Buying a used car from a dealership

they have roughly between 1k-1.5k over a car sometimes more..... they will give a little back to you for a p/x but dont be fooled if one garage gives you 1.5k and another gives you 2.5k  for a similar deal cos you will only get more problems for the "p/x of a lifetime

I know little about the business, but one thing is for sure is that people selling something do as much as they possibly can to make it difficult for you to compare the product they are offering with other similar products.

The only way you will know whether you have beaten them down on price as far as they will go will be to get to the point where you walk away.

OP, what type of car are you looking at, budget/brand?

I only ever buy Mercs from approved dealerships and apart from peace of mind that guarantees you can still negotiate free servicing/mats etc..

allow for a three hour sales pitch - with the add ons of - lost key insurance, insurance write off difference insurance - gleamy outside of car make over - protection plan against dents and scratches - etc etc  - all on top of the HP deal and P/T deal - and a wood of paperwork

I nearly lost the will... the add ons totalled £1298 -

Look to buy towards the end of the month.  Dealers/Salesmen have targets to meet and will often give a discount they wouldn't earlier in the month.

Do you get history when buying from dealers? I understand the manufacturers all have 'used car factories' where they fix any mechanical faults and straighten out bodywork if needed.

The main thing is to be in charge.

Play them at their own game.

The salesman may well be more desperate for the deal than you are to buy.

Deflate him at every opportunity and stay aloof.

If it's cloth say you really wanted leather. If it's leather say you really wanted cloth!

Let him know you have seen two others and need to buy today.
Tell him that, in fairness, one was a bit up on miles, but you prefer his to the other one, except that the price is too strong!

Say it needs to be closer to £**** and then ask if he will give you five minutes, to look around it on your own.

Come back after ten minutes as, in the meantime, he will have the sales manager into his ribs.

He will now hit you with "their best price" but, whatever it is act disappointed, and look as if you are about to leave.

He will now ask what does he have to do to get your business.

Now you will say that the other one comes with a full tank of fuel, three months guarantee, and free first service (or whatever you want to chuck in).

The salesman is now so screwed up that he wants to go outside and throw up!

He will say that if he can match that can he have your business.

Now say you need to go and phone the other dealer.

Leave him for ten minutes to get a thrashing from his manager, and come back in.

Whatever they now offer may be as good as it is going to be, but you still have one more chance which is to leave.

Tell him how disappointed you are, and go outside, and pace around looking like you are on the phone.

Either they will grab you, or you go back in with a big smile, and generous hand shake.

What you never want, is to have "buyers remorse", thinking could I have got a better deal!

ball breaking a hobby of yous aunty?

I'm in Dublin and bought a 6 month old Toyota in September.
No movement on price but I bought about €800 of accessories and got a few hundred off them.
My trade in was a 7 years old Toyota one owner (me) but with only 55k kms (35k miles) as I'm retired.  It took over three months to sell.
The trade-in was a real bargain to whoever ignored the car age and looked at the car, priced just over 10k.
My guess is buyers might not have believed the low mileage on the car.
The salesman told me they had a massive amount of second hand cars and my guess is some of them went cheaply toward the end of the year.
We have new registrations every six months e.g. Dublin was 161 D, 162 D in 2016, and now 171 D in 2017.

great advice aunty

You don't have to even go into a dealer.  As long as you know what car and spec you want you can do everything over the phone or the internet. The car is just a commodity like a fridge or a tv treat it the same.  ie go into the shop to look at it then get a better deal online.