Negotiating with a car dealer

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Davush

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Good day all,

Wondering if anyone has some inside information or just past experience they would like to share with regards to getting the best/fairest deal on a car.

So far I have found you can often negotiate to get the car at its listed price (i.e no on road costs) and MAYBE a grand or 2 off that. (this was on a R180 000 car).

Big dealers don't seem to budge much at all..

Any advice?
 
Always start with how many of theirs cars you've bought in the past and got 7.5%.....
 
I initially used Mcarthy Call A Car, and got discounts of 2 - 6%.

The Dealer that I have previously bought 5 cars from offered 2%. I eventually bought with an 8% discount.
 
Billy said:
I initially used Mcarthy Call A Car, and got discounts of 2 - 6%.

The Dealer that I have previously bought 5 cars from offered 2%. I eventually bought with an 8% discount.
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Great, are you talking about 2-6% off the listing price or of the final cost?
 
1 - "How much can you let me have the car for"
2 - I insist on doing the "on road" fees myself
3 - Is there any difference if I pay you cash or in 3 instalments, if cash, what discount can I have
4 - If there is a motor plan, is it compulsary and if not, what comes off the price

Big dealers can afford not budge. Honda Cape Town would not budge on a car I wanted, but Honda Claremont (a much smaller concern) really tried and eventually I got 17.5% off. It was an end of financial year demo with 12km on the clock. They did the on road costs free as well
 
Davush said:
Great, are you talking about 2-6% off the listing price or of the final cost?
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Off the list price. The "on the road costs" varied greatly. From over R4500 to R1500. I paid R1500. I took the best overall package.

Shop around, be flexible.
 
Shop around ,
The last vehicle i bought the one dealer offered me R55K trade in on my old car and would not budge on the R255K price of the new car .(new)
The second dealer offered me R70K trade in and R251K for the new car .
So at the end of the day I save R19K by shopping around ,dont be in a hurry to buy .
 
I traded a car in recently and I was surprised to see that they offered me much more for the trade in that I expected, later on when I went to sign for the new vehicle they said that I should be happy that they gave me a huge discount because they quoted me the trade in on a Hyundai IX35 instead of my I30 for the same year model but in the interest of good business practice they'll honour their word.
 
If you go in, like the car and pay for it (I'm assuming you have to do an EFT?). Can you drive out the dealer that day with it? Do they want to wait for the money to clear?
 
Davush said:
If you go in, like the car and pay for it (I'm assuming you have to do an EFT?). Can you drive out the dealer that day with it? Do they want to wait for the money to clear?
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Last car I bought at a dealer, went in with a bank guaranteed cheque and drove out with the car... Since then it's either been private buys or auctions
 
Davush said:
If you go in, like the car and pay for it (I'm assuming you have to do an EFT?). Can you drive out the dealer that day with it? Do they want to wait for the money to clear?
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You can do an eft but things like registration and tinting windows usually takes a day. I'm sure they would want the money to clear too though before releasing the car.
 
Same experience as some of the others. Found a big difference between different dealers for the same car.
 
Davush said:
Good day all,

Wondering if anyone has some inside information or just past experience they would like to share with regards to getting the best/fairest deal on a car.

So far I have found you can often negotiate to get the car at its listed price (i.e no on road costs) and MAYBE a grand or 2 off that. (this was on a R180 000 car).

Big dealers don't seem to budge much at all..

Any advice?
Click to expand...

If buying new. Shop between dealerships.

If second hand, it's luck of the draw unfortunately
 
Dealers generally adjust prices quarterly so the weaker rand hurts you but they also have volume targets to hit so its worth reaching out to them just before the end of the quarter.

Your ability to get a discount will depend on how 'hot' the car is (i.e. no discounts on Merc A class) and how long the car has been sitting on the dealer lot.

Good luck
 
Depends entirely on the dealership in my experience. Shop around though. Be flexible like others have said. Don't only shop in the same province though. Shop far and wide. Find a dealership you like, and give them the other deals and get them to better it. I did that with my last purchase on a new vehicle in April and got about an additional R50k off the price (~10%). Don't rush but don't be bullied. At the same time, know what your limits are and what you are willing to spend for a vehicle.
 
isnt it also better to buy a car at the end, or near the end of the year,

dealers are more willing to lower the price on a car, when its gonna be older in a few months/weeks?

also isnt it a good idea to bluff your way and say you have another car from another dealer for less.
 
eg2505 said:
isnt it also better to buy a car at the end, or near the end of the year,

dealers are more willing to lower the price on a car, when its gonna be older in a few months/weeks?

also isnt it a good idea to bluff your way and say you have another car from another dealer for less.
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Financial year end. Around February before March.
 
Remember not all companies have a Feb year end.

I suggest you do your homework on what price you expect to pay then walk into a dealership 2 or 3 days before month end. Thats probably your best time to get a good deal especially if they are behind target.

Another thing is most dealers accept a bank cheque as if it was cash. There is a difference between bank guaranteed cheques and a bank issued cheque. We do Don accept bank guaranteed cheques at all at our dealership.
 
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