Finance vs Cash Negotiations with Dealers
Finance vs Cash Negotiations with Dealers
Author
Discussion

smiller147

Original Poster:

63 posts

116 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
If this has already been asked to death I apologise, can't find a proper answer anywhere. It's a question about buying a car and finance.

Effectively if I went to a dealer to view a £10k car. I tell them I'm going to use their own finance offering but the payments are too high, they agree to knock the price of the car to £9k to bring them down which of course would likely be in their benefit to sell a car on finance with the cut they will get. I then tell the dealer actually I want to pay cash and I want to pay the £9k.

Dealer is unhappy with this and says no the £9k offer is only if you buy it through finance and if I am buying cash I have to pay the original £10k.

Are dealers allowed to do this or would they need to honour the £9k quote otherwise it wouldn't be treating the customer fairly? i.e. They can't incentivise the consumer buying through finance?


livinginasia

954 posts

134 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
The dealer can sell the car for whatever price they want, or can refuse to sell the car to you at all, it’s their car and their is no law saying they must sell it to you.

In some countries (hong kong for example) cars are typically listed with two prices: a lower one for buying on finance, and a higher one for cash

andrewcliffe

1,458 posts

248 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
Do the terms of the finance allow you to settle immediately?

sanguinary

1,536 posts

235 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
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Can you not honour the dealer and get the cheaper price using finance. Drive away happy and then pay it off before your first payment is due? I’d guess that even with a little interest, you’ll pay less then the £10k cash price.

jimmy156

3,763 posts

211 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
Annoying as it is, I doubt they are doing anything wrong. They can choose who and how to sell their cars too, and can choose to discount it (or not) for whatever reason they see fit.

It may be the car had £800 in profit at 10k, but they’ll finance it at a loss as they’ll make money on the finance deals, or something like that.

smiller147

Original Poster:

63 posts

116 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
andrewcliffe said:
Do the terms of the finance allow you to settle immediately?
Good question maybe this is the way to do it if yes as I've heard of people who buy on finance and settle immediately as you get the interest 'refunded'

CraigyMc

18,250 posts

260 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
smiller147 said:
andrewcliffe said:
Do the terms of the finance allow you to settle immediately?
Good question maybe this is the way to do it if yes as I've heard of people who buy on finance and settle immediately as you get the interest 'refunded'
If you settle within 14 days (using the statutory right of withdrawal from the finance) I don't see what the dealer or lease company can do to you other than refuse to sell you another car later.

Glenn63

3,756 posts

108 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
CraigyMc said:
smiller147 said:
andrewcliffe said:
Do the terms of the finance allow you to settle immediately?
Good question maybe this is the way to do it if yes as I've heard of people who buy on finance and settle immediately as you get the interest 'refunded'
If you settle within 14 days (using the statutory right of withdrawal from the finance) I don't see what the dealer or lease company can do to you other than refuse to sell you another car later.
Exactly this. Take the dealer contribution discount with the finance then next day ring to pay off.

hersh

397 posts

91 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
We bought a new honda and purely took it out on finance as they offered an extra £2,000 discount

Paid it off after the first week and was charged something like £14 interest

Happy with that

Mad Maximus

927 posts

27 months

Sunday 12th January 2025
quotequote all
smiller147 said:
If this has already been asked to death I apologise, can't find a proper answer anywhere. It's a question about buying a car and finance.

Effectively if I went to a dealer to view a £10k car. I tell them I'm going to use their own finance offering but the payments are too high, they agree to knock the price of the car to £9k to bring them down which of course would likely be in their benefit to sell a car on finance with the cut they will get. I then tell the dealer actually I want to pay cash and I want to pay the £9k.

Dealer is unhappy with this and says no the £9k offer is only if you buy it through finance and if I am buying cash I have to pay the original £10k.

Are dealers allowed to do this or would they need to honour the £9k quote otherwise it wouldn't be treating the customer fairly? i.e. They can't incentivise the consumer buying through finance?
That’s sneaky of you and quite clever but it’s not really cricket.

e-honda

9,548 posts

170 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
I wouldn't settle that quickly.
give it at least a month, if not 3 because although you'll pay a few hundred in interest, you'll have the cash to earn some interest also which can probably half your cost
If you do run into major issues you've still got the protection of the finance company being jointly liable, rather than just an already pissed off dealer.

CraigyMc

18,250 posts

260 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
Mad Maximus said:
smiller147 said:
If this has already been asked to death I apologise, can't find a proper answer anywhere. It's a question about buying a car and finance.

Effectively if I went to a dealer to view a £10k car. I tell them I'm going to use their own finance offering but the payments are too high, they agree to knock the price of the car to £9k to bring them down which of course would likely be in their benefit to sell a car on finance with the cut they will get. I then tell the dealer actually I want to pay cash and I want to pay the £9k.

Dealer is unhappy with this and says no the £9k offer is only if you buy it through finance and if I am buying cash I have to pay the original £10k.

Are dealers allowed to do this or would they need to honour the £9k quote otherwise it wouldn't be treating the customer fairly? i.e. They can't incentivise the consumer buying through finance?
That’s sneaky of you and quite clever but it’s not really cricket.
Not sneaky. A legal right.

CraigyMc

18,250 posts

260 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
e-honda said:
I wouldn't settle that quickly.
give it at least a month, if not 3 because although you'll pay a few hundred in interest, you'll have the cash to earn some interest also which can probably half your cost
If you do run into major issues you've still got the protection of the finance company being jointly liable, rather than just an already pissed off dealer.
Why would you wait until you aren't legally allowed to do this?

Sounds like awful advice to me tbh. What's the upside? Of it's goodwill from the finance company (is that even a thing?) how much is it worth?

Mandat

4,410 posts

262 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
CraigyMc said:
Why would you wait until you aren't legally allowed to do this?

Sounds like awful advice to me tbh. What's the upside? Of it's goodwill from the finance company (is that even a thing?) how much is it worth?
Aren't legally allowed to do what?

alscar

8,173 posts

237 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
You could try and do what you suggest but the dealer at that stage is probably well within "his " rights to refuse - you are the one moving the goalposts so TCF wouldn't really apply and I doubt would apply here anyway.
Far better to take the Finance offered and pay it off within the first month but I would leave it at least 14 days minimum before doing so.
However what could you negotiate off if paying with cash in the first place ?

AmazingGrace

242 posts

28 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
Use the finance and take the discount.
Pay off the finance in the next few days after collecting the car. Easy phone call and payment over the phone.


I did this with my most recent car, got money off and free 2years servicing. Straightforward and painless.

Sheepshanks

39,356 posts

143 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
smiller147 said:
Are dealers allowed to do this or would they need to honour the £9k quote otherwise it wouldn't be treating the customer fairly? i.e. They can't incentivise the consumer buying through finance?
I think they can't (per Consumer Credit Act) do it the other way around - charge more for credit.

Taking credit then Withdrawing is a routine thing to do with franchise dealers - many encourage it - but it gets a bit more iffy (in relationship terms) with an indie garage.

In the event of an issue with a car you do hear of finance companies stepping in leaning on the garage - it's their car, after all. If push comes to shove they are jointly liable with the garage.

Presuming Ed

1,666 posts

232 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
And yet if the dealer tried similar tactics we would all call them ****'s

Just go in and be honest with the dealer. You will find it serves you far better in the long run.

If you are instant in being difficult to deal with just take out the finance and being a consumer you will have the protection under the FCA to probably cancel the finance agreement within 30 days and by then the dealer cant do anything about the preferential price from finance.

Kingdom35

1,146 posts

109 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
These threads pop up just at the right time.

I think there is some sound/logical advise here but also some way off advice ie paying the finance off a few months down the line. There will be a clause that states pay off within a period. If you wait a few months youve surpassed this period and wont be allowed to.

So my question is, what kind of % are people seeing discounted on a price tag when taking the finance route?
Same question but for the cash route?

Im thinking if i "motorway" sell our family car, if i lose a 1k, could i negate that by taking out the finance option at a dealer...

I can see a Tesco Loan at just over 6% and im assuming franchise dealers/indie garages will be 3-6% more than this. (looking at Cargiant, Cinch etc)


Sheepshanks

39,356 posts

143 months

Monday 13th January 2025
quotequote all
Kingdom35 said:
I think there is some sound/logical advise here but also some way off advice ie paying the finance off a few months down the line. There will be a clause that states pay off within a period. If you wait a few months youve surpassed this period and wont be allowed to.
It's consumers' legal right to Withdraw within 14 days - there's usually a very small amount of interest to pay (last one I did with VWFS, they waived the interest anyway). There's an uncertaintly about Withdrawing as it's like the finance never existed, and, at least in the new car world, some manufacturers do reserve the right to alos withdraw incentives - but in practice they don't.

After 14 days you can Settle at any time and the maximum allowed interest penalty is 30 days, but you have to give 28 days notice too, so it's effectively 2 mths. Depending on the value of the deal and the interest rate, it could be a few hundred pounds in interest to Settle