typical discount on advertised prices?

Diarmuid

Just started looking around for a s/h car for myself. Haven't bought a car in Ireland in 10 years so a bit rusty on the market. I'm looking for something like a 2007 Fabia/Fiesta/Polo/the usual suspects. However I don't have a clue what the typical discount is on the advertised prices on carzone. For instance the asking price for the 85bhp Fabia 1.4 is around €7900, what sort of money would that sell for ? Anecdotally (ie searching here) I've seen quite large discounts.

Henry Ford III

It depends totally on how keenly or otherwise the car is originally priced.

bazz26

Just to add, recently helped my sister buy a newish car. Bought a 2008 Ford Fiesta advertised at €9,200 for €7,600 with some heavy haggling and no trade in from a Ford dealer about 40 mins from me. Local city dealer with the same brand would not budge below €8750 for a similar car with higher mileage advertised at €10k.

So the advice is to do your homework before hand so that have an idea what the average price is being asked, be prepared to travel within reason for the right car at the right price and negotiate hard, as there is no exact science to what price to pay for a used car.

djimi

Depends on the car, the price, the dealer, whether youre paying cash or trading in etc. Too many variables to give a solid estimation; some cars will sell easily and therefore the dealer knows they will get their asking price more or less, whereas other cars are less desirable and the dealer may well be willing to go a good bit below the asking price. If they have priced the car to sell quickly they might not be as willing to haggle on price. If youre paying cash then youll get a better deal then if trading in.

Always start low and try to haggle tho; all they can say is no!

Diarmuid

I appreciate that it depends on he starting price but I've notcied on carzone there is definite clustering of prices (ie all within a relatively close band) on many models.

Thanks for the hard figures bazz26, that's what I am looking for

ccyy123

I was looking at a 06 Ford Fiesta LX 1.25l with approx. 21K mileage at a main dealer and they were asking for €7500 with 12 months warranty, they wouldn't budge on the price. I am not trading in and going to pay cash for it, I was hoping they would go down to €7000 at the very least and here I thought we are in recession!

Should I walk away or pay the asking price? I have been looking for awhile now and the last car I was interested in was sold the next day. Very dishearten at the moment. No experience in the market, so any advice is welcomed.

R.O.R

ccyy123 wrote: »

I was looking at a 06 Ford Fiesta LX 1.25l with approx. 21K mileage at a main dealer and they were asking for €7500 with 12 months warranty, they wouldn't budge on the price. I am not trading in and going to pay cash for it, I was hoping they would go down to €7000 at the very least and here I thought we are in recession!

Should I walk away or pay the asking price? I have been looking for awhile now and the last car I was interested in was sold the next day. Very dishearten at the moment. No experience in the market, so any advice is welcomed.

Is the car worth €7,500? Are you trying to get it for €7,000 just to get a deal done?

By the sounds of it, cars like that aren't hanging around long and that's why the dealer doesn't need to discount it to sell it.

daveharnett

When I'm looking at a car with an average asking price (for the particular model, engine, mileage, extras), I mentally subtract 10% straight away, and assume that 15% is achievable.

It's not perfect, and it can be way off for some cars, but I think it's good enough as a starting point.

ccyy123

R.O.R wrote: »

Is the car worth €7,500? Are you trying to get it for €7,000 just to get a deal done?

By the sounds of it, cars like that aren't hanging around long and that's why the dealer doesn't need to discount it to sell it.

Not trying to get a deal done, just comparing it to the prices of other cars I have looked at. TBH, I don't know if the car is worth, hoping someone to shed some light on this, rang up a mechanic and it's going to cost €180 to inspect the car. I know those types of cars sell very quickly, that's why I don't know what to do!

ccyy123

daveharnett wrote: »

When I'm looking at a car with an average asking price (for the particular model, engine, mileage, extras), I mentally subtract 10% straight away, and assume that 15% is achievable.

It's not perfect, and it can be way off for some cars, but I think it's good enough as a starting point.

Yup, that's what I have been told. Obviously, this is not working for me. I thought when you are not trading in, they usually give you something for that, especially this is a quiet time for them. The last car I looked at and really interested in, the price went from €6950 to €6500, but it was sold the next day that car was only on the market for 2 weeks. Did not realize how quickly those types go.

djimi

ccyy123 wrote: »

Not trying to get a deal done, just comparing it to the prices of other cars I have looked at. TBH, I don't know if the car is worth, hoping someone to shed some light on this, rang up a mechanic and it's going to cost €180 to inspect the car. I know those types of cars sell very quickly, that's why I don't know what to do!

Thats why the garage is probably not going to budge on the price! That car is quite a desirable car and the garage obviously feel that they are not going to have too much trouble getting their asking price for it.

djimi

ccyy123 wrote: »

Yup, that's what I have been told. Obviously, this is not working for me. I thought when you are not trading in, they usually give you something for that, especially this is a quiet time for them. The last car I looked at and really interested in, the price went from €6950 to €6500, but it was sold the next day that car was only on the market for 2 weeks. Did not realize how quickly those types go.

Ive seen a lot of garages advertising cars at a "cash price", meaning that if you want to trade in a car against the new one you will end up paying more than the advertised price. This is a change from how they used to do things, where the price advertised was assuming a trade in and you could haggle down the price when paying cash.

bazz26

ccyy123 wrote: »

Not trying to get a deal done, just comparing it to the prices of other cars I have looked at. TBH, I don't know if the car is worth, hoping someone to shed some light on this, rang up a mechanic and it's going to cost €180 to inspect the car. I know those types of cars sell very quickly, that's why I don't know what to do!

See my earlier post. My sister bought a 08 Fiesta Steel II with only 18km on it for €7600 from a Ford dealer just over a month ago. I would not even pay anywhere near €7k for a 06 bog standard Fiesta LX irrespective of the mileage. If the garage will not budge on the price then let them keep it, they will have it along time at that price.

Be patient, the right car will pop up, one thing is for sure when we were car searching is that there are plenty of Fiestas out there for sale, remeber we are now heading towards the end of the year where prices will only head one way.

ccyy123

bazz26 wrote: »

See my earlier post. My sister bought a 08 Fiesta Steel II with only 18km on it for €7600 from a Ford dealer just over a month ago. I would not even pay anywhere near €7k for a 06 bog standard Fiesta LX irrespective of the mileage. If the garage will not budge on the price then let them keep it, they will have it along time at that price.

I did, that was what stopped me paying the deposit!! You must be a great haggler. It was very frustrating, it seemed they have no interest in selling me the car, most I got was Yes/No answers. Are all car salespersons as ignorant or just the ones in Limerick. Even coming down from €7500 to €7000 would be an incentive.

Gumbo

as above it depends on the type of car, the type of garage, day of the month and if the dealer needs cash that week.

in April of last year i bought a 2005 E90 320d advertised for €13,950 with leather, MFSW, Bluetooth and a few other little things for €10,700 cash.

it depends on whether your trading or not, when you can buy etc

i bought that car as it was, didnt want it valeted, said i'd do it myself, it had FBMWSH and didnt need a service etc

bazz26

We bought from the Ford dealer out in Knocklong, about 40 mins drive from Limerick city, really nice to deal with and no bull. Found the two Ford dealers in the city to be on a different planet when it came to the valuation of their cars.

ccyy123

bazz26 wrote: »

We bought from the Ford dealer out in Knocklong, about 40 mins drive from Limerick city, really nice to deal with and no bull. Found the two Ford dealers in the city to be on a different planet when it came to the valuation of their cars.

OK, I think I know who they are, but aren't their cars ex fleet hire? I think I heard it somewhere. Do they offer 12 months warranty? Yup aren't the Limerick city dealerships absolutely great.

bazz26

ccyy123 wrote: »

OK, I think I know who they are, but aren't their cars ex fleet hire? I think I heard it somewhere. Do they offer 12 months warranty? Yup aren't the Limerick city dealerships absolutely great.

Yes they do have a hire company and do sell on alot of their ex self drive cars. But they also sell to alot of private individuals out that neck of the woods. The self drive cars are mostly D or WX reg and they tend to be a little rough on the outside. The car we bought was locally owned as they showed me the old VRC. Regarding warranty they gave a standard 6 months bumper to bumper warranty.

We looked at a few of their cars but don't want to really inadvertably pimp their business here so drop me a PM if you want more details.

ccyy123

bazz26 wrote: »

We looked at a few of their cars but don't want to really inadvertably pimp their business here so drop me a PM if you want more details.

Thanks, just PM you.

Henry Ford III

I think it's silly to assume you'll automatically get 10 or 15% off the initial asking price.

Let's assume the car you are looking at is the cleanest, best serviced, highest specced, lowest mileage version of it's type anywhere in the country, and in the best colour too. In other words the best on the market.

Let's also assume that it's priced very keenly for a quick sale.

Trying to get 10 or 15% off that car will almost certainly fail, and you'll have missed out. By the time you realise this it'll have sold too.

The trick is to "know the market" and realise immediately when you are looking at a potential "goodun".

Do your research beforehand.