Share your haggling stories

veryangryman

Debating getting a new 211 car.

My only real tip I have for haggling is to insist they fill it with petrol before the handshake/fistbump.

Anyone have any real stories of how you got the price knocked down or some freebies?

SpitfireIV

I can tell you a story about how the price went up when I tried to get it down?

carsfan2

The only tips I have are the usual ones of doing your research before you go to haggle, always be pleasant but at the same time not a push over.
Also always remember you can just walk away.

Marcusm

veryangryman wrote: »

Debating getting a new 211 car.

My only real tip I have for haggling is to insist they fill it with petrol before the handshake/fistbump.

Anyone have any real stories of how you got the price knocked down or some freebies?

You are looking at a brand new car so you are in the best position to compare like with like. (Unlike say a 4-5 year old car when no two will be the same.)

Do you know what car you want and in what colour/spec? Do you have a trade in or will you be looking for a cash price? Will you be looking for finance?

If you have cash and no tradein, ring around a few dealers and establish what their best price for the car is. THe first call will probably provide you with a little information about availability of particular colours/specs, whether they have the car in stock or will be sourcing from the distributors stock or whether it requires a special order.

Sequentially, use the information from each call to improve your request of each subsequent dealer.

bs2014

If your looking a fairly standard car with no fancy optional extras, you have abit of room; there's no science but I got lucky few years back.

We bought a brand new Opel few years back. We had a nice 2yr old Opel to trade in. My local dealer who I wanted to buy from wasn't budging off the list price. Cost to change was about 10000. I rang 2 brand new Opel dealers who had only taken on the franchise a few months at that stage. 1 of them wanted 8750; the other wanted 8500. The 8750 dealer then dropped to 8500.

I then went back to our local dealer and said 'I am ready today to buy a car and I'm willing to pay 8500' I didn't go down the road of whats your best price, I named it for him . He then came back on the Monday and agreed to the 8500 as he admitted he didn't want a local reg driving around with a different dealer sticker. In a weird twist, we had a family death that week and parked the idea up. He rang 2 days before the end of Jan and moved to 8250 as he had what we wanted in stock and wanted to hit his number.

That said, I have been pricing new cars this year (looking to get into a Focus) and dealers no matter where in the country they are aren't budging on price).

Panjandrums

bs2014 wrote: »

That said, I have been pricing new cars this year (looking to get into a Focus) and dealers no matter where in the country they are aren't budging on price).

I got nearly 3k off a new Fiesta back in May. I rang 3 dealers up and told them exactly the spec that I wanted. They reluctantly gave me a price over the phone and I bounced 2 dealer's off eachother.

It was easy commission for them as I was buying over the phone and didn't even want a test drive, nor was I trading in a car.

wallpapers123

Don't buy a new car if you actually want to save money.

Lantus

With brexit I'd say dealers will be looking forward to more business coming their way and less inclined to lower prices to compete.

Stallingrad

I found a pre reg Passat back in 2011, zero mileage with €1200 woorth of options on it, had been sitting on the lot for nearly a year, no one wanted petrol back then, got it for nearly €10k off new price with a three year warranty. If you are open to model and spec, demo or pre reg, then you have a much stronger bargaining position.

PCeeeee

Lantus wrote: »

With brexit I'd say dealers will be looking forward to more business coming their way and less inclined to lower prices to compete.

Much worse Lantus, they'll compete as much as they ever did but it'll be from a higher price point.