Used Mondeo - negotiating price

[RB5]

Hi,

I'll be viewing a used Mk4 Mondeo (57 plate) either tomorrow or Wednesday. It's for sale at an independent dealer. I've never bought from a dealer before, so I'm not sure where to start when negotiating the price. The car itself looks to be in very good condition, and will obviously take a test-drive before discussing price. It's a high spec (Titanium X) with a few extra options, and has the rare 2.5T engine. Average miles for the age - about 30k.

Here are the figures according to Parkers:

Franchised Dealer £10,840
Independent Dealer £10,430
Private Good £9,610
Private Poor £7,870
Part Exchange £8,590

However, a guy on another forum said he was only offered £11k for his car of the same spec at 6 months old! The 2.5T engine is rare due to relatively poor fuel economy and high tax, so they don't sell anywhere near as well as the diesels. Maybe this could be an advantage?

The car is advertised at about £10,500. I have seen others advertised between £9,000 and £9,500, albeit with a few less options. From the figures above, what do you think would be a good number to start negotiating at?

[RB5]

Forgot to mention, no finance or PX.

[RB5]

It's been for sale for around 3 weeks. There's not many around - about 15 of this model currently for sale in the country on Autotrader. I've been checking the list of adverts every day, and they do seem to take a few weeks to sell.

I've also seen a couple that were priced a fair bit lower than the rest over the last few weeks, at about £8,500. However, these could obviously be in poor condition. They do sell a lot faster though...

[RB5]

The guy said it's had "lots of interest", but I'm sure all dealers say that about any car!

BeeRoad said:

The 2.5T is 'rare' because nobody wants them. Beat him down, he'll be happy to shift it and replace with an easy-to-sell diesel.

This is what I was thinking - most Mondeo buyers won't be looking for an engine like this. If you have any experience with these, what sort of price do you think I should be aiming for? I don't want to pay too much, but I also don't want to start with an overly low offer!

[RB5]

mrmr96 said:

RB5 said:

It's for sale at an independent dealer.
...
Independent Dealer £10,430
...
The car is advertised at about £10,500.

I see your point, but I assumed Parkers shows the average list price at independent dealers rather than what people actually pay for them. I've seen similar cars advertised at +/- £2,000 or more.

[RB5]

I'd be happy to pay £9k, but I can't see a dealer going that low as it's about £1,700 less than list price! I guess my first offer would also need to be about £8k if I wanted any chance of securing a deal for £9k. Do dealers really mark their prices up that much, or would I have no chance?

BeeRoad said:

RB5 said:

The guy said it's had "lots of interest", but I'm sure all dealers say that about any car!

BeeRoad said:

The 2.5T is 'rare' because nobody wants them. Beat him down, he'll be happy to shift it and replace with an easy-to-sell diesel.

This is what I was thinking - most Mondeo buyers won't be looking for an engine like this. If you have any experience with these, what sort of price do you think I should be aiming for? I don't want to pay too much, but I also don't want to start with an overly low offer!

I drove one when I bought my Mazda 6 MPS (you could get a lovely 6 MPS for your budget! ) and they drive OK but are even thirstier than a Focus ST.

Judging by these ones AT:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2010...

I'd be unwilling to pay more than £8500.

I've seen those ads, the miles are a bit high though. The last one is similar to the one I'm looking at, but it's a private sale so I assume that's the main cause of the price difference.

I did view a few Mazda 6 MPS, but my insurance company wanted a stupid amount! Same with the ST220s I was previously looking at. This is what led me to the Mk4 2.5T - it's relatively cheap to insure.

[RB5]

Thanks, it's an estate, came in as a part-ex apparently.

[RB5]

Thanks, looks like £9,000 might be a bit optimistic then! Although I suppose the guide might not apply so much on the less mainstream models like this. I'll be travelling down in the morning so we'll see how it goes.

[RB5]

H_Kan said:

The 2.5T is a thirsty unit and not the sort of thing that most Mondeo buyers are after. Similarly, the sort of people interested in that kind on engine are likely to not want a Mondeo but stuff like Focus ST.

Even you, by your admission, are only after 1 because of insurance cost- therefore I would imagine it will be an easy enough car to try and bargain on.

Exactly, the Focus ST was my first choice but would cost have me £2,000 more to insure!

[RB5]

Went down today and the car looked clean. I told the guy I'm interested but the price seemed a bit high, and that I'd consider £10,000 (in full). He basically said there's no chance due to the car attracting a massive interest, and wouldn't move down at all from list price.

I walked at this point - is this a common dealer tactic? What are the chances of him ringing back in a few days, or does he really think someone will pay list price?

[RB5]

I see, well I'll have another look next week and see if it's been sold. Another thing he mentioned was that the car is actually worth £250 more than he's advertised it at, due to it being January which is apparently the busiest time of the year for selling cars. I thought January was one of the quieter months?

[RB5]

Makes sense I suppose! I don't mind paying the extra money, as long as I'm not paying over the odds - i.e. wouldn't like to pay £10,500 for a car when I'd struggle to get £7,000 for it if I decided a few months later.

As a car dealer yourself (I assume), how hard are cars like this to sell?

[RB5]

Polrules said:

If you don't need finance etc from a dealer can you not buy private and slap a warranty on yourself?

I've nothing against this approach, just haven't seen any local private sales!

kentmotorcompany said:

However if you think you might sell it in a few months times, I think you are looking the wrong type of car from the wrong type of seller.

Don't buy any car from a retail seller, with the intention of selling it in a very short space of time, it never ends well. Let alone part exchanging it.

If you want buy and sell quickly. Buy privately and sell privately, also you need to be very very flexible about what make and model you buy, and focus more on value for money. It seems as if this time you have looked for a very specific model. It also sounds like you are having buyers remorse before you have even bought it!

I plan to keep it for at least 3 years, but I was just thinking in terms of the value of the asset if I needed to sell quickly due to a change in financial circumstances. I suppose it's not a huge worry though if I'm paying upfront. I suppose it just seems like a large amount of money to spend at once, rather than looking at monthly payments like a lot of people do!

confused_buyer said:

Why didn't you approach before Jan 4 and the VAT went up? They might have been keener to get it out the door before whatever margin was in it was cut further.

I did try, but this was the earliest I could view the car I'm afraid.