Haggling when buying a used car

I was onto the garage yesterday looking at a cheap 2nd hand car - it was priced at 3500E. I spoke to the guy on the phone and asked him how much for cash right now and he said he'd knock 100E off. I know absolutely nothing about cars but everything i read keeps telling me that its a buyers market etc and to haggle and haggle and walk away etc. I'm aware he has bills to meet etc but should i expect more off than that? I put his number away and will ring him again in a month if the car is still there and see what he says to cash then. How would you approach this?

First of all, forget about the phone. Go and see the car, show the dealer you are interested in it and then hit him or her with a much lower offer. They will either accept it or then haggle with you.

Agree with Ronan - if you are genuinely interested in the car call in to see it first thing - look carefully but don't linger, look interested but a little ambivalent (if you know what I mean), offer the lower price, don't stay too long and tell him you have other cars to view and off you go.

If possible take someone mechanically minded with you.

€100 is not even 3% discount!!
I agree with the above though, if you want to come across as serious, go and look at the car, and give them an offer pending mechanical inspection. if they don't accept, walk away and go back in a few weeks time to talk to the same sales guy.

As the guys said you need to go show your face to engage a dealer properly, other than that they wont go all out with you on the phone

Its a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question

It depends how the car is priced compared to other similar ones .

Is its condition good or bad and is big on miles or not

e.g. if the car is 3500 , check carzone and see what the cheapest and most expensive is, for cars of the same year, engine size and spec

then find ones with similar milage to your own and pretty much thats your price to aim for.

A dealer is as aware of carzone as the private buyer and right now cars that are selling are the ones that are at the lowest in price compared with similar ones around the country

Do remember a dealer will be a bit more expensive than private punter and they will supply the car serviced with a 3 month warranty for a car of that value.

If you want pm me and i will tell you exactly what its worth
Regards
Brian

Tell him that's too much and you are thinking of going up North

Firefly said:

Tell him that's too much and you are thinking of going up North

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That can work on a more expensive vehicle , not so much on a 3500 k euro car as the saving would be minimal

Also say that such a garage that you were at had one similar for x amount and were gonna throw in so many extras like new tyres, put it through the NCT etc.

If you have a trade in, talk your vehicle up to the last. Say what great condition it is in, that its well taken care of and regularly serviced. Recently, my dad did this and got a great price on his trade in.

In that sort of price range (mine is about E4,500) what sort of % discount should I expect to get from the displayed price? One person seemed to suggest 3% was too low a discount.

Well I bought a car last October for €3500 which was listed at €3750.

A little over 6% 'discount'.