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      02-12-2013, 04:43 AM   #24
mowflow
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Drives: Golf 7R
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Glasgow

iTrader: (2)

Excuse the length of this post but i love buying cars. I spend more time doing it than is financially sensible and I believe I'm getting ok at it now so here are my thoughts.

The dealer is taking you for a mug and both the dealers you went to are clearly part of the same network and under strict instruction not to compete with one another for business. To me that's the sign of a bad operation straight away. I've pitted dealers in the same network against each other in the past and they can often relish in being competitive against their opposite numbers within their own company. I'd write the dealers you are using off for a while, go somewhere else and maybe go back to them later and show them what you are getting else where. Details on that below.

The time of year you go into a dealership shouldn't affect the offer too much. Dealers have yearly targets but they also have quarterly targets and a good DP will ensure that his sales team know what their monthly/weekly/even daily targets need to be to keep the dealership on target for the year. Time of visit can help to some extent. Going in on a weekend is never a good idea as it's the busiest time and if they don't smell money they won't work hard. Go in mid week as it's quiet and a good salesman will be looking to get a jump on what he has set himself to sell by the end of that week or conversely he may have had a crap week last week and will want to ensure he doesn't repeat it. I've found end of a quarter can be a bad time to visit, Mid month mid quarter is good. That would be right now.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned online brokers. Get a quote from somewhere like Broadspeed, set this as your target, print it off and take it with you. The BMW finance calculator wasn't about when i bought but I don't rate it anyway. It gives maximum price from what I see. If I put my car into it it comes out at £150 per month more than I'm paying. Using those 2 online tools will give you an idea of initial quote and what to aim for though. if you want to work out what the broker price would be on a PCP deal with your trade in/deposit then use this http://www.pcpcal.co.uk/

I think the main thing with getting a deal is knowing what you want and knowing how much you want to pay. The above will help with this. It makes the job easier for the sales guy as well rather than the usual guess what number I'm thinking of. Don't be afraid of talking money. I know most people don't do jobs that involve thrashing out deals and the salesmen do, this can feel a bit intimidating but trust me, you will not be the worst. Keep it light hearted and friendly (I actually really enjoy the process and often go along with friends to help get them good deals now. It's like a special treat for me). You should be able to tell if a sales person is interested in doing a deal. If they are not, just leave. There are plenty of other dealerships out there and it's so easy to deal at distance now. Tell the dealers you are working with a few dealers to get the deal you want, tell them who you are dealing with and even tell them or show them what you've been offered.

When i bought my car I did all the above. My initial offer was a 3% discount. I then visited the next nearest dealer who matched that deal but were more interested in shifting a pre registered model with 200 miles on the clock that they had with a £6k discount. However, the finance rates on pre reg cars is ridiculous. It's often cheaper to factory order. I then contacted a dealer outwit the area who offered me around a 9% discount. After a few days dealer 1 called me to ask if i had thought any more about his 3% offer. i told him he was way off and i had a better offer from outwith the area. He asked why I wouldn't want to keep the deal local and I simply told him I would obviously rather keep it local but money is money. Later that afternoon he came back with an offer close to 12%. I then started working only with this dealer and did the deal around a week later at 12% with complimentary service pack and heated seats. I got those when the deal was just about finalised and I wheeled out my favourite line "right, this deal is just about there but…."

Since getting my car I have passed 2 other people on to the dealer I used. I will continue to do this as he was good and in 3 to 4 years time i will be back for an even better deal. He gets business, i get a good deal. Win win.
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