[Closed] How to haggle? Purchasing car/van content

don't let them see you are desperate for it and if you are not trading in a vehicle let them think you are (trading in a shit one which you do not have with you and ask for a price if you do not trade said shit car in) also let them think you are taking their finance for the price and get them to write the deal down so you can hold them to it later on. Also dress down so they assume you will take it on tick.

long uncomfortable silences are your friend.
go in to their house/office and sit down, make a low offer and then just act benign and refuse to talk. they will haggle themselves down for you if you let the silence go on long enough

I probably overdressed down ( went in straight from work full of metal shavings in my uniform) that they think i am wasting their time and might not able to afford it in the first place 😐

its not a sport.. decide how much it is worth to you and offer that..dont pay more, walk away with a smile and a handshake if they want more.

one thing that really annoys is when you go in all ''fast and loud'' saying how far you ve travelled how much you like it etc then bidding 25% of the asking price. i told a guy who travelled 200 miles to buy a bike when he did that that i would nt sell it to him if he offered twice the asking price..

Last car we bought we played fair, made it obvious we liked it and it was the only one we'd seen that day (on a 300 mile loop) that we were interested in buying.

However, apparently the margins on this £9000 car were so tight that there was next to no movement other than a token £50 or similar (and they wanted to charge us to replace a missing parcel shelf. And this was after I'd told him an extremely realistic price for our trade in.

It wasn't ready to drive away anyway so we acted disappointed, and left saying we would call back in 30 minutes before they closed. Then we headed straight home, an hour later we got a call chasing us and miraculously they'd managed to jiggle some finances around to make it possible, and swap the parcel shelf from another vehicle.

I also find the 'just sitting there and not leaving' can coerce the seller into dialogue over price.

If it's from a dealer some idea of the trade price is handy.

If you plug the details into webuyanycar.com and use that as a figure for what it stand the dealer at if he'd bought it in, you're unlikely to be going in too high if you add a few percent as a starter.

as with most things in life ....

i work out what its worth to me - i do that by looking at the book value(not the trade price , not the part ex price - and aim for somewhere between the private sale and the non dealer price of the car and then looking at the condition and any parts it may need. the actual screen price and the % discount is unimportant to me. getting the right vehicle is more important to me.

I find not being fussy about scratches etc helps me as usually the car thats scratched/marked sits the longest - no one wants it and i get it cheap anyway.

as i said on the other van thread i got a 3 year old van at 35k for 3500 quid - i offered him 3500 cash on a 3900 screen price to take it away today trade (no warrenty) and he took it - although i was prepared to give him the full 3900. book price at the time was 6500 but it had a small dent on the roof where a set of ladders had hit it coming off the roof rack (it had been an aerial fitters van before)

They want £10000 you offer £8500

They say no.
£8700

They say £9000

You say ok meet half way.

£8900

They say ok.

My last car is rare and in demand, the owner wouldn't budge as they knew they could get their asking price lol and I only got £200 off by haggling. I know I can sell it for more though!

I tried to haggle with my car. The dealer told me to "sod off" and that he'd sell it to the next person who looked at it.

I thought about it...

I paid the asking price.

Last van I bought the dealer wouldn't budge on some issue or other (I forget what). I said we'd go away and think about it. Sat down and had breakfast in the cafe opposite, ten minutes later he comes in to tell us we can have it our way. It's downright bizarre if you ask me but this sort of tactic does seem to work.

if they have a mint in demand car then they will do that harry.

most recent car i bought - i was being fussy about spec and engine and it turned out there was only 9 for sale in the whole of the uk .....

Unrelated, but when ordering breakfast in said cafe

me: "Two veggie breakfasts please"
cook: "Would you like black pudding with that?"
me: "Is that vegetarian black pudding?" (I do eat meat but I'm curious if such a thing exists)
cook: "Well I dunno do I?!"

Only in the Valleys? 🙂

Haggling for me is getting what I want at the price I want to pay - not about knocking money off.

With my last car I paid the screen-price but got a years' warranty (which we've already used - wiper motor and abs sensor), a full service and had the belts/pump etc changed (I paid the parts they 'paid' the labour) even though they weren't yet do for 30k miles.

Got the car I wanted (big diesel auto hatchback with sub 50k miles), locally with no hassle and my two warranty dealings with them have convinced me to go back to them for my next car.

Dont let them control the sale, I put a deposit on a car to hold it for 48 hrs, he phoned me 8hrs later saying that someone offered him screen price in cash. I said SO I have it on hold for 48 hours,only because thats when I could collect it.

he then tried to get me to pay for it there and then without seeing it, I said no ill be in like we agreed when we agreed. he kept pushing so I said ok sell it but refund me my deposit now, so he did. he still has the car now and has phoned me several times trying to get me to buy it.

if they have a mint in demand car then they will do that harry.

Not bothered TBH. The car was right as was the price. I just thought I'd give it a go.

if they have a mint in demand car then they will do that harry.
Not bothered TBH. The car was right as was the price. I just thought I'd give it a go.

I think this is what happened. Its pre reg .0 mileage. 4grand off the price in the showroom and internet like for like..they throw in wooden bulk head to close out noise totally from the back, i said don't bother just the ply linings and a year VED free please.

Bought a very unfashionable VW Vento diesel for a long distance commute. It was two years old and the dealer was asking £8500. I told them that I was likely to be the only buyer for that car, that my offer was £7000 and that this was 2% above trade price (they do have overheads after all). Five minutes with his manager and it was mine for £7250.

If it had been the same Golf, it would have sold at £9000. I had the car I wanted, at a fair price and the garage had sold a car they'd had for six months. It was a great car too; much better for our young family than the Golf we also owned.

Just decide what you want to pay, what is "fair", and accept that this may or may not be the price to sell.