Buying a cheap car from a dealer £500

[mr_spock]

So with my Maserati up for sale I'm looking for a cheap run-around (I'll start a "what car" thread sometime...). Looking at AT, eBay etc I see a bunch of cheap cars which look promising, from Saabs, Jeeps, Mercs and so on from dealers who mainly sell more expensive cars, so I'm assuming these are trade-ins.

What I'm wondering is how keen they are to sell these? I don't want to waste my time, or the dealer's time, going to look at a car up at £700 to offer him (say) £500 if it's just stupid. Is it worth a bit of a low-ball offer, or are they happy to hang on to these cars until they sell at asking price?

OK, I know there's not really an answer, but I'd be interested in opinions and experiences.

[eltax91]

They can't really get around their obligations selling a car to a punter, so they obviously have to cover themselves by offering a warranty, hence they probably won't discount it much. I have, once, in my past, done a cash deal with a trader for a significant (40%) discount on a trade-in car, on the understanding he provides no warranty or receipt for purchase etc. It was a gamble I took as the car was for a banger rally and within weeks was scrapped in Barcelona, so no warranty needed.

[Gruber]

eltax91 said:

They can't really get around their obligations selling a car to a punter, so they obviously have to cover themselves by offering a warranty, hence they probably won't discount it much. I have, once, in my past, done a cash deal with a trader for a significant (40%) discount on a trade-in car, on the understanding he provides no warranty or receipt for purchase etc. It was a gamble I took as the car was for a banger rally and within weeks was scrapped in Barcelona, so no warranty needed.

There is no requirement for second hand car dealers to give a warranty.

[McHaggis]

At that price, I wouldn't bother with a trader - there isn't enough margin there to get anything reasonable. I'd hit the small ads of the local paper, supermarket adverts, gumtree, etc.

[jezzaaa]

Gruber said:

There is no requirement for second hand car dealers to give a warranty.

That's not what he said...he said the dealer would normally buy a warranty to cover himself due to his SGA etc responsibilities making him otherwise completely liable...the warranty might indemnify the dealer against major things that might go wrong.

[Matt UK]

McHaggis said:

At that price, I wouldn't bother with a trader - there isn't enough margin there to get anything reasonable. I'd hit the small ads of the local paper, supermarket adverts, gumtree, etc.

Totally agree.

A £700 car from a dealer is a £350 car at best IMO.

Whereas with some good haggling with a desperate private seller, £700 may well get you a £1000 car.

[Gruber]

jezzaaa said:

Gruber said:

There is no requirement for second hand car dealers to give a warranty.

That's not what he said...he said the dealer would normally buy a warranty to cover himself due to his SGA etc responsibilities making him otherwise completely liable...the warranty might indemnify the dealer against major things that went wrong.

With respect, that's not what he said:

eltax91 said:

They can't really get around their obligations selling a car to a punter, so they obviously have to cover themselves by offering a warranty, hence they probably won't discount it much.

But if that's what he meant, then I apologise for pedantry.

Every day the "dealer must offer a 3 month warranty" thing is wheeled out, and every day one of us lawyers says "no they" don't.

I'll go away again...

Edited by Gruber on Wednesday 15th August 10:19

[300bhp/ton]

mr_spock said:

So with my Maserati up for sale I'm looking for a cheap run-around (I'll start a "what car" thread sometime...). Looking at AT, eBay etc I see a bunch of cheap cars which look promising, from Saabs, Jeeps, Mercs and so on from dealers who mainly sell more expensive cars, so I'm assuming these are trade-ins.

What I'm wondering is how keen they are to sell these? I don't want to waste my time, or the dealer's time, going to look at a car up at £700 to offer him (say) £500 if it's just stupid. Is it worth a bit of a low-ball offer, or are they happy to hang on to these cars until they sell at asking price?

OK, I know there's not really an answer, but I'd be interested in opinions and experiences.

I'd have thought this was obvious. They NEED to make money on the sale, it's likely their income and livelihood.

Haggle, offer low. But at the end of the day they won't sell at a loss just to make a sale.

[crostonian]

Worth making an offer better than the dealer being messed about on ebay which is where most of them wind up. About the only 'warranty' you can expect at this pricepoint is that it's HPI clear. It's literally caveat emptor at this price level as the cars are deemed to be verging on scrap, courts aren't interested even if the car you bought blew up going home!

[300bhp/ton]

jezzaaa said:

Gruber said:

There is no requirement for second hand car dealers to give a warranty.

That's not what he said...he said the dealer would normally buy a warranty to cover himself due to his SGA etc responsibilities making him otherwise completely liable...the warranty might indemnify the dealer against major things that might go wrong.

Yet that's still wrong, no trader in their right mind would spend cash on a warranty for a £700 quid banger. Less hassle to buy it back and flog it on again.

[300bhp/ton]

mr_spock said:

So with my Maserati up for sale I'm looking for a cheap run-around (I'll start a "what car" thread sometime...). Looking at AT, eBay etc I see a bunch of cheap cars which look promising, from Saabs, Jeeps, Mercs and so on from dealers who mainly sell more expensive cars, so I'm assuming these are trade-ins.

What I'm wondering is how keen they are to sell these? I don't want to waste my time, or the dealer's time, going to look at a car up at £700 to offer him (say) £500 if it's just stupid. Is it worth a bit of a low-ball offer, or are they happy to hang on to these cars until they sell at asking price?

OK, I know there's not really an answer, but I'd be interested in opinions and experiences.

You also have to think about how much margin is in the car. Most traders will pick up stock from car auctions or as other trade ins. But seriously most £700 cars are only likely to have £100-200 profit in them unless the trader has been exceptionally lucky when they attained it.

[mr_spock]

OK, I guess I assumed that they would have made the profit on the car they traded the cheap car against, so would just want rid of it - the "px to clear" type of deal.

Problem with buying privately for me is that the local paper has nothing - maybe 5 private cars a week - and the few cars near me advertised with a note in the window are madly overpriced. A neighbour is selling an '02 CAT-D Saab 900 convertible, and wants £3500 for it!

I guess it's off to eBay and Gumtree then.

[Matt UK]

Have you tried Autotrader?

[300bhp/ton]

mr_spock said:

OK, I guess I assumed that they would have made the profit on the car they traded the cheap car against, so would just want rid of it - the "px to clear" type of deal.

Problem with buying privately for me is that the local paper has nothing - maybe 5 private cars a week - and the few cars near me advertised with a note in the window are madly overpriced. A neighbour is selling an '02 CAT-D Saab 900 convertible, and wants £3500 for it!

I guess it's off to eBay and Gumtree then.

ok, what sort of trader are you meaning? Are you meaning a bigger dealership type place with lots of stock, or more the home trader/small business type?

If it's the former then yes they may well be happier to flog it, although if they have no interest in making money on it, they'd probably just ship them straight off to the auctions and be done with it. And no, sadly people always want the best deal, so as a trade in the trader needs to juggle the margin on the car going out, while not paying over the odds for the p/x. They might juggle/fiddle the figures slightly to make it "look" more appealing to the customer, such as offering less on the p/x but moving more on the new car. But at the end of the day they don't want to be selling any at a loss, or even breakeven. They all need to be profit making or else there's really no point in the sale.

Personally I like to haggle, so I'd still offer a really low price to begin with. That way you can gauge how much movement there might be and stand more chance of buying it at the lowest possible price.

[jay140285]

mr_spock said:

OK, I guess I assumed that they would have made the profit on the car they traded the cheap car against, so would just want rid of it - the "px to clear" type of deal.

Problem with buying privately for me is that the local paper has nothing - maybe 5 private cars a week - and the few cars near me advertised with a note in the window are madly overpriced. A neighbour is selling an '02 CAT-D Saab 900 convertible, and wants £3500 for it!

I guess it's off to eBay and Gumtree then.

Is your neighbour drunk???

[McHaggis]

jay140285 said:

Is your neighbour drunk???

And would probably be a 9-3 if it's a 2002 plate.

[McHaggis]

Oh, and 9-3 convertibles hold their value quite well (though £3500 is still overpriced)

http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Car...

[S2Mike]

Go with the cash to the car auctions, thats where the traders will offload their cheap stuff or buy stock, so will be in at the sharp end, British Car Auctions in my experience and probably others allow an inspection before the auction and a short time after you have purchased to be certain you have the deal you expected, ( the car is all they described warts and all ).
Works for me.
Must add, make sure you stick to the budget, so easy to see something tasty for a few hundred more and get carried away.

Edited by S2Mike on Wednesday 15th August 13:19

[kentmotorcompany]

I mainly sell cars in the £6-£12k range and occasionally take in a cheapie PX's.

If it doesn't have much MOT and some apparent problems I might scrap it, send it to the auction, or pass it to a trader who deals with these type of cars. Based on the age old money/aggro ratio.

If its a pretty decent example I will ebay auction it.

Example 1)
Couple of months ago I passed on 1999 Fiat Coupe Turbo with 6 months MOT, a faulty boot, loads of previous paint, and an intermittent rough running problem (suspected injector) to a trader who deals with sub £1k cars.

Example 2)
Just last week I ebay auctioned a 1996 BMW 323i SE Auto, 159k, 11 months MOT, 3 months tax, recent major service, quite new matching tyres, decent spec with leather/sunroof/climate/parking sensors. Drove very well, couple rust scabs around the arches, but otherwise decent original condition.
Sold for £520. I have virtually no liability with that car because of the age/mileage it is reasonable to expect it almost certainly develop some problems in the future.
In reality I expect the owner will get nearly years motoring without spending any major money, maybe nothing at all.


Hope this gives some perspective on these types of cars in the trade, however I am just one trader, and my way of dealing with these cars will not be the same as every one else.

[morgrp]

Gruber said:

There is no requirement for second hand car dealers to give a warranty.

true but they are legally obliged to sell it as a road worthy car - this is why a lot of dealers sell old st cars as "private" sales off their forecourt on things like ebay and autotrader