Test Drive and Haggling!!

[ADB]

Having previously posted about replacing my company car - thanks for the advice guys - I am now in a situation of going for test drives etc. Having never bought a 'decent' second hand car before and with a bit of wedge on the line I don't want to make a costly mistake!

I think I am going to get an AA check, unless anyone tells me they are a complete waste of time, so that should take care of the general condition of the car but what should I be looking out for in terms of warning signs on the test drive? Common sense should prevail mostly as I understand, but any major dealbreakers?

Finally, any advice on haggling please

 

[Ethan]

Whether you get a AA check or not probably depends where you buy and how reliable the seller is, and what warranty they are offering. If you are buying an approved car from a BMW dealer, it is probably just fine. If you are buying from a bloke in a pub car park, not so safe.

To haggle, first you need to know what a fair price is, so check around. Look at autotrader at prices of similar cars. Make sure the dealer understand that you can, and will, do a deal right now if you can agree the terms. Choose a walk away price, and walk away if you can't get it. Don't go in at that price, go in at one which is at the outer limit of what is reasonable - slightly cheeky but not utterly insulting. Don't feel the need to fill periods of silence during the negotiation. If the dealer is saying nothing while mulling over your offer, stay quiet. If he says he needs to talk to his manager, tell him to send his manager over to do the deal.

Once you exhaust negotiations on price, start into other items - free services, optional extras, new tyres etc. These are worth retail value to you, but only cost the dealer cost price.

 

[Smiffy]

Once you exhaust negotiations on price, start into other items - free services, optional extras, new tyres etc. These are worth retail value to you, but only cost the dealer cost price.

Once I've agreed a price on a car, I will fit new tyres if the service department say they need them along with everything else they recommend.
If a potential customer, once a price was agreed, started asking for free services, optional extra's etc. I'd be telling 'em to feck off

 

[ADB]

Thanks Ethan, I am looking at purchasing from a local dealer rather than a main dealership (for better or worse!) so I suppose the added value may be harder to achieve. Trying to judge the starting offer is something I seem to be spending a lot of time considering, as you say, be slighty cheeky but not insulting.
For example, is it reasonable to 'check off' items you may have to pay for in the short term i.e next 3-6 months - such as road tax, MOT, new tyres, directly from the asking price to arrive at the opening gambit?

 

[Smiffy]

Any garage "worth it's salt" will prepare the car to a decent standard. Certainly with my company this would include making sure the tyres had a decent life left in them together with a brand new MOT irrespective of how recently it had been done prior to part exchange.
We would also check items like brake discs/pads/shoes and replace if there wasn't a decent life left in them.
The biggest expenditure on cars I sell is on workshops bills.

 

[ADB]

OK Smiffy, given all that where would you expect or tolerate negotiations to begin below the asking price - is there a general rule i.e 10% below - or does it depend on how desperate to shift the motor you are?

 

[Smiffy]

OK Smiffy, given all that where would you expect or tolerate negotiations to begin below the asking price - is there a general rule i.e 10% below - or does it depend on how desperate to shift the motor you are?

A couple of things will determine how much a particular garage are prepared to haggle. Mainly...

How long they have had the vehicle in question on their forecourt
and
How desirable is it?

If it's a car that has been hanging around unsold for a couple of months they are going to be more open to a "deal" than one that was only put on the forecourt at the beginning of the week. This is even more likely if the car in question is a bit of a sticker, a gas guzzler, cabriolet (at this time of year) etc.

I have cars that I put on the forecourt and I know from experience that they won't be sitting there long due to their desireabilty (low mileage, colour etc) and others were I know that in all probability I am going to be staring at it for a good few weeks.

The only piece of advice I can give you is ONLY MAKE AN OFFER ON THE CAR IF YOU ARE PREPARED TO BUY IT THERE AND THEN. If you try to haggle a price and the salesman/manager knows you are not "seriously" interested in it and are likely to walk away to look elsewhere, you are less likely to get offered "the deal".
And I guess around 10% is a good percentage to start the haggling process. But don't talk in percentages on a used car. Percentages are for new cars.
If the car is up for £4495.00 aim to try to get it for £4k with the probability that the salesman is likely to meet you in the middle somewhere.
Trust me when I say this....dealers aren't making thousands out of selling used cars.

 

[Ethan]

Once you exhaust negotiations on price, start into other items - free services, optional extras, new tyres etc. These are worth retail value to you, but only cost the dealer cost price.

Once I've agreed a price on a car, I will fit new tyres if the service department say they need them along with everything else they recommend.
If a potential customer, once a price was agreed, started asking for free services, optional extra's etc. I'd be telling 'em to feck off

It is perfectly reasonable to discuss non-cash aspects of the deal, and the time to discuss those is after the hard cash. If you told me to feck off, I would indeed feck off and buy somewhere else.

 

[Smiffy]

If you told me to feck off, I would indeed feck off and buy somewhere else.

Cushty
Mind you don't trip up on the way out

 

[Ethan]

If you told me to feck off, I would indeed feck off and buy somewhere else.

Cushty
Mind you don't trip up on the way out

I have also had the experience of a dealer curtly rejecting an offer, me walking out, then the dealer coming after me to reopen negotiations. You can guess which direction the feck off went then.

 

[Smiffy]

If you told me to feck off, I would indeed feck off and buy somewhere else.

Cushty
Mind you don't trip up on the way out

I have also had the experience of a dealer curtly rejecting an offer, me walking out, then the dealer coming after me to reopen negotiations. You can guess which direction the feck off went then.

Good for you Ethan.

I wouldn't have tried to reopen negotiations by the way

 

[medwayjon]

AA/RAC Inspections are pretty good as a whole however they can make terrible reading and in effect make a top, top car appear as knackered with phrases like "rear trailing-arm bushes starting to unbond" and such similar phrases. They do help weed-out a lemon thats for sure.

Also, some good local mechanics will do a pre-purchase inspection, I have done them at times and for the £60+VAT I charge (including HPI Check) it is a good service so I would suggest finding something similar local to you.

To minimise risk, look at the place you are buying from. Do they seem professional and sensible people or are they fly-by-nights? Look for a long-established company, not one of these firms who has the same faces for years but a different trading name every few months.

Remember that discount isnt the be-all and end-all of a deal. It is the quality of product and what you get for the money that is most important. I wouldnt walk away because someone wont give a discount and I have advised mates to do the same if buying elsewhere. Final price isnt the key factor.

I do not knock a penny off the price of a car with the occasional exception. We work on tight margins as it is and with what we do, we cant do it.

Do you get £7 off at tesco if the shopping is £97? is what I say to people who are insistant.

The reason I dont is that everything I sell gets a full service to main-dealer standards including cambelt if due, new MOT, air-con service, Full Valet, Warranty & HPI report. Also if anything like tyres, brakes, exhausts etc are due before 12 months or 12,000 Miles we change them.

We are the only garage in our area who do this all included in the screen-price, there are no extra add-ons and I sell the extended warranty at cost should people want it.

Also we are the only garage in Medway recommended by trading standards and Im not about to lose my reputation by cutting quality to cut prices.

I get so many people in who say "I can buy this car £200 cheaper in town" and after a bit of digging you find out it has patchy history, has a scratch here or a ding there and that there is no service done, no warranty included etc so if people would rather buy the other sub-standard car for the sake of £200, I dont want them as customers to be honest.

Also, my 3 month warranty is so complete that if someone comes back with squeaky brakes, I change them.

 

[colint]

Buying a car is like buying anything else, if a deal looks to good then question why. If you're getting a standard car (not a weird colour or high mpg model etc) for much less then it's worth then you should be cautious before you hand over your cash.

Extras like servicing are a good way to sweeten the deal, but if you wanted £500 off and got it, it's pointless to walk away because the dealer wouldn't throw in a service. Remember to negotiate to get the deal you want, not to act like a cock and try and get one over of the salesman

 

[Smiffy]

Remember to negotiate to get the deal you want, not to act like a cock and try and get one over of the salesman

Spot on.
I used to get really annoyed at the bald headed git on the telly who used to send somebody in to "negotiate" a deal with a car salesman. Despite saying "if you do this deal I'll buy it" they had absolutely no intention of buying the car, and after the salesman had worked his bollocks off getting to the deal the person was after the bald headed tosser would then get them to ask for a full tank of fuel/carpet mats/six months tax etc. etc....and walk if they didn't get it. Even if they then got the "extras" they'd still walk!! That's not the way to conduct business. If I promised something and then didn't deliver, I'd be pulled through the wringer.
What an absolute tosser.
I will do my utmost to get to a deal where both I and the customer are happy.
I've found to my cost that the cocky bastids that get the top brick off the chimney are the ones that never leave you alone, always whinging about this that and the other and expect everything done on their car for free throughout their ownership. The little old lady who comes in and pays full price with no quibble will not pester you again until it's time to change a few years into the future.

 

[ADB]

Remember to negotiate to get the deal you want, not to act like a cock and try and get one over of the salesman

Not in my nature Colin I can assure you - just trying to go in to this experience somewhat 'armed' as I have always had company cars. Rather than getting one over on the salesman, I am more concerned about the reverse situation