much discount to be haggled for approved used?

[nky_84]

On my search for an B8.5 S4 Avant, ive found a good spec car around the £25k mark. Having never bought from a main dealer before and always gone private sale, im not sure how to play this.

Audi seem to heavily incentivise brand new and finance deals but does anyone have much experience of getting a decent chunk of an approved used when paying cash? Or is the price the price considering they have sorted any niggles, 12 months warranty etc etc.

cheers,
Nick

 

[joinerman]

They won't want cash, they will think it's money laundering & they won't make any interest on finance.

 

[JimmyH]

From my last experience, i was offered £500 off a £32500 64 plate S3 sportback, there was no more room for discount, they were not interested.

 

[Nilz]

Which dealership are you planning on buying from, the forum has a good relationship with a few of them so maybe able to sort something a 'little' better than what you would normally get through named contacts there.

 

[nky_84]

it was at South Hereford but ive just been told it was sold this morning :-(. Hunt continues!

 

[-Ju-]

When I bought my current car 18 months ago it was originally on the forecourt at 21k, I bought it 2 months later for 19k.
In my experience there is always a deal to be had but you have to be prepared to walk away.
Some dealers will try hard to get a deal and some just won't
I would be surprised if they didn't have at least 3k equity to play with in a car
It's an exciting game to play though!

 

[Slackworth]

Cash/card payment/transfer isn't where it's at for dealerships anymore. They get commission for using the manufacturers' finance and will always take this as a preferred option.

Even if you can afford to buy the car outright in cash, you are better taking out the finance which will often give you access to free servicing as well and then paying off after the minimum period of 3-6 months.

As for how much margin the dealers make it generally does seem quite small on used cars these days. My mum recently purchased a Honda Approved Jazz and I only managed to squeeze them for an extra £200 plus a tank of fuel and set of mats. Tried everything to get lower but they wouldn't budge. I think on a £20k car you'll be lucky to squeeze anymore than 500-1K off. Depends how long the dealer has had the car in though..seen a couple of A6 C6 Avants on Autotrader recently drop about 2-3k as they were overpriced to start with but can't imagine if you were haggling they would go that far.

A guy started at work who had worked in sales at BMW a year or two back. He said they aimed to start with £2.5k profit but out of that had to come the bill for prep work from the service and valeting team - generally he said this was £500 before any parts were used.