Haggling car prices

[ctid]

I'm going to buy a car this afternoon which is listed at £1225 ono. It's a trade seller at a garage. The car is a 1999 (T) Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.25. I went to look at it this morning, and it seems ok. They have replaced the passenger side lock, and there is no paint where it has been welded in, which is about 5mm around the lock. There are some scratches on the front bumper, and a small dent in the drivers side door. It's taxed and tested till august, and has just been serviced.

Where should I start with my offer for it? The ad is:

3 Doors, Manual 5 speed, Hatchback, Petrol, 74,700 miles, Red, MOT-08-2007, 3 Owners. Adjustable seats, Anti theft system, CD, Central locking, Cloth upholstery, Colour coding - Body, Driver airbag, Electric windows, Foglights, Folding rear seats, Remote locking, Spoiler, Wheel trims. Ford Fiesta 1225 Zetec 16v mot august 07 tax till august 3 door hatchback alarm central locking front fog lamps radio cd player low ins group and tax ideal first car £1,225 ono

Cheers

[dave87]

The replaced drivers side lock would suggest either stolen recovered, or at least broken into. Thats worth asking, might knock a bit of the price off.

If you can't get any off the price, see if they will be willing to chuck stuff in - set of mats, or something.

My offer would be 1k, then haggle from there. If they are interested in getting rid of it, you may get it for 1150, something like that. If they know they can sell it, they won't budge from that price.

[ctid]

The HPI check came back all clear. It's not been reported stolen, so I'm assuming someone tried to break in to it.

[BUFF]

probably worth a PM to Zak as iirc that's his job (OK, he's a bit further up the chain these days) so he probably knows the usual margins ...

[ctid]

I've sent him a PM. Cheers

[joshwa]

How does the price compare to www.parkers.co.uk or the valuation service on www.autotrader.co.uk ?

[dave87]

Private Good £1,315
Private Poor £1,045

Half way near enough..

[kickstart 1]

I just love haggling , men dont expect a woman to haggle for a car somehow! I have got quite a bit knocked off in the past. Really all you need to think is , how much do you want that car ? How much is the maximum you want to pay? , then start a couple of hundred below your limit. Most people want to sell and if you can wave cash at them its even better! I have been walking away when my offer hasn't been accepted before now , only to be stopped and told its a deal !!!

[SilentDeath]

They have replaced the passenger side lock, and there is no paint where it has been welded in, which is about 5mm around the lock.

You will need to get that done... either get them to paint it or touch it up youself (its 8 years old so wont matter if it doesnt look perfect - bad paint can later be removed if you dont like how it looks, and is a lot better than rust)

What are the seats like? (standard cloth is usually not shaped comfortably)

How many miles, service history?


Get them to put a new mot on it. You only have 4 months left and could be expensive. My feista had 2 months left but it was given a new mot which saved £200.


What does the service include? When my brother bought his celica, it meant just an oilchange (which he was happy about)

Whereas a full service needs oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, plugs, ht leads, brake fluid. If you plan on keeping it for a while you should get this stuff done.

[ctid]

It doesnt matter now. I phoned them up to see how the repairs were going, and they said they had sold it. It was pretty dodgy tbh. As soon as I said I would be taking it to my mates garage for him to check it over, they said it would need some repairs doing.

Wasted £25 on a HPI check on it. Oh well, still looking for my first car.

[joshwa]

Where did you get the HPI check from? Thanks Josh

[ctid]

I got it from the RAC site. They use HPI to perform the checks, and offer the same guarantee. It's just cheaper .

It's probably a good thing I didnt get the fiesta. I'm going to look at a 2000 Bravo tomorrow for £995. Much nicer car, and this has 12 months mot, and FSH

[TeePee]

You should always plan to knock at least 20% off. That sounds like a big margin to most people, but that should be your target, more for private sellers.
Sellers know this, and overprice. For example, if they are asking £1250, that means they expect to get £1000. If you offer £1000 imediately they'll push you for more. The expected way is you offer £800 and compromise on £1000.

To me, that isn't even haggling. Haggling is how you get them below the £1000 which they really want. It's easier with a private buyer, you can just wave cash in front of them. With a trader it's harder. The biggest reduction I've had from a private seller was getting a bike for £1650 with an asking price of £2200.

Best of luck.

[arbitor]

I got it from the RAC site. They use HPI to perform the checks, and offer the same guarantee. It's just cheaper .

It's probably a good thing I didnt get the fiesta. I'm going to look at a 2000 Bravo tomorrow for £995. Much nicer car, and this has 12 months mot, and FSH

expect that to be in the garage a fair bit they arent the most hardy of cars, the boss has one, its screwed and its a 2000 he says he bought it from auction and it broke every month since then, so hes running it into the ground now..

a fiesta is a much safer bet to be honest mate, not to mention they look alot nicer. dont rush into it i know its tempting but you will regret it, i did and that was my 4th car lol. (should have found a better example)

[jimmycliff]

Start low! it would of been good to offer him £1000 on the phone just to see his reaction and let them know its cash traders are generally more harder to hackle with but I would not give him more than a £1000

Good luck

[wombar]

expect that to be in the garage a fair bit they arent the most hardy of cars, the boss has one, its screwed and its a 2000 he says he bought it from auction and it broke every month since then, so hes running it into the ground now..

a fiesta is a much safer bet to be honest mate, not to mention they look alot nicer. dont rush into it i know its tempting but you will regret it, i did and that was my 4th car lol. (should have found a better example)

Yup, I looked at these a few years ago and I didn't find one which didn't have something wrong with it(must have looked at 20 of them in total). Broken electric windows, dodgy electrics, door handles, lights, sun roof, basically everything.

When haggling, just remember that there are plenty of other cars out there and unless it's an immaculate example be prepared to walk away. Start low(like jimmycliff said) because once you start, you can't go down in price.