Tips for Used Car buying - Price Haggling?

[James28]

I'm going to view a Renault Sport 182 tomorrow, after a few months of searching I've found one that suits my requirements.
Its a Racing Blue 182 on 47 000.

Its listed up at £4990, through a used car dealer, two and a half hours from me.
Now as this is my first car I'll actually be thinking of buying for myself, I've got no experience at haggling the price down, if this will even be possible?!

So any tips on how to approach haggling on the price with the dealer?
Any other tips on what to do when I go and view it?
I've been looking through autotrader guides and such like, just wondered if anyone on here had any advice

Thanks
James

 

[EllD90]

Do you need a trade in? Hence going to a dealer?

 

[Revels]

Don't tell him how far you've come. Try not to look too excited. Pick at EVERYTHING. Any paint chips. Tyres. Scratches. Anything and everything.

Are you taking cash with you? Put £4500 in one pocket. The rest in another. Get it out. Start to count it. 'I'll give you £4500' and then don't say anything. He'll say no. Then you end up meeting somewhere in the middle depending on how good you both negotiate and how desperate he is to sell it.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Find all the faults, make an offer after listing them all.

Handy Hint - if they dont look offended/tell you to f*ck off, you've havent offered low enough.

Once they have calmed down, start negotiating from there.

 

[boldswede]

One I all ways use is "so... what is the lowest you will take for this?" being a dealer he'll probably know this one but 9/10 the seller will reveal the lowest they will take. Simple but effective.
Also take your cash in a bundle and keep £200 to one side and just that this is all I've got, come on! do the deal. Hope this helps. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

 

[Revels]

One I all ways use is "so... what is the lowest you will take for this?" being a dealer he'll probably know this one but 9/10 the seller will reveal the lowest they will take. Simple but effective.
Also take your cash in a bundle and keep £200 to one side and just that this is all I've got, come on! do the deal. Hope this helps. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Don't say that.

He'll give you a figure he wants. Not what he'll take.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Also, set a price in your mind before you go, if you dont get to it, be prepared to walk away.

9 times out of 10, you'll get a phone call 15 minutes later, so just go sit in the car round the corner.

 

[boldswede]

Don't say that.

He'll give you a figure he wants. Not what he'll take.

Yeah but straight away he's going to lower the price and then you can negotiate from there.....

 

[Laura]

typically i do it at £500 less than the asking price n be prepared to meet in the middle at £250 less.

 

[boldswede]

Take a mate who can haggle.

 

[Sir_Dave]

And if you want to get a great deal, dont go to a dealer, buy privately.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Usually whenever people ask me what the lowest I'll take is, whether it's a car or whatever, I refer them back to the asking price.

Stupid people ask stupid questions.

Keep a figure in your mind of the most you want to spend. Don't say anything equally stupid like "it's costing me £100 in fuel as I live 200 miles away" as that's not the sellers problem !

Go over it with a fine toothed comb .. take a friend with you. If you've got no friends, grab a stranger off the street*.

Enjoy !!


* Don't do this.....

 

[Sir_Dave]

Also, if you have access to a diagnostic tool, like VAG-COM ask the seller if you can test the car for faults ...

Then, when they're not looking, turn all the warning lights on*

* Note, i dont recommend you do this, it would be unethical

 

[EllD90]

Taking a mate to haggle is probably a good idea. Use his head, over your heart.

Why are you travelling so far? Surely there are plenty of 182s round this way? I just got a fairly decent deal off a dealer, spent £50 under my max limit. Just set yourself a limit, negotiate under the limit first and hopefully you'll come up to the ideal price.

 

[Sir_Dave]

No mention of cambelt in the ad either: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...page/2/radius/1501/postcode/rg213eu?logcode=p

 

[James28]

I've already made a big mistake in that he knows I'm coming from far away, and am interested in it lol
The reason I'm looking at this one, is I'm after a FF RB 182 with both cup packs, for >50k miles. And I've literally only found about four FF racing blues, and this is the only one sub 60K miles.

Thanks for all the advice. If I'm honest I feel quite intimidated about haggling lol. Just worried I'll mess it up ha.

Regarding Cambelt, already spoken to the dealer, and the garage it was serviced at

 

[Christopher]

Take Dave with you.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Why the big thing about mileage? If its been serviced on time/belts done etc, i'd be more interested in price/condition, etc.

Take Dave with you.

They're in Bristol, he should take Daniel!! Or at least pm him for info on the dealer ...

 

[EllD90]

The way prices are with 182s, I wouldn't be too concerned about mileage. A lot of the 182s are going around the £3k mark, why would you spend an extra 2k for less mileage?

 

[M@tt_182]

Sometimes you have to a pay a premium for something you really want which is fair enough. Just go in with a very low offer but try not to offend them! I offered £500 less when buying my car and ended up getting £300 off the asking price...

 

[EllD90]

http://pistonheads.com/sales/2176440.htm

 

[James28]

Yea I had looked at that one Ell .
I don't know, I guess I have a budget, and might as well get the best one I can for the money.

 

[Sir_Dave]

I don't know, I guess I have a budget, and might as well get the best one I can for the money.

The most expensive one isnt always the best btw

Personally, i buy a cheaper one, say £3.5k that needed the belts doing, then take it to someone you trust to do all the major work - then you know its been done properly!!

 

[SC03OTT]

One I all ways use is "so... what is the lowest you will take for this?" being a dealer he'll probably know this one but 9/10 the seller will reveal the lowest they will take. Simple but effective.
Also take your cash in a bundle and keep £200 to one side and just that this is all I've got, come on! do the deal. Hope this helps. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

I think somewhere in Bristol, Daniel just exploded.

 

[James28]

Ha yea I know, but this one seems the best of the ones I could find. Even the one's on 60k are priced at roughly the same price.

 

[Kam.]

Just be prepared to walk away. Offer slightly lower than what you think its worth and go from there. Its not rocket science.
I'm trying to sell an Audi at the moment and I'm getting stupid offers. I just tell them to come and view the car. If they dont think its worth the price advertised then they can simply walk away.
But then i'm confident they wont find anything like it, and its set at the right price. Personally I prefer a seller to be as upfront about what they can afford and what they are expecting.

Kev

 

[daz182]

Do you have a car to trade in? if not, ask for a discount for no trade in

 

[The Boosh!]

I'm s**t at haggling. In fact i'd probably come out paying more for the car than advertised i'm that s**t.

So on that basis i'd take someone else who knows what they're on about.

 

[R-Sport.]

Drive down take with you what your prepared to pay- If thats 4.7 then effectively you can go over-

you could ring & offer but it doesnt always work especially with dealers-

As said regarding the belts- they were done by Renault blackpool-

Just that mark on the front to look at...

Good luck-

Steve

 

[Soot1e]

Method 1. Offer silly price first, if the dealer doesn't like it, offer a bit more and if he still won't accept the offer, say there are plenty of 182's for sale and tell him you can't make up your mind as there is another near your home and it is cheaper. Leave your phone no. with him in case he changes his mind later.

Method 2. If you know the going price for the car you are looking for and note it's faults, say you will only make one offer bearing in mind what needs doing to it, tell him how much and stick to that, don't say anything else. Again leave your phone number in case he changes his mind. Doesn't make any difference if you are buying from a dealer or private.

 

[Gray]

Take Daniel with you and buy him a pint after