When is the best time toi buy a 2nd hand car (If this does indeed now exist)

Monkey face

I am buying a car in January as I have thought for the last 6 months that it could be considerably cheaper. But now I am starting to wonder if that will be the case at all.

I am looking to get a Merc CL500, will I pick it up any cheaper or have I just done my self out of 6 months of driving my dream car?

Is there anywhere in particular that you may get a better deal and what kind of realistic price drop if any could I be looking at?

Any advice very welcome.

Half the screen price would be a good starting point if you have no trade in, the cat you want to buy is like a beached whale in the showroom.

bazz26

I'd imagine that any garage with a car like that sitting on their forecourt has it sitting there along time. If you have cash in your hand and in the market for one of these then there really isn't a better time to buy one.

It really is a buyer's market for these type of cars.

Monkey face

I test drove this one http://www.carzone.ie/search/Mercedes-Benz/CL-Class/COUPE-AU/200946195872920/advert?channel=CARS in August of this year and it is still sitting on the lot. It's actually increased it's price by €200 and I am not sure how long it was there before August. At the time they were willing to let it go for €13,250.

It's just under 15k at present, would it be unreasonable to just go in and offer 10k in cash all things considered.......or even less?

I think there are better cars than this particualr one out tehre but I just wanted to use it as an example.

bladespin

Nothing wrong with making an offer, if they want to sell the car they'll have to entertain whatever you're offering, at worst you'll be thanked for making the offer but declined at best they'll pull your arm off

Monkey face

Ye, I guess I am just not that confident with cars in terms of bartering anyway. But feck it, the worst they can say is no.

Hootanany

Have you considered the running cost:eek:

Monkey face

Yep, I have looked into it pretty extensively.

They are not the cheapest to run but I don't do massive miles so it would be more of a luxury thing. Don't get me wrong, I am not minted or anything....I just don't have any other commitments so why not... and if it goes tits up running cost wise and I can't afford it then I can sell it(eventually)......lesson learned.....
Admittedly the hard way

Test drive it again and offer them €8500, leave them your mobile number, ignore them if they laugh at you. Tell them to have a think about it. If you are so inclined call back a few weeks later and ask what sort of money they expect to get for it.

mailforkev

I pass by that Twyford place everyday on the way to/from work and he's a bit of a dreamer when it comes to pricing. Bizarrely so in some cases.

I'd say you could knock a fair whack off the asking on that CL if you had a wad of cash and no trade-in.

Monkey face

Ye, well they are certainly salesmen down there. I dropped in about a month ago to enquire about the price and if I had improved and I asked the guy how long it had been sitting there and he told me 2 weeks.....even though I test drove that exact one in August and he then proceeded to tell me it was a different car.....oh well.

Is this the standard way of getting a good deal? It definitely sounds like that would be the best thing. Just essentially make a border line insulting offer. I have been told the margin on these is very high as well so I don't think they are going to loose out too much particularly if they are having trouble shifting them.

bladespin

Monkey face wrote: »

Is this the standard way of getting a good deal? It definitely sounds like that would be the best thing. Just essentially make a border line insulting offer.

There's no such thing as an insulting offer, well certainly not to someone in the trade.

skyhighflyer

For that price you would get one of the 2003 onwards models with the revamped interior and updated COMAND. Anecdotally, they're supposed to be less troublesome than the earlier ones.

If I were you I'd be steering away from dealers altogether on a car like this. I'd be searching for a private ad on donedeal or carzone where the car is parked on a nice gravel drive, one mature owner and a nice folder of receipts. Some of these have fallen into the hands of people who can't afford to run them and would rather spend money on a set of fake AMG rims than keeping up with the service schedule.

coylemj

On the more general question of when is a good time to buy a secondhand car....

Three years after a new model is launched, the first of the secondhand versions of these cars come on to the market as end-of-lease models. This causes a reduction in the secondhand value of the previous models, especially if they are late models which were bought just before the new model came on stream.

In the case of the Merc CL, the current model (C216) is now approaching the stage where three year old trade-ins will be coming on the market soon, you should be using that to leverage a good deal out of those guys in Deansgrange, tell them the model you're looking at will soon be competing with the newer models and they should start looking at accepting a realistic offer.

Monkey face

Guys, thanks for the great advice……really makes a lot of sense.

Skyhighflyer, the only main difference I can find in the 00-02 v 03-06 versions is the on-board system being upgraded to DVD v CD. Nothing about interior or them being less inclined to problems. Although I have heard that the hydraulic suspension can be problematic in all versions so if anyone knows anything about that it would be great to hear. This is what I would be looking for I guess. It’s just a pity it’s in silver and not black with cream interior. I had a chat with the guy and the car has already had 3 owners but he seemed pretty genuine over the phone when I quizzed him on the mileage being so low. It does literally look like a showroom car.

Coylemj, that’s a really good point. I think those guys are away with the fairy’s with there valuations. I don’t think I will be doing business with them but it is a very useful piece of info for any other reasonable dealer I potentially do business with. I was speaking to the guy selling this and he reckons I could get it for around 9.5k with a trade in of my 1999 Volvo C70 (70k Miles). I would get a 2 year NCT, 3 Month warranty and the option of changing the alloys (which I would). I know it has more Mileage and is a 02 but I think it is still a good deal.

Thoughts?