Have I blown my haggling chances?

[RacingGreen0001]

I found a used approved VW Golf online for a good price - it's just been reduced by £1,500 (according to the salesman). It meets my requirements and according to HPI Valuations its priced towards the higher end of the valuation spectrum.

In my naivety, I put down a holding deposit so I could ensure my trip tomorrow wouldn't be wasted - they're 3 hours away. However, I might not have done myself any favours in regards bargaining by being keen to reserve the car.

I tried to haggle a cambelt and waterpump change as it's due but the sales manager has flat out refused as they've given me the whole 'we're selling at a loss' talk. They're not even considering a full tank of fuel.

When I get visit it tomorrow - are there any tips on how I can recover my haggling position because they already know I'm travelling from so far?

Thanks in advance for the advice, Adam.

Advert Details :

Pictures https://imgur.com/a/RyjmnDv

£10996 - REAR VIEW CAMERA*****WINTER PACK*****PARKING SENSORS*****MIRROR PACK*****ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL*****DAB RADIO*****ANTI THEFT ALARM SYSTEM*****LEATHER MULTI-FUNCTION STEERING WHEEL*****AUTO LIGHTS*****AUTO WIPERS***** , 12 months warranty, Clean bodywork, Black Cloth interior - Clean Condition, Tyre condition Good, Metallic PACIFIC BLUE

Edited by RacingGreen0001 on Friday 5th July 10:02

[kiethton]

if approved used and the cambelt is actually due I'd be printing a copy of the approved used T&C's and point to the requirements.....

[Lemming Train]

RacingGreen0001 said:

I found a used approved VW Golf online for a good price - it's just been reduced by £1,500 (according to the salesman). It meets my requirements and according to HPI Valuations its priced towards the higher end of the valuation spectrum.

In my naivety, I put down a holding deposit so I could ensure my trip tomorrow wouldn't be wasted - they're 3 hours away. However, I might not have done myself any favours in regards bargaining by being keen to reserve the car.

I tried to haggle a cambelt and waterpump change as it's due but the sales manager has flat out refused as they've given me the whole 'we're selling at a loss' talk. They're not even considering a full tank of fuel.

When I get visit it tomorrow - are there any tips on how I can recover my haggling position because they already know I'm travelling from so far?

Thanks in advance for the advice, Adam.

Advert Details :

Pictures https://imgur.com/a/RyjmnDv

£10996 - REAR VIEW CAMERA*****WINTER PACK*****PARKING SENSORS*****MIRROR PACK*****ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL*****DAB RADIO*****ANTI THEFT ALARM SYSTEM*****LEATHER MULTI-FUNCTION STEERING WHEEL*****AUTO LIGHTS*****AUTO WIPERS***** , 12 months warranty, Clean bodywork, Black Cloth interior - Clean Condition, Tyre condition Good, Metallic PACIFIC BLUE

Edited by RacingGreen0001 on Friday 5th July 10:02

Further proof if it were ever needed that these 'approved used' cars are all the shyte stock that dealers just want rid of quickly because they need a load of money spending on them. Put an 'approved used' banner in the windscreen and pay the local valeting guy £60 to mint up the bodywork and it'll be gone by the end of the day after some gullible sap walks in and falls for the 'approved used' nonsense.

[Bumblebee7]

Find some comparable cars, same spec, similar mileage etc. and bring print outs of those. Say you've seen them or are planning to. You'll commit to the deal if they make it worth your while but otherwise you'd like to go and see the other cars first. If the car's as good as they say it will sell before you come back a second time. The only thing you can do is to threaten to walk (politely of course) and mean it. If you're not prepared to walk away for the sake of a 3 hour journey then they really do have you by the danglies.

[av185]

Clean condition lol.

Got to love that old chestnut.

[Prizam]

Bumblebee7 said:

Find some comparable cars, same spec, similar mileage etc. and bring print outs of those. Say you've seen them or are planning to. You'll commit to the deal if they make it worth your while but otherwise you'd like to go and see the other cars first. If the car's as good as they say it will sell before you come back a second time. The only thing you can do is to threaten to walk (politely of course) and mean it. If you're not prepared to walk away for the sake of a 3 hour journey then they really do have you by the danglies.

Yes, this. Its a mass produced golf. Not exactly a rare car.

[Lemming Train]

Bumblebee7 said:

Find some comparable cars, same spec, similar mileage etc. and bring print outs of those. Say you've seen them or are planning to. You'll commit to the deal if they make it worth your while but otherwise you'd like to go and see the other cars first. If the car's as good as they say it will sell before you come back a second time. The only thing you can do is to threaten to walk (politely of course) and mean it. If you're not prepared to walk away for the sake of a 3 hour journey then they really do have you by the danglies.

Why would the dealer be in the slightest bit bothered by this "threat" to walk away? They have his money so I fully expect them to smile, wave and say "Cheerio! Thanks for coming!" and carry on with their day.

[super7]

Just walk in and say you need the cars price to start with a 9!!! And then when they give all the 'there's no money in it for us' be prepared to walk out.

You have NO haggling chance unless you are prepared to walk out.

Whilst THAT car has everything you need, it's a mass produced vehicle of which there are hundreds of thousands on the roads in the UK. Another will come up very soon. Don't let the dealer make you form an emotional attachment to this one specific car. Then he's won!

[super7]

Lemming Train said:

Bumblebee7 said:

Find some comparable cars, same spec, similar mileage etc. and bring print outs of those. Say you've seen them or are planning to. You'll commit to the deal if they make it worth your while but otherwise you'd like to go and see the other cars first. If the car's as good as they say it will sell before you come back a second time. The only thing you can do is to threaten to walk (politely of course) and mean it. If you're not prepared to walk away for the sake of a 3 hour journey then they really do have you by the danglies.

Why would the dealer be in the slightest bit bothered by this "threat" to walk away? They have his money so I fully expect them to smile, wave and say "Cheerio! Thanks for coming!" and carry on with their day.

It's a holding deposit, not a deposit on the car. They'll need to refund it.

[Lemming Train]

super7 said:

Lemming Train said:

Bumblebee7 said:

Find some comparable cars, same spec, similar mileage etc. and bring print outs of those. Say you've seen them or are planning to. You'll commit to the deal if they make it worth your while but otherwise you'd like to go and see the other cars first. If the car's as good as they say it will sell before you come back a second time. The only thing you can do is to threaten to walk (politely of course) and mean it. If you're not prepared to walk away for the sake of a 3 hour journey then they really do have you by the danglies.

Why would the dealer be in the slightest bit bothered by this "threat" to walk away? They have his money so I fully expect them to smile, wave and say "Cheerio! Thanks for coming!" and carry on with their day.

It's a holding deposit, not a deposit on the car. They'll need to refund it.

That goes agains the whole point of putting down a deposit.

[Wacky Racer]

super7 said:

It's a holding deposit, not a deposit on the car. They'll need to refund it.

This. If you don't like it, walk away, you have wasted a day out and travel costs.

Never a good idea to buy a fairly common mass produced car three hours away, always try to by locally if possible, if you have to take it back for a fifteen minute job.


Different if it's a Ferrari, or Bugatti you may have to.

[Bumblebee7]

Lemming Train said:

That goes agains the whole point of putting down a deposit.

It's there to protect the buyer from the car being sold to someone else, not to protect the seller from losing money as they've not had to do anything yet. A holding deposit should be fully refundable, and certainly subject to inspecting the car. The reason for the buyer not wanting it could be as trivial as saying I thought the colour looked different in the photo than it does in person, I'm no longer interested and I would expect the dealer to honour that and return the holding deposit in full.

[ninjag]

I had to look it up but it seems the general view is that deposits on cars are not refundable. Here's one such link https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/is-my-deposit-refun...

Unless you can find something about the car which makes it not as described then I fear you don't have many options. Cambelt doesn't seem to be covered under the warranty. There's a lot of focus on what's not covered and exclusions rather than what is actually covered. I'm sure my 3rd Party warranty has better cover than this but the car may be a good one and if the cambelt etc isn't too expensive then perhaps not a bad situation?

Vorsprung durch zieh deine hose runter.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/files/live/sites/vwuk...

[Lemming Train]

Bumblebee7 said:

Lemming Train said:

That goes agains the whole point of putting down a deposit.

It's there to protect the buyer from the car being sold to someone else, not to protect the seller from losing money as they've not had to do anything yet. A holding deposit should be fully refundable, and certainly subject to inspecting the car. The reason for the buyer not wanting it could be as trivial as saying I thought the colour looked different in the photo than it does in person, I'm no longer interested and I would expect the dealer to honour that and return the holding deposit in full.

Well that is complete nonsense imo. If you can change your mind and get your deposit returned then the dealer should not accept these "holding deposits" as there's absolutely nothing in it for them and simply puts them at a disadvantage because they are losing custom from other people who wanted to buy the car. At the very minimum the deposit should be absolutely non-return/refundable. You either commit to buy the car, or you don't. If it sells in between times then tough st.

[brman]

ninjag said:

I had to look it up but it seems the general view is that deposits on cars are not refundable. Here's one such link https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/is-my-deposit-refun...

except if you read that article it says....
However, if the entirety of the sale takes place off-premises (so you are buying a car without ever visiting the dealership), then you have 14 days to change your mind – even after paying for the car and taking delivery. In this case, you are entitled to a full refund of any monies paid (some conditions do apply, though).

If I understand correctly the OP has not yet visited the dealer so the deposit was done by phone (or internet or whatever)? If so, then it sounds like the deposit is refundable.

[strath44]

This has come up a few times, generally with the main dealers particularly Arnold Clark it is not uncommon for them to ask for a holding deposit as the vehicle may be stored off site or in a total pita pen at the back of the site. This deposit means they know the person isn't wasting time if they have to get the car onto the forecourt in particular.

I would say that from experience most major dealerships will cave eventually into just refunding said deposit however if you don't like the car they will try their very hardest to transfer the deposit onto something else in stock or otherwise.

I personally think this is pretty strong money for the car but they are very good cars so can't argue, I'm afraid I would also agree with the sentiment of finding something closer to home.

I think the best option for the OP is to say he isn't comfortable with the cambelt situation and walk away IF it isn't the right car. Even at cost parts and labour its a £200+ repair, retail to customer its £400+ for the belt and bits so can see why they don't want to do it!

[HTP99]

brman said:

ninjag said:

I had to look it up but it seems the general view is that deposits on cars are not refundable. Here's one such link https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/is-my-deposit-refun...

except if you read that article it says....
However, if the entirety of the sale takes place off-premises (so you are buying a car without ever visiting the dealership), then you have 14 days to change your mind – even after paying for the car and taking delivery. In this case, you are entitled to a full refund of any monies paid (some conditions do apply, though).

If I understand correctly the OP has not yet visited the dealer so the deposit was done by phone (or internet or whatever)? If so, then it sounds like the deposit is refundable.

Yes but the OP is travelling to the dealership to see the car so distance selling regs don't apply.

Anyway as for a haggling, and some posters offering suggestions such as printing off details of similar cars and their pricing, the OP is travelling 3 hours to see it, this would suggest that there aren't similar cars around and the fact that the OP is travelling 3 hours to see the car means that the dealer is in a better position than the OP; he even states that it is a good price.

[ninjag]

brman said:

ninjag said:

I had to look it up but it seems the general view is that deposits on cars are not refundable. Here's one such link https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/is-my-deposit-refun...

except if you read that article it says....
However, if the entirety of the sale takes place off-premises (so you are buying a car without ever visiting the dealership), then you have 14 days to change your mind – even after paying for the car and taking delivery. In this case, you are entitled to a full refund of any monies paid (some conditions do apply, though).

If I understand correctly the OP has not yet visited the dealer so the deposit was done by phone (or internet or whatever)? If so, then it sounds like the deposit is refundable.

But the entirety of the sale won't be taking place off-premises, he'll be going in to pay the balance and also to collect it I assume?

[brman]

HTP99 said:

brman said:

ninjag said:

I had to look it up but it seems the general view is that deposits on cars are not refundable. Here's one such link https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/is-my-deposit-refun...

except if you read that article it says....
However, if the entirety of the sale takes place off-premises (so you are buying a car without ever visiting the dealership), then you have 14 days to change your mind – even after paying for the car and taking delivery. In this case, you are entitled to a full refund of any monies paid (some conditions do apply, though).

If I understand correctly the OP has not yet visited the dealer so the deposit was done by phone (or internet or whatever)? If so, then it sounds like the deposit is refundable.

Yes but the OP is travelling to the dealership to see the car so distance selling regs don't apply.

Anyway as for a haggling, and some posters offering suggestions such as printing off details of similar cars and their pricing, the OP is travelling 3 hours to see it, this would suggest that there aren't similar cars around and the fact that the OP is travelling 3 hours to see the car means that the dealer is in a better position than the OP; he even states that it is a good price.

you might be right but I am not so sure. The only transaction so far has been the payment of the deposit, that was done remotely. I don't see how viewing the car changes that contract unless he actually pays more money or signs something while there. Could be wrong though as I am not a legal expert.....

I agree with the last part though, if someone travelled 3 hours to see a car of mine I would not be considering any offers unless I was desperate to sell. (or they found something wrong I was not aware of when pricing it)

[Fastpedeller]

RacingGreen0001 said:

I tried to haggle a cambelt and waterpump change as it's due but the sales manager has flat out refused as they've given me the whole 'we're selling at a loss' talk. They're not even considering a full tank of fuel.

This is where you should have said "I'll let someone else have it then - I wouldn't want to add to your loss "