Haggling on a trade in offer?

Cyrus

As a lot of you know ive bought and sold lots of cars, however this is my first experience of trading one in, so bear with me.

i was looking at a vw scirocco in a main VW dealer for Mrs Cyrus. Im not sure if the price is good or not, its prolly a little toppy at €21k, but its a nice car, candy white, 2.0T with dsg.

Anyway they called me back today with a trade in offer for her car. Without going into details, its less than id want. I realise the important number here is my cost to change, but again i feel that its too high, by 1-1.5k.

Anyway, what im wondering is, is it normal to haggle on a cost to change or is the first offer the best they can do?

again sorry if this is a stupid qn, but ive never been in the scenario before

astrofool

Is the Scirocco new?

You can say another dealer is giving a better offer, and haggle from there, don't be afraid to go back and forth.

Also, find out the cash discount if you sell the car privately (it tells you what they think your car is really worth).

The trade price should be higher than the price you'd get on the car privately.

Cyrus

nope its a 2008

alexmcred

You can haggle on everything, Best thing is to go into them and thrash out a deal face to face imho

I would think a 2.0T Scirocco wouldn't fly off the forecourt for them so I reckon you could well be delighted after a haggle. Now, I'm presuming it's petrol. If it's diesel they'll sell it handy enough so might not be as willing to chat. I'm also presuming what you're trading in is not too hard to flog either.

-Chris-

There's definitely room to haggle. Haggling is an expected part of the process and the salesperson will have built in haggling room.
Without knowing the sums, I'd be surprised if there wasn't €1k of haggling room available...

astrofool wrote: »

The trade price should be higher than the price you'd get on the car privately.

I don't believe that's true at all.

Reloc8

-Chris- wrote: »

I don't believe that's true at all.

Hi Chris,

Just wondering why you say that - I was presuming that when I am trading the car in the dealer is going to want to make profit on whatever he allows me against my car when he resells it.

If I sell privately, I don't have to accommodate that margin.

The reason to trade as opposed to sell privately in my mind would be for the extra few quid you might get privately you have the hassle of putting the thing up for sale and showing it etc., and indeed the uncertainty of getting a buyer etc. versus the convenience of driving in with one car and driving out with another at a specific time of your chosing - important for say me who has just the one car.

Am I off on a mad one here in presuming I could get more money or money's worth, generally, selling my car privately than I will get against a trade in ?

(p.s. I also presume a dealer will have some outlay on a trade in to have it checked over and cleaned)

Reloc8

Reloc8 wrote: »

Am I off on a mad one here in presuming I could get more money or money's worth, generally, selling my car privately than I will get against a trade in ?

Nope, not at all
But Chris wasn't saying otherwise either.

Cyrus

RoverJames wrote: »

I would think a 2.0T Scirocco wouldn't fly off the forecourt for them so I reckon you could well be delighted after a haggle. Now, I'm presuming it's petrol. If it's diesel they'll sell it handy enough so might not be as willing to chat. I'm also presuming what you're trading in is not too hard to flog either.

Cheers tis a petrol alright and I'm trading an alfa gt diesel tbh I'm sure they will flog to the trade immediately it won't be on their forecourt

I'd say you're in a good bargaining position so, very good given the diesel love in Ireland.

bf

If its the white one in Ballsbridge, a friend looked at is as a cash buyer a week or two ago & they were surprisingly unwilling to budge too much on price

-Chris-

It's a car you would have bought for €36k brand new. It's 3 years old now. I don't see how it's worth nearly 60% of it's new price.

It's not in a great colour, it's not in the preferred engine (diesel), there's probably not much of a premium you could charge for DSG in a car like this.

I'm not definite if they have it priced wrong, but I don't see how this car is worth €2-3k more than an equivalent GTI.

If you went in with €20k cash they should take your arm off rather than risk sitting on a white automatic petrol Scirocco for the next 6 months.

There should definitely be room for haggling.

bazz26

Definately should be room to haggle, a 2.0 litre petrol Scirocco has a very limited market in this country. The GT diesel would be an easier car to sell for them whether it be retail or through the trade.

I can see their angle though, the 2.0 litre petrol Scirocco is a rare car on these shores, they know you are keen on it and know that you don't have many options to buy a similar car else where.

Cyrus

thanks for all the advice lads

much appreciated

to be honest, i more wanted to see what i thought of the scirocco (postitive) and what kinda trade in a main dealer would give me (not so positive)

While the 2.0tsi is the only one id want, ideally id be looking at grey or black, i think 21k is toppy for a 08 so i wont be pursuing this.

i believe that they are selling it for a customer, so perhaps there hands are tied somewhat?

bf

Well I know that €19.5k cash was refused on it

golfdiva

I think white is the only colour for a Scirocco - it really shows the shape.