How much do you offer under?

[nunpuncher]

I know this is a bit of a "how long is a bit of string" question but I'm curious to know people's approach to making an offer on a used car. It's been a long time since u bought a used car of any sort of value so I'm out of practice.

Do you go on a percentage, fair offer compared to similar cars etc? Is anyone using WBAC valuations as a guide for their offer on a private sale?

Say a car is up for £10k and has been for sale for a while. It's fairly priced compared to others. WBAC offering £7500 for the same car, trade maybe a few hundred more. What would you say is a reasonable offer?

[521EK9]

I never set out to offer less than the asking price. If I can find issues with the car I will offer a price which i believe is fair given the repair costs involved in turning the car into its true market value.

If i cant find anything wrong with it and I agree with the price its for sale for I've got no issue paying the advertised price.

[cpfcfan]

I don't think there's any harm in negotiating for a car. I did a couple of weeks back for my car. I asked for around 10% off. They countered. I hit another figure. We were in agreement. Very civilised

[CRA1G]

So what your sugesting is private add £10K but WBAC say £7.5K trade price and you want to pay just a few quid more than that... so just go to the auctions were you can't have a chat with the owner and test drive the car but Still have to them there charges...!

[HustleRussell]

ETA: Private or Trade?

nunpuncher said:

Say a car is up for £10k and has been for sale for a while. It's fairly priced compared to others. WBAC offering £7500 for the same car, trade maybe a few hundred more. What would you say is a reasonable offer?

I'd go in at £9k and expect to pay a little more than that in the end... £9,400 perhaps. I'd try to add value to the car before reaching a deal too... paintless dent repair, stone chip repair etc. The kind of stuff which doesn't cost a dealer much to do but has a value to me.

Maybe I'm not powerfully built enough to march in and slap £6k in used notes on the counter and expect to leave with a £10 car.

[Driver101]

WBAC are making selling cars privately even harder. It's unfair to use WBAC valuations for a private sale.

[Zippee]

CRA1G said:

So what your sugesting is private add £10K but WBAC say £7.5K trade price and you want to pay just a few quid more than that... so just go to the auctions were you can't have a chat with the owner and test drive the car but Still have to them there charges...!

Exactly, 25% off is a bit of a p!sstake. WBAC etc essentially offer trade price to sling through to auctions, it shouldn't really be used as a guide to a cars worth. I tend to look at what else is available and go from there. If it's a rare car in a rarer spec you've less chance of a decent discount than if its a common silver Focus for example.
I would never pay a retail price for a similar private sale though.

[TXG399]

If you got a dealer and lead with "WBAC says it's worth X, so I'll offer X+£500" then that's a super effective way to look like a nob and lose any goodwill at all the dealer might have for you.

WBAC pays auction prices. The cost to a dealer for preparing and selling a car is significantly more than £500. Additionally, people are under the perception that dealers and supermarkets carry huge margins on their cars. They don't. Supermarkets make money on volume, finance and extras. Dealers make money on finance, extra and manufacturer bonuses.

Additionally most main dealers are struggling at the moment as the market is saturated and are probably already listing the cars as low as they can go already. The dealership I worked at was under extreme pressure and most of our used cars were listed at SIV, which is basically break-even.

[Edible Roadkill]

Depends what the rest of them are priced at and any work needing done.

If the car is priced 10k and the rest of them on AT are 9500-10500 and the car requires no immediate work I'd maybe try a couple hundred quid as a 'I'm here cash in pocket prepared to drive it away' approach. If it needs tyres within a few months I'd negotiate another appropriate amount say 200 for front tyres, to see them replaced, chances are the owner already knows and Is expecting but secretly hoping it's not picked out.

Anyone who uttered the wbac price to me if I was selling would be shown the door, go and get one from them then if that's what they say the price is.

Do people really use wbac as a price benchmark???

Edited by Edible Roadkill on Tuesday 21st August 10:40

[AlwynMike]

Edible Roadkill said:

Do people really use wbac as a price benchmark???

They certainly do!

Some even quote WBAC then go in lower "because WBAC always knock the price down when you get there"

Not sold a car to someone with that approach yet....

I personally, when looking to buy, will check WBAC to see the base minimum (I'm not a dealer etc so don't have experience on what is fetching what money)

Last car I sold for a friend went to Evans Halshaw who gave him much more than WBAC and the experience was pretty good.
What I thought was different about EH was that the sales guys and girls were all petrolheads, and had a number of (personal) cars or bits of cars! Pretty strange for a car showroom ime.

[nunpuncher]

Edible Roadkill said:

Do people really use wbac as a price benchmark???

Edited by Edible Roadkill on Tuesday 21st August 10:40

I guess that's the basic question I'm asking here. Not so much a benchmark but a bottom line bracket.

I'm talking private sale rather than dealership in this case and although I'm out of practice due to years of leasing/financing I'm not completely numb to the etiquette of buying so am not about to start insulting sellers on their driveway with WBAC offers + £1. However, am I wrong to assume many sellers will look at selling to WBAC or trade as an easy option and are therefor aware of that bottom line bracket and expecting somewhere between that and their asking price?

[bmwmatt24]

I would accept that £10K is the asking price, go and view the car and if you can find issues that are not described, work on the basis of cost to fix to bring it to advertised.

I've recently had my car up for sale for £15k, the low ball offers of circa £10K without even viewing the car started to piss me off, WBAC were offering £12k!

In the end a genuine buyer came to view the car and we settled on £14.8k.

[NickGRhodes]

521EK9 said:

I never set out to offer less than the asking price. If I can find issues with the car I will offer a price which i believe is fair given the repair costs involved in turning the car into its true market value.

If i cant find anything wrong with it and I agree with the price its for sale for I've got no issue paying the advertised price.

This, also if a car I like is above my budget, I will state this upfront before arranging a viewing.

[Driver101]

nunpuncher said:

Edible Roadkill said:

Do people really use wbac as a price benchmark???

Edited by Edible Roadkill on Tuesday 21st August 10:40

I guess that's the basic question I'm asking here. Not so much a benchmark but a bottom line bracket.

I'm talking private sale rather than dealership in this case and although I'm out of practice due to years of leasing/financing I'm not completely numb to the etiquette of buying so am not about to start insulting sellers on their driveway with WBAC offers + £1. However, am I wrong to assume many sellers will look at selling to WBAC or trade as an easy option and are therefor aware of that bottom line bracket and expecting somewhere between that and their asking price?

Privately should be somewhere around the middle of WBAC and dealer forecourt prices.

Some people take the time and use guides to accurately value their car. It's unfair to hit them with WBAC valuations as it's not a baseline for anything other than a trade sale.

WBAC make it too easy to get a lowball valuation. You don't even need to give a real email address for a valuation. They are used widespread as a valuation tool now. Also remember that WBAC aren't the only car buying service. There is plenty of others out there and Evans Halshaw often beat them by a margin.

I'm looking at older BMW Z4 E86 just now. Using WBAC they value the cars at £5000-6500. Privately people are asking from £9000-12000 with some dealers asking a bit more.

Valuation guides suggest somewhere around £8000-£8500 for a private sale. It's still a minimum of 23% More than WBAC.