Getting best deal on a used purchase

[CAPP0]

I often see posts on here which suggest that you can get a better deal out of a used car salesman if you take his finance, which he gets commission on, and then pay it off and cancel as soon as you get home.

Is it as simple as that? I'm looking at a couple of cars in the £20k bracket which I have the cash for, but I'm happy to finance for a week if I'll get a much better deal. I'm pretty time-poor so I can't be doing with weeks and weeks of faff if that's what it takes?

I saw the other thread on here about dealer APRs but in this scenario I doubt that matters much?

Thanks.

[ZX10R NIN]

It depends on the car but you may well get a dealer contribution of 1-2k as well as a couple of free services by taking out there finance, I advise my clients to pay the first two months finance just to keep the incentives as I've had a few clients lose their services after paying the finance off after a week.

[CAPP0]

ZX10R NIN said:

It depends on the car but you may well get a dealer contribution of 1-2k as well as a couple of free services by taking out there finance, I advise my clients to pay the first two months finance just to keep the incentives as I've had a few clients lose their services after paying the finance off after a week.

Thanks. Is it "a thing" o go down this route, i.e. if I sit down with him and work this through, will he know/need to know that I'll cancel after a short time? Or do I keep that strictly under my hat?

[ZX10R NIN]

CAPP0 said:

Thanks. Is it "a thing" o go down this route, i.e. if I sit down with him and work this through, will he know/need to know that I'll cancel after a short time? Or do I keep that strictly under my hat?

You can tell the salesman he's not bothered as long as he gets the extra bonuses of you taking the finance hence two months worth of payments make sure there are no penalties for clearing the finances & go from there.

[stevemcs]

We did this with a PCP on a Jaguar, it needs to be on finance for 6 months so that the dealership and salesman don't lose their commission.

[AlwynMike]

Done this on 2 new cars for the manufacturers contribution as well as the Dealer.
Both occasions I was up front with sales chap.
Some sales chaps won't entertain this though.
Both cars paid up within days without quibble - cost less than a couple of pounds interest/fees.

[CAPP0]

All very helpful, thanks. I'm planning on viewing the cars at the weekend so I'll keep this up my sleeve.

[toastyhamster]

I tried this route, would have to be tied in for at least a year (Jag) before paying off, pretty much negated the contribution, I guess they've got wise.

[ZX10R NIN]

Jaguar is normally 6 months then you can clear the PCP with no penalties.

[CAPP0]

I'm looking at an independent/specialist, they seem fairly small, about 30 cars in stock, but some high-end stuff, 6-figure prices at the top end.

We shall see.

[33q]

I cleared my VWFS PCP in 4 days . No loss of benefits

Cost about £15. I was upfront with the salesman from the beginning

Did similar with my wife's Polo...but waited a month....just cost me more as i didnt cancel within 14 days

[Dimebars]

Just ask if there are any incentives for taking his over-priced finance

If there aren't, then haggle hard and pay cash

No point financing something if there are no upsides for you

[AMV]

I've recently bought a car for my mum on PCP due to the discounts offered by the main dealer. I had made clear to the salesman i will be clearing the balance in 30 days. I believe the dealer will still get the commission at this point and myself will save the interest!

[KungFuPanda]

CAPP0 said:

I'm looking at an independent/specialist, they seem fairly small, about 30 cars in stock, but some high-end stuff, 6-figure prices at the top end.

We shall see.

If it’s an independent used car garage, there won’t be any manufacturer to kick in any contribution.

[33q]

AMV said:

I've recently bought a car for my mum on PCP due to the discounts offered by the main dealer. I had made clear to the salesman i will be clearing the balance in 30 days. I believe the dealer will still get the commission at this point and myself will save the interest!

Clear it in under 14 days and get them to agree it is a cancellation.....you will save a bit more

[Deep Thought]

ZX10R NIN said:

It depends on the car but you may well get a dealer contribution of 1-2k as well as a couple of free services by taking out there finance, I advise my clients to pay the first two months finance just to keep the incentives as I've had a few clients lose their services after paying the finance off after a week.

On a used car?? Highly doubtful IMHO...

[Deep Thought]

KungFuPanda said:

CAPP0 said:

I'm looking at an independent/specialist, they seem fairly small, about 30 cars in stock, but some high-end stuff, 6-figure prices at the top end.

We shall see.

If it’s an independent used car garage, there won’t be any manufacturer to kick in any contribution.

+1

Theres sometimes a finance contribution for taking out a manufacturers finance package on an approved used car, but it would be rare if at all with a small used car indy and certainly not to the level bandied about here.

[Deep Thought]

CAPP0 said:

I often see posts on here which suggest that you can get a better deal out of a used car salesman if you take his finance, which he gets commission on, and then pay it off and cancel as soon as you get home.

Is it as simple as that? I'm looking at a couple of cars in the £20k bracket which I have the cash for, but I'm happy to finance for a week if I'll get a much better deal. I'm pretty time-poor so I can't be doing with weeks and weeks of faff if that's what it takes?

I saw the other thread on here about dealer APRs but in this scenario I doubt that matters much?

Thanks.

Finding the right car at the right price is going to yield more savings than trying to knock back a used car dealer on his forecourt price or hope he has a finance incentive scheme.

I'd rather have £10 off a car at £19,000 than £1,000 off the same car priced at another dealers at £20,000.

[CAPP0]

Just to follow this up: bought a car at the weekend and had a frank & open discussion with the dealer about this option. I said that if there were mutual benefit in going that route, I'd be happy to do so. He was very open to the suggestion and ran the numbers but in the end there was no more than about £100 in it between us, taking into account how much they would get back and what interest I'd have to pay in the short term, so we dropped that idea. He did say it was worth asking though.

[ZX10R NIN]

Deep Thought said:

On a used car?? Highly doubtful IMHO...

I got a 1k dealer contribution for a client on a nearly new M140 this morning there are quite a few contributions available on nearly new stock depending on the network they need to move a certain number of cars be it new or nearly new then the incentives come out across the board.

There are certain Mercedes dealerships offering 1k dealer contribution & up to 1k from Mercedes on used stock at the moment.