How much haggle with dealers?

[theironduke]

I've always bought my cars privately but tomorrow (assuming it's not been sold...grr) i'm going to a dealer to have a look at a very nice XJS.

The car is up for £3950 which doesn't seem greedy, the only real downside is the lack of leather. How much "give" do you think there would be in this price? i'll be paying in cash for what it's worth.

I was thinking of going in at 3600?

[Scott330ci]

theironduke said:

I've always bought my cars privately but tomorrow (assuming it's not been sold...grr) i'm going to a dealer to have a look at a very nice XJS.

The car is up for £3950 which doesn't seem greedy, the only real downside is the lack of leather. How much "give" do you think there would be in this price? i'll be paying in cash for what it's worth.

I was thinking of going in at 3600?

I'd go for £3k

[jshell]

I just bought a Merc for £24k, I could get them down £500. They simply would not entertain any more and said they'd happily let me walk away. I tend to bargain hard, but they would just not budge!

[SimonV8ster]

If you go in at 3600 he might split the difference and say 3800. If you go in lower to start with you might get more off.

Don't be embarassed to give a low offer - they've heard it all before and won't be offended !

[defblade]

I've had offers of £500 off be accepted the last few days; no part-ex to bother them with and they seem quite happy. All 3,4,5K cars. (I'm paying £4k for one up at £4499 in the end). Could maybe have pushed more - got 6 months tax included too without trying.

[Devil2575]

DEpends on the car and the dealer. If the car is new in and the dealer has had interest then he's not going to budge. But if he's had it in for a month then you much more likely to get a decent discount. I'm happy if I can get 10% off but some places won't give you a penny.

[MX7]

I'd start at £3.2k. £3k might be seen as an insult, and he might settle at about £3.5k.

And make it known that you really wanted one with leather.

Edited by MX7 on Friday 30th July 16:19

[Wacky Racer]

theironduke said:

I've always bought my cars privately but tomorrow (assuming it's not been sold...grr) i'm going to a dealer to have a look at a very nice XJS.

The car is up for £3950 which doesn't seem greedy, the only real downside is the lack of leather. How much "give" do you think there would be in this price? i'll be paying in cash for what it's worth.

I was thinking of going in at 3600?

Plenty here to compare:-

http://www.clarkesjaguar.co.uk/

[hornetrider]

XJS with no leather?!

[edo]

Scott330ci said:

theironduke said:

I've always bought my cars privately but tomorrow (assuming it's not been sold...grr) i'm going to a dealer to have a look at a very nice XJS.

The car is up for £3950 which doesn't seem greedy, the only real downside is the lack of leather. How much "give" do you think there would be in this price? i'll be paying in cash for what it's worth.

I was thinking of going in at 3600?

I'd go for £3k

He'll laugh. 25% off?

I'd say it depends how it stacks up against other similar cars. An old XJS isnt going to be perfect, but look for major things which may need money throwing at them and use these to bargain.

As the dealer what they would take for a quick straightforward sale first.

[theironduke]

hornetrider said:

XJS with no leather?!

BUT in every other respect it's spot on....low miles FSH....the colour i want....3 owners...and looks AWESOME.

On balance....

As others said in my other thread leather is something that can be done later, trip to breakers etc...if the rest of the car is as solid as the advert makes out i'm willing to make the compromise.

[Dracoro]

You can always put leather seats in I assume.

[theironduke]

http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/85198/stock...

This is the car...^ ^ ^ ^

[XB70]

I have seen a Mercedes Benz main dealer drop, over a period of a few months, nearly 45%! £29,000 for an S-Class down to £16,000 before it was sold to auction.

So go in low - nothing to lose

[Scott330ci]

edo said:

Scott330ci said:

theironduke said:

I've always bought my cars privately but tomorrow (assuming it's not been sold...grr) i'm going to a dealer to have a look at a very nice XJS.

The car is up for £3950 which doesn't seem greedy, the only real downside is the lack of leather. How much "give" do you think there would be in this price? i'll be paying in cash for what it's worth.

I was thinking of going in at 3600?

I'd go for £3k

He'll laugh. 25% off?

I'd say it depends how it stacks up against other similar cars. An old XJS isnt going to be perfect, but look for major things which may need money throwing at them and use these to bargain.

As the dealer what they would take for a quick straightforward sale first.

Maybe he will.
Maybe its been sitting there a month and he needs shot.
Maybe its a cut and shut and its worth 4p in the first place.

There are a lot of maybe's. Unless you ask you won't know.

[defblade]

hornetrider said:

XJS with no leather?!

Not everyone likes leather in cars.

Me, for example.

Freezing cold in winter, burning hot in summer, sweaty always

Alcantara on the other hand

[Twincam16]

I don't know whether it's just bad luck or whether I'm just crap at haggling, but I've never managed to get any seller, private or trade, to budge an inch on price. I've always made my money back when selling, mind, but when I bought my last car they wouldn't even throw in a tax disc in with the price.

With one exception - I managed to get a £900 MR2 down to £700 on account of it having a flat battery and a need for some new front wheels, but that hardly changed the outlay.

[Twincam16]

defblade said:

hornetrider said:

XJS with no leather?!

Alcantara on the other hand

...seems to leave funny little coloured bobbles all over your clothes and hands...

[wrighty78]

theironduke said:

http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/85198/stock...

This is the car...^ ^ ^ ^

Looks nice!

And the interior looks more like half leather to me.

I think I'd go in at £3,250 and try to do a deal at £3.5k.

Let us know how you get on.

[MX7]

It's half-leather isn't it? That wouldn't put me off too much.