Haggling on price after paying a deposit

[jak kez 187]

Finally found myself a new car after a long 3 week search without a motor (that's the last time I sell a car without having anything concrete lined up for the next purchase!).

It only came on the market Tuesday night, saw the advert yesterday, spoke with the garage at length before deciding it was the right car and then paid a £250 deposit so it could be MOT'd ready for me to collect tomorrow. The deposit is refundable providing I find the car not up to the standard detailed in the advert and over the phone, but they're a good garage so I'm confident everything will be fine.

The garage is 2 hours away so felt I needed to place the deposit as soon as possible so I didn't miss out. However I totally forgot to see if there was any wiggle room on the price. The car is fairly reasonably priced if i'm honest, but it's due its next service in January 2019 so I would like to try get a bit of money off if possible.

Question is now i've paid a deposit, have I essentially agreed to the price on the advert, or is there usually room for negotiation once viewing the car in person? They are an independent garage and not a dealer and told me the car was taken in as a part exchange so I think they should have a decent little margin on it, but i don't want to look an idiot asking for money off for them to laugh in my face haha.

[2Btoo]

jak kez 187 said:

Question is now i've paid a deposit, have I essentially agreed to the price on the advert

Emphatically yes.

Haggle now and expect a VERY short response.

Don't like this? Walk away. Without your deposit.

[sandman77]

You're not serious are you? You have paid a deposit to reserve the car and the garage have now prepped and MOT'd it for you and you now want to haggle over the price when you go to collect?

[Greendubber]

Don't be one of those people.....

[PurpleTurtle]

If you were selling your car and someone paid a deposit, then phoned back wanting to negotiate on price, what would you say?

[hajaba123]

Like most things if you don't try then you will never know. Worst that can happen is you pay the price that you've already agreed to,

Let us know how it goes

[carboy2017]

You dont stand a chance besides which is also unethical to do so

[Nickp82]

As above, the best you can hope for now is to build up a bit of a rapport with the person you are dealing with and ask for a bit of a deal in a cheerful matey way, it may land you with a bit of money off if you are lucky. But failing that, if the car is what they say it is, is what you want and is reasonably priced then everyone is a winner.

[jak kez 187]

Haha alright calm down everyone, I get the picture. Not the end of the world as the price is reasonable, i'm sure i'll survive...just thought i'd get the general consensus before I went to collect it but it appears my initial thoughts are the same as most of you lot.

[Aeschylus]

Asking for a set of mats would be fine

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd not hold out any hope but you can try a cheeky bid if it doesn't work then you pay the agreed price.

[philipbrown123]

Price is fixed, but could ask for 6 months rfl or full tank of petrol.

[jak kez 187]

So got the car. Price was fixed but nothing to do with the deposit, just couldn’t shift anymore on the price due to a very tight margin. Did get the warranty upgraded to 12 months for free though so I’m happy!

[ZX10R NIN]

Glad you got sorted OP an extra 6 months for free is a nice bonus.