Advice needed on used car buying

I've read a good few check-lists on what to look out for etc.. and while I've found these very helpful they all a bit generic and refer to checking bits of the car.

What I would like tips on are how to haggle. I'm a very quiet person and find haggling extremely difficult. There is a car on carzone.ie that I've identified as being one that I'm interested in. It's being sold by a SIMI dealer. The asking price is €6,950, but I would naturally like to pay less than that.

Any tips on how to go about this ?

Also what type/length of waranty should I try to get. (The car in question is a 2006 model so will be due an NCT this year...)

First of all 6,500 should be your limit for that car, if you just simply go to the garage tell them you are interested in that car but you have a budget of 6,500 they should jump on it, tell them you need a nct guarrenty and a 3 month warrentty, if they give you BS saying they can't do that just leave your number. you'll get a call back that day

Don't go straight in with the 6,500

Go in let him talk play it cool and see what they are offering first.

Once that has been established, then stick the boot in.

Go in at 6k
Ask them to up any waranty.
Ask for some token add on a car kit or sat nav for example.

If they are not playing ball leave your number and best offer and walk out the door.

Thanks for the advice so far.

I was hoping to be able to haggle via email/fax!
Would find it easier than the face to face 'confrontation'...

There was an article in the Irish time (I think) recently about negotiation over the phone when buying a car. The basis of it was to identify 5 or 6 cars online of the same make/model/year that you are interested in.

You then ring each garage in turn, and outline exactly your situation - e.g. "I am going out this weekend to buy a 2006 (name/type of car etc) with cash, no trade in. I have identified 6 cars that fit my needs, one of which is yours. What is your absolute best price on that car."

If they give you a price, you tell them if it is already been beaten or roughly how good it is in relation to the other quotes, even telling them they are your first/second call etc - and you give them your details and instructions to call you back if they are going to do any better. A bit like buying insurance really.

According to the article, some dropped significantly, orthers not much. Bottom line is you avoid calling round garages, and hassle of face to face negotiation. Probably works better in Uk type market, but worth a try here no doubt, as long as you know what you are loking for and can find a few examples.

For starters garages will give a 10% reduction on the asking price so in your case around €6300 should get you the car no problem but if you were to push for a better price i know that they can play around with up to 30% off the asking price so if they were desperate you could get the price of that car down to about €5000 so i would start with a bid of much less than 6000.

Use the vrt calculator it will give you a rough estimate of the book value of the car or the real value of the car in Ireland https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/showCarCalculator

Have you just seen the car in the garage recently or has it been at the garage for a while now, if it has been there for a while they should be willing to sell for less.
Higher mileage cars are harder for garages to sell, so its a good haggle element.
How many previous owners has it had, the more owners there are the cheaper the price should be.
Mention other garages with the same model/year car with cheaper prices.

Thanks for the Revenue link... I'll check it out now. I'm going to look at the car tomorrow.

It is a high mileage car and it's been on Carzone since the start of December (if not longer). So hopefully that will benefit me. Would love to get it down to 5k - but I don't think I have that much 'haggle' in me!

Does anyone know of a good free motor check site (now that mywheels.ie has started to charge).

Thanks

OP - I hope you don't mind if I ask a related question here?

Whats the expectation or standard as regards warranty when buying a used car. How long do they normally offer them for and what do they cover?

If you have a problem with a used car that you have bought you should, in the first instance, bring the car back to the garage or dealer who should be able to repair any problems that you have. If you have done this and are still dissatisfied you can then take your complaint further. If the dealer is a member of the Society of Irish Motor Industry you can use their Investigation and Complaints service. You need to contact the SIMI within three months of the fault becoming apparent.
The National Consumer Agency will give you information on what your rights are if you buy a faulty vehicle. It has also published A Guide to Buying a Car (pdf) for consumers purchasing new or second-hand cars which is available on its website or by phoning its helpline
If you want more info follow link below

[broken link removed]

The biggest problem people seem to come accross if they have had problems once buying cars is the contract that they sign so read it carefully especially if there is a section that states you have checked the car and are buying as is. This is as I say where most people get caught you have rights but just be carefull you don't sign your rights away consummer rights only protects you if you have been sold something that dosen' t do what you were told it would do so obviously if a car dealer sells youa second hand car and gets you to sign a contract to say you checked it and were happy this could cancel out any comeback because once you left the garage or where ever and something goes wrong they could say that it was your fault it would then cost you to get a machanics report to prove otherwise and then maybe a trip to the small claims court again time being a factor don't mean to be so negative but just highlighting some issues I have came accross in the past. Hope this helps