Approved Used mini - discount?

[silverous]

Hi,

I know Minis are popular and you didn't traditionally get massive discounts on new ones, but with Carwow etc. that seems to have changed however I've noticed in looking at used ones the sales people always seem to trot out the "the cars are priced aggressively to sell so will only be able to do a token gesture" and they seem fixed on that, happy for you to walk. I've never bought a car for the price it was listed at - always wanting 5% or so off. Is it a case of suck it up on minis?

Cheers,

Silverous

[Vaud]

Why would they give you 5% off something that is already the cheapest?

If they know their market then they may give a token towards “buyers satisfaction” (I think it is called) but why should they give more?

[silverous]

You've never got a discount off a used car price shown in the window? Why would dealers ever do that? It is the same reason anyone gives a discount on anything - they are hoping to sell at the shown price but savvy buyers will ask them what they are prepared to sell for. Have you never got a discount off a house or given one?

[sidekickdmr]

If something is overpriced and I can justify knocking them down I have and will, sometimes a lot and sometimes succeeded to knock a lot off.

However just because something is for sale, doesn't mean that you should get a discount, a previous house for example, It was a doer uper, I saw it about 2 hours after it came on the market, offered full asking price there and then if it was removed, they accepted.

they already had another 5 viewings booked and when they called to tell them it was sold they all tried to better my offer but luckily agent/vendor stuck to their word and said no.

If I would have wanted even £500 off, they would have kept advertising it and it would have gone over asking.

[silverous]

sidekickdmr said:

If something is overpriced and I can justify knocking them down I have and will, sometimes a lot and sometimes succeeded to knock a lot off.

However just because something is for sale, doesn't mean that you should get a discount, a previous house for example, It was a doer uper, I saw it about 2 hours after it came on the market, offered full asking price there and then if it was removed, they accepted.

they already had another 5 viewings booked and when they called to tell them it was sold they all tried to better my offer but luckily agent/vendor stuck to their word and said no.

If I would have wanted even £500 off, they would have kept advertising it and it would have gone over asking.

Makes sense, clearly depends on how keenly priced things are - supply and demand etc. I think this one is a bit overpriced, it has a good spec which I like but they are charging handsomely for it. I've just never considered paying asking price for any used car, always got some sort of discount.

[berlintaxi]

The only person who knows whether a discount is achievable is the salesman, chance your arm offer 5% less and see what they say, sometimes there just isn't the need to discount to shift a product.

[Dr Interceptor]

Also depends how much the car owes them... If they've had to put a lot of re-work into it to prepare it for sale, they'll hold out until they get the asking price.

[Nano2nd]

it will be totally down to your timing... it'll depend on performance against sales targets and margin in the car, if its a low margin car and performance against targets is good... or indeed early in the Quarter/month (like now) then your chances of a discount will be less.

you need to study the market, are these cars selling? are they being pro-actively reduced in price?

i'm currently watching the top end of the Audi market (R8) and approved used cars are being reduced on a regular basis on the website to get them sold... so chances are if you're a genuine buyer for an approved R8 you'd stand a strong chance of getting a discount.

[Vaud]

silverous said:

You've never got a discount off a used car price shown in the window? Why would dealers ever do that? It is the same reason anyone gives a discount on anything - they are hoping to sell at the shown price but savvy buyers will ask them what they are prepared to sell for. Have you never got a discount off a house or given one?

Yes lots of times, but it is not automatic.

Sometimes the lowest price is the lowest price as it has already been discounted to shift. Also negotiating on items you may want (e.g. service pack) that has more margin for the dealer can be a preferable tactic but not things that cost the same for both of you (RFL, fuel)

There is no obligation for me to discount if I am confident that I can fulfil the sale within a time frame I'm happy with.

On the contrary I paid (slightly) more than another vendor for my last house so that we could secure it and my ability to execute was stronger than theirs.