Do you haggle when buying a used car?

[Jasandjules]

Whether and how much to haggle all depends on the car. If it has something I am not happy with and would want changed then yes I will negotiate but I quite often prefer to get the dealer to sort things out - i.e. fit the CD changer, get it serviced etc...

[jackdebray]

All that jazz said:

Personally I won't even entertain anyone who writes in their ad "no offers" or similar. One could argue that if it's already cheaper than everything else than you'd be stupid to ignore it, but in my experience cheaply priced cars with "no offers" stated always have something catastrophic wrong with them.

For everything else I'd haggle but how much I'd want off would depend on what I find wrong with it that hasn't already been disclosed, the rareness of the spec/colour, how many others are for sale within x radius and how desperately I need some wheels.

I've a lot of experience of buying privately and have always managed to get a good wedge off the asking price without too much effort but you've got to be able to justify your offer if you're gonna go in low. The other thing that really works is to catch them off guard and casually slip into the discussion "have you had much interest/how long has it been for sale for?" when viewing it or on the test drive. If you get your timing right here they'll shoot themselves in the foot and openly tell you that you're the first person to view it in the 4 weeks it's been advertised! That is sweet music to any car buyer's ears as you know they'll be getting desperate to get shut of it.

The 330Cd I bought was up for £8350 (slightly cheaper than others for sale privately in the same spec and roughly same miles) but he hadn't mentioned that it was due a major insp2 service so I offered him £7000 and he laughed at me. Unbeknownst to him I knew it had been for sale in the 'trader for the past 6 weeks too which was why I made such a low offer. I told him that my offer was fair considering it needed an expensive inspection 2 service. After some pondering he asked if I'd go to £7100 . I was tempted to say £7050 but I thought I'd taken the piss enough on the price already so just agreed with what he wanted . I made a few hundred profit on it when I flogged it 6 months later. I must admit I was gobsmacked he let it go for that money - I was expecting to pay more than £8k for it.

Similar story with my Puma too. Puma was 28k miles and up for £2000 but had been for sale for yonks. Found it very difficult to find fault with it apart from the tax was out and there was some surface rust starting on the sills. I offered him £1400 and he started getting out of the car. Must've argued the toss with him for 15 mins with him saying it's worth more than that as it's only got 28k on it and me saying it doesn't matter it's still a 12yr old car that's been stood for half of its life so all the bushes need replacing (they didn't but he didn't know that!). I made my final offer of £1500 and told him so, not moving any further, take it or leave it. He said no, needs to be £1600, so I said no, too much, needs tax etc . Okay well split the difference with me he says, £1550. Nope, got to be £1500 or not at all, sorry! He obviously weighed up the lack of interest since he'd first advertised it and realised mine was the only offer on the table so decided to take it in the end! Sold that one for a profit too.

Always always haggle and get some £££ off. If you meet someone that won't, walk away, it's their loss. There's always someone that will. When I was buying a new Astravan I went to Pentagon at Sheffield as they had one in the spec I wanted. Decided I wanted it so sat down with the sales guy to begin negotiations. That lasted all of 5 seconds when he told me that the price on the screen is the price I pay, they don't "do" discounts. The "best" he could do was put 6 months rent on it. When I started to walk he shouted after me "you'll be back, I guarantee you won't find one cheaper!". Arrogant . So I found one in the same spec from Marshall's priced £500 less (£11495 vs £10995). Made him a couple of lowish offers which he turned down but did eventually go for £300 off and threw in some mats and a load-liner which I wanted as well as stick 6 months rent on it. I wonder if the Pentagon guy is still waiting...

Your quite the trader arent you!

[matthias73]

I can appreciate haggling at a dealership, but private sales are diferent for me.

If I was selling something, had written every fault down and described it perfectly, and someone tried to haggle me down, I'd flat out refuse, unless I was very desperate. I'm of the opinion that if they came all the way to see my particular car and I've made sure they know exactly what they are looking at, then they must want it, or are just wasting time.

I would only try and haggle someone down if their car was overpriced compared to the rest of the market, but the same thing applies to me. Why don't I just buy one of the cheaper ones, if its just as good?

[All that jazz]

ajb85 said:

I would happily give the OP his marching orders. I am an independent trader who buys, preps and sells cars. I undertake everything from start to finish. This takes a bit a of graft for what seemingly isn't a great deal of profit at the end. I work out of a unit, behind a row of houses, away from the main road, therefore the general awareness of who I am and where I am is none existent. The only way to get the phone ringing is to source good, desirable cars, describe and photograph them well and price them keenly on the web.

People appoint to come and see my cars because A. They like the car and, B. They like the price.

Obviously the circumstances are completely different for a private just wanting shut of their car, but in this day and age it's very difficult for a trader to be greedy and command strong money for their cars, if they want to keep busy and stay in business. If a punter spends an hour with me, driving my car that I've spent time and money to prepare and valet, uses my fuel, then returns after a test drive and, with no real justification whatsoever, decides to try their hand at literally kicking me in the nuts then I too would get the hump! It's just not on. People are trying to make an honest living and are having the p*ss taken. God help the OP if he crosses my path!

Edited by ajb85 on Friday 13th July 19:04

Or you could make life a whole pile easier for yourself and the customer and do as muzzer said above - "sorry but I'm looking for more that" and wait for the customer to up their offer. Is it really that difficult? You can protest all you want but haggling is what we do in the UK so you either learn to play the game or you don't shift any stock.

[POORCARDEALER]

The biggest dealer group in the UK do not move on prices on used cars......

[MGJohn]

POORCARDEALER said:

The biggest dealer group in the UK do not move on prices on used cars......

Bet they wished they had a monopoly. Biggest is not best.
.

[Birdster]

ajb85 said:

I would happily give the OP his marching orders. I am an independent trader who buys, preps and sells cars. I undertake everything from start to finish. This takes a bit a of graft for what seemingly isn't a great deal of profit at the end. I work out of a unit, behind a row of houses, away from the main road, therefore the general awareness of who I am and where I am is none existent. The only way to get the phone ringing is to source good, desirable cars, describe and photograph them well and price them keenly on the web.

People appoint to come and see my cars because A. They like the car and, B. They like the price.

Obviously the circumstances are completely different for a private just wanting shut of their car, but in this day and age it's very difficult for a trader to be greedy and command strong money for their cars, if they want to keep busy and stay in business. If a punter spends an hour with me, driving my car that I've spent time and money to prepare and valet, uses my fuel, then returns after a test drive and, with no real justification whatsoever, decides to try their hand at literally kicking me in the nuts then I too would get the hump! It's just not on. People are trying to make an honest living and are having the p*ss taken. God help the OP if he crosses my path!

Edited by ajb85 on Friday 13th July 19:04

Nice.

If you look at my posts properly you'd see that IMO the car wasn't worth the asking price. So you'd sell a car with mismatched tyres and then expect the buyer not to want discount, or not want the tyres changed to match on a rear wheel drive car.

As I said if the car was perfect I'd have taken it.


I'm an IT consultant. Someone asks me to do a job. I quote. They either accept, or don't. Sometimes they counter offer. Depending on how my schedule is looking I may accept a lower offer. I don't see much difference with a used car to be honest.

I have to make a living. I don't moan if my contract is not extended, or if the market is bad I get offered less than I want.

[ajb85]

You're quite right. But haggling is one thing, taking the michael is another.

[Pints]

ajb85 said:

You're quite right. But haggling is one thing, taking the michael is another.

But that's how proper haggling works.

There'a an old saying: if your offer doesn't offend, it's not low enough.

[ajb85]

Pints said:

ajb85 said:

You're quite right. But haggling is one thing, taking the michael is another.

But that's how proper haggling works.

There'a an old saying: if your offer doesn't offend, it's not low enough.

Nice saying, quite like it!
Bottom line is; we all like a deal. Clearly people's opinions on this vary and how cheeky we wish to be when negotiating. However I think what some people fail to appreciate is that 'low-balling' in some scenarios can be impudent and often downright insultive, showing a real lack of respect for the vendor.

[All that jazz]

ajb85 said:

Nice saying, quite like it!
Bottom line is; we all like a deal. Clearly people's opinions on this vary and how cheeky we wish to be when negotiating. However I think what some people fail to appreciate is that 'low-balling' in some scenarios can be impudent and often downright insultive, showing a real lack of respect for the vendor.

I don't think you should be in this line of business if you take personal offence at such offers. At the end of the day it's just business: I want to pay x, you want me to pay z; we negotiate and meet somewhere in the middle. Taking the hard line and point blank refusing to even consider offers (as per the comments from a lot of dealers on this site) is a surefire way to alienate your customers who will just take their business elsewhere if they've any sense.

[Rubin215]

I will always haggle, but how much depends on not just the vehicle but also who is selling it.

If it is well described, clean, honest etc. and the seller seems decent then I will only want a wee bit off to make me feel like I go a bargain.

If I can find faults, if I feel the description was misleading and (especially) if the seller is a tosser then I will haggle as hard as the day is long and walk away if I don't get it all my own way.

Any time I sell I clean as best I can, describe as best I can and be the nicest seller I can, but will still expect a small haggle so the buyer thinks he has got a bargain.

If the buyer is a tosser I just tell them to take a walk; I don't have time for that nonsense.

[Deva Link]

All that jazz said:

SubaruSteve said:

Some dealers (including me) often price their cars at reasonable levels above the cheapest available to avoid having to deal with the likes of you. Price is only one aspect of a car purchase. For many people convenience, proximity, after sales/service are higher on the list than price. The trouble with people who only want the cheapest/ will travel miles to save £50 etc is you only see them once. The other type of person becomes a valued regular customer with benefits for both parties, something I am guessing you will not yet have experienced.

Very tempted to insert a "u serious?" smiley here. You are either deluded or on a wind-up. This so-called great aftermarket service you speak of is only there in your head. It doesn't exist in real life. Dealers are there to extract as much money out of you as possible with no regard for service, welfare, loyalty or anything else. That's why the "scams that dealers try" thread is as long as it is as it's full of horror stories from customers about how the dealer has told them all their disks and pads need replacing for £1000+VAT when in fact there's nothing wrong with them at all.

Most people couldn't give two hoots for dealer loyalty. They are there simply to put a stamp in the book at the correct intervals to keep the warranty intact.

I don't agree with that. For quite a few years now I've bought new cars for me and my missus, and have also now bought several for my daughters too. I buy from local franchised dealerships and use them for servicing too. The only exception was my Merc, which I bought 5mths old from MB Direct (and got £3500 off the price they were asking).

While I do feel a certain anxiety when dealing with franchised dealerships, I could only point to a couple of examples of poor service and only one of them caused me to change dealerships.

We've had a couple of Hondas (from the same salesman with a 6 year gap) and I know they're not the cheapest but they're effortless to deal with. When I asked the service manager about extending the warranty he said "there's no need, and if anything does go wrong we'll look after you". I don't know what the extent of that would have been, I never had cause to test it.

[All that jazz]

Deva Link said:

When I asked the service manager about extending the warranty he said "there's no need, and if anything does go wrong we'll look after you".

I think if I were you I would take such comments with a pinch of salt until the time actually comes for them to prove they're as good as their word.

[McHaggis]

Rubin215 said:

I will always haggle, but how much depends on not just the vehicle but also who is selling it.

If it is well described, clean, honest etc. and the seller seems decent then I will only want a wee bit off to make me feel like I go a bargain.

^^^ This.... it's called "buyers satisfaction"

Good car, well priced, bit of margin, bit of movement, everyone is happy. Seller gets close to their price, buyer gets the haggle. As long as no-one takes the piddle and all are polite, no-one gets offended.

[Deva Link]

All that jazz said:

I think if I were you I would take such comments with a pinch of salt until the time actually comes for them to prove they're as good as their word.

Honda used to be well known for doing things well out of warranty as goodwill and my relationship with a dealer where the main staff are unchanged in all the time I've dealt with them means I'm pretty confident they'd have seen me alright. It's the only car (it's my wife's Jazz) we've owned which was replaced with the same model (but newer version and higher spec) from the same dealer. There was just no reason to look at anything else or go anywhere else. Time and lack of hassle is important to me.

[Deerfoot]

Deva Link said:

All that jazz said:

I think if I were you I would take such comments with a pinch of salt until the time actually comes for them to prove they're as good as their word.

Honda used to be well known for doing things well out of warranty as goodwill

I had the tailgate motor on my old Accord Tourer replaced at 5 years and 65,000 miles by Honda as a goodwill gesture even though it was 2 years out of warranty. A full Honda service history helped, as did the fact it was my second Honda, but even so I thought it was jolly decent of them.

[Fatman2]

ajb85 said:

I would happily give the OP his marching orders. I am an independent trader who buys, preps and sells cars. I undertake everything from start to finish. This takes a bit a of graft for what seemingly isn't a great deal of profit at the end. I work out of a unit, behind a row of houses, away from the main road, therefore the general awareness of who I am and where I am is none existent. The only way to get the phone ringing is to source good, desirable cars, describe and photograph them well and price them keenly on the web.

People appoint to come and see my cars because A. They like the car and, B. They like the price.

Obviously the circumstances are completely different for a private just wanting shut of their car, but in this day and age it's very difficult for a trader to be greedy and command strong money for their cars, if they want to keep busy and stay in business. If a punter spends an hour with me, driving my car that I've spent time and money to prepare and valet, uses my fuel, then returns after a test drive and, with no real justification whatsoever, decides to try their hand at literally kicking me in the nuts then I too would get the hump! It's just not on. People are trying to make an honest living and are having the p*ss taken. God help the OP if he crosses my path!

Edited by ajb85 on Friday 13th July 19:04

God help the op? what would you do, tell him you're not going to sell the car to him or offer great customer service by giving out abuse? Have you really been in the business that long that you get easily offended when people do what is typically expected during a purchase?

what you're basically saying is that you have never in your career offered someone less than market value on a part exchange in order to increase your profit margins. That is hard to believe and even harder to believe that none of your customers have ever said, "well actually I was hoping for more for my car"

[icetea]

I would imagine the internet has removed a lot of haggling - its easy to search nationwide (or Europe wide) for cars, read their full details and look at dozens of pictures of each. So if dealers don't price them keenly to begin with they won't even get an enquiry in the first place.

[Patrick Bateman]

What's the saying? If your first offer doesn't embarrass you then it's too high?