Reply to: What is a good deal on a used car?

[kaiser78]

Bought a new (secondhand) car today - managed to 'negotiate' a reduction from £7300 with 3 month warranty to £7000 + 12 months warranty and a tank of petrol. Car will also be MOTd day before pick up and given a full service.

When you read about all the tips for haggling the price down etc, I tried a couple of these and rather amusingly looking back the salesman wasn't bothered either way. £7000 take it or leave was his stance without the eventual agreed extras.

Think I am happy with the deal I have - picking up at end of week.

[Bagpuss]

Not so sure it's "common sense". It's like how we get work through agents. Clients could go direct and save themselves a bit of cash but they don't consider it worthwhile. The agent (IT or auto or estate, etc) is providing a service making it easier to buy & sell, and taking a cut.
When you have the time to scrimp on every penny then sure you can do better, but as they say time is money and convenience is time.
At least this is my guess how most think, when unemployed you have more time to get motivated in the best deal.

It's common sense if making the most of what you have is desirable, with car dealers we will never be taking pennies, in most cases it will be over a grand loss. It's a pretty simple equation to my mind...
If it takes me a day or two extra inconvenience to gain over a grand I would have that inconvenience, based on what I consider my time to be worth. Now, the median wage in this country after tax is probably about 18k that's a lot of time joe public would have to waste before it's not worth it. Those who don't consider these sorts of equations in life will always be poor. Of course it's further complicated by the fact that dealing with car dealers is certainly not hassle free. No, selling low and buying high is not for me!

[d000hg]

Not so sure it's "common sense". It's like how we get work through agents. Clients could go direct and save themselves a bit of cash but they don't consider it worthwhile. The agent (IT or auto or estate, etc) is providing a service making it easier to buy & sell, and taking a cut.
When you have the time to scrimp on every penny then sure you can do better, but as they say time is money and convenience is time.
At least this is my guess how most think, when unemployed you have more time to get motivated in the best deal.

[Bagpuss]

• Buying: some chance of some sort of warranty and that it's been serviced
• Selling - the buyer won't come complain at you if it breaks down immediately
• Both - time

Personally I'd say time is the biggest thing. Getting an extra £100 for having to spend a few hours showing the car to several potential buyers doesn't really attract me, I could work those hours and make >£100.

For Warranty, many of them are very limited and could be sourced privately, moreover an AA inspection for around £100 would identify anything likely to go wrong (don't expect that dealer cars are any more likely to pass such an inspection).
As for service, private cars have services too. Can't see how not having a fresh tub of £20 oil and a £5 filter should be a deal breaker.

For selling..can't think of many cases where the difference between a dealer and a private sale would be £100 outside of sub 1k bangers. If you trade in you lose the chance of any sort of discount on the new(er) car, so effectively it's still a significantly worse price.

Fairly typical real world example
E.g private sale on old car = £5500
part ex in at £5200 on a non discounted 15k car
no part ex price=14k,
effective price for your old car =4,200, loss= £1,300 over private sale and negotiation on new car price

If you don't part ex you would get a trade price of roughly 20% less than a private sale, so circa 4,400, loss = 1,100.


If time is an issue ebay, or other auction schemes are available which would yield a better price than passing it on to someone who wants a large margin.

Of course these days many people probably wouldn't know how to get a good deal on anything let alone be able to do any background research into what and how to buy a car. So maybe your points are exactly how many think. I suppose though as money becomes tight we may see a return to common sense.

[d000hg]

WHS - why do so many people these days seem so adverse to buying/selling privately?

• Buying: some chance of some sort of warranty and that it's been serviced
• Selling - the buyer won't come complain at you if it breaks down immediately
• Both - time

Personally I'd say time is the biggest thing. Getting an extra £100 for having to spend a few hours showing the car to several potential buyers doesn't really attract me, I could work those hours and make >£100.

[realityhack]

+1 for Parkers. You can get guide prices for trade-in from their website.

Also - check honestjohn for model-specific advice.

[Fred Bloggs]

Contractors buying used cars? Jeez............ whatever next. Must be a recession on.

[stek]

Same reason there are so many totally ignorant people who don't know the difference between adverse and averse I guess.

You do have to put these things into prospective, though.....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

WHS - why do so many people these days seem so adverse to buying/selling privately?

?

Same reason there are so many totally ignorant people who don't know the difference between adverse and averse I guess.

[AtW]

Or just relax and pay the screen price and take the rock bottom part-exchange value.

Wave a hand at the salesman like he's one of your lackys, whilst looking away.

You are a contractor after all.

I hope DimPrawn will never get banned!

[Bagpuss]

WHS - why do so many people these days seem so adverse to buying/selling privately?

We've been scanning the autotrader etc lately for a new (used) car and there seems to be far more traders than private sellers out there these days. Once upon a time it was the other way round... is it just that people can't be bothered and want/need a quick turn round?

That is my experience lately too. Seems since the expanse of cheap credit, punters are more inclined to go for a poor deal. I looked into buying a second hand car from a main dealer (only ever bought new from dealers via brokers I would usually buy second hand cars privately ). If anything the shady sales tactics are worse than they ever were and more than ever I'm determined not to buy from them. Almost all are doing bait and switch deals, which I think is now illegal. One main dealer insists on the customer paying £100 to do an HPI check and for some sort of indemnity, erm hang on this isn't a private sale.




bait and switch definition;
An illegal tactic in which a seller advertises a product with the intention of persuading customers to purchase a more expensive product. When a seller uses this tactic, they frequently tell the customer that the original product is sold out or no longer available (even if the product is indeed still available), and push hard for the customer to purchase the costlier product. This tactic can be considered false advertising if the seller is not actually providing the original product, but if the item is available but the seller strongly encourages the customer towards another item, in general no legal action can be taken.

[doodab]

Your negotiating skills far outshine mine. All I ever get is tank of fuel and an airfreshener.

As a rule, I never buy a car that needs an air freshener.

[Alf W]

I always buy a Parker's guide and use that to give me a good idea on the difference. It is also useful for reminding yourself never to buy a brand new car.

Useful for winding the permies up at work by highlighting the Aston Martin and Bentley pages and then asking them if they want to have a look.

[TestMangler]

Actual trade in value counts for nothing.

Worry about the difference between trade in price and purchase price. That's what you'll be paying.

Also, if using finance (I know, a contractor shouldn't really) they will put whatever you negotiate up on your trade in on to your interest rate, so you'll end up paying the same anyway

Pay more attention to what you're actually paying (either in finance or cash) rather than trade in value.

[FiveTimes]

Your negotiating skills far outshine mine. All I ever get is tank of fuel and an airfreshener.

It used to be full tank of fuel, tax, mats and flaps and flowers when the car is collected.

Now you are lucky to get a tax disc holder