a car is realistically worth. Offer the dealer this amount.

Benny Cake

My dad is involved in the greyhound/horse business and is an expert at negotiating prices; he's a great man to have with you on the hunt for a car!
Anyway he has this simple rule:
Go in low, go up slow, and dont blow.

1. Go in low: In other words start out well below what you are willing to pay (for example if you would like to pay 19k offer 16.5). The dealer will never go with your first offer so you need some room for negotiating.
2. Go up slow: Never make a major jump from your 1st offer to the 2nd (so go from 16.5 to 16.9)
3. And most importantly dont blow... by this i mean if you do get a good deal keep it to yourself, you never know when you may need to move your purchase on and if the whole world knows what you paid it weakens your position. (i guess this one is more appropiate to the world of horse trading!!)

McSpud

D_Red_Army wrote: »

1. Go in low: In other words start out well below what you are willing to pay (for example if you would like to pay 19k offer 16.5). The dealer will never go with your first offer so you need some room for negotiating.

Not sure that will always work. To use example - Car listed at 29k but will to pay 24k (a little higher than UK price). To use the go low would have to start at 20k. To my logic dealer would not be impressed by such a figure.

daRobot

McSpud wrote: »

Not sure that will always work. To use example - Car listed at 29k but will to pay 24k (a little higher than UK price). To use the go low would have to start at 20k. To my logic dealer would not be impressed by such a figure.

Thing is though, just remember that you're there to do business. You're not there to be nice, and you're not there to make a friend.

Don't worry if he's not impressed by the figure, his job is to make money out of you.

That said, a friendly negotiation is usually the most successful one, so don't go in too bullish.

Key to most negotiations is to be prepared, and have your facts straight. Do the research, and you can get a better deal for yourself.

eg. How much are similar cars selling for? How desirable is it to the general market? What will a VRT paid one from the UK set you back etc etc.