Presume January is a good time to buy a car?

[pimpin gimp]

I'm off from sunny somerset to bolton tomorrow to have a look at a Lexus RX300 SE-L with a view to buying it and bringing it home.

Now the garage I'm going to obviously know I'm keen as I'm coming such a long way, but on the flipside he mentioned that he's struggling to shift the car which leaves me thinking I could get a bit of something of the asking...

Thing is, I've nver actually queried a price before, always just paid why was marked up as I've been p/x'ing. But this time its a cash purchase. Granted it's only up for £7,500 but its got everything in it and is also lpg converted so it seems ideal.

How do I go about getting cash off? Is it just a case of suggesting £7,100 because of a few scrapes or whatever? Haggling is very much new to me, HELP! Please..

[POORCARDEALER]

7100 would be a sensible bid. Sales are a little sparse this month but replacement stock is on short supply and expensive

[waterwonder]

Go to autotrader, enter details of the of the lexi, search nationally.

Determine going rate for a good one.

Go see car, if it's a good one offer the going rate less however checky you're feeling. Remember to take into account, tax and any consumables that need doing soon.
Walk away happy having bought a good car car at near or below the current Market rate.

I would imagine there's a keen deal to be had.

[Steffan]

Be careful with LPG converted cars. Many of them travel very, very high mileages and not every owner records the mileage. Modern cars are very easy to adjust.

Look for the high mileage signs: with a Lexus there may not be many.

January is a good time to buy: but this year I suspect any month will be a buyers market.

I hope it works out for you.

[P K Wright]

Parkers offer a free basic car valuation service (http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/prices/). Enter the details to see if you're getting ripped off or not.