Buying a Car

[Chookes 965]

I don't really know much about buying cars. I'm looking at changing to a newer car (our Audi is about 7 year old) and I have an idea of what car I want. a Focus Zetec S.

 

http://www.arnoldclark.com/used-cars/ford/focus/1.6-tdci-115-zetec-s-5dr/2013-%2813%29/ref/arnel-u-546703/

 

My question is, how much of an advantage is to pay for it in cash? If the car is worth £13,688, is there a realistic price I should be looking to get the car down too?

 

I went in to the garage to get a price for a part exchange, they offered £3000 for a car I'd private sell for around £6500. I doubt part exchanging would be benefit me £3500 of the price of the car so I think that option is out.

[Docwagon 856]

There is no advantage (price-wise) in paying cash.  The dealership would actually prefer you to finance it, as they get a kickback from the financing company when you go through them.

 

Does Scotland have anything like truecar.com that lets you see what others are paying for the car?  Edmunds.com?

[Chookes 965]

Parkers.co.uk. Gives you a good idea of the car's worth but you have to pay to add extra features/amend for your actual milage to get a true idea of your car's worth.

 

There are plenty of these cars in garages around me and they all are almost identically priced so I know it's priced about right. I don't want to go in and just pay the offer if it's better to go in at lower price like "I can give you 13,000 cash now".

 

They're finance sucks. I'm better on taking a loan from my bank at 4.4% than the 10.9% the garage is offering.

[cyberninja2601 1,106]

Companies love when you finance because like Doc said they get extra money. 10% extra compounded over 4 years means you paid approximately an extra 30% for the car that you didn't have too.  So it's a much better deal for them. 

 

The best way to approach it (around her in Canada anyways), is to go to the dealership and negotiate the prices as if you are going to finance it. I Canada they are not allowed to change the prices based on you financing/not financing. Once you have a really good price, they change you financing options. Even if it's paying cash. Chances are you'll get a better price doing that because

 

1) they expect to profit from financing

2) they figure you can afford more because you are paying cash and therefore have the money

 

I usually discuss the trade along with the car price. Mostly because the can profit from selling that car. There should be sites and information telling you what the car is worth and what they can sell it for. In Canada you are not taxed on the portion of the price for which you have a trade in so you may need to factor that in. So for example if they give 5000 pounds for your car you would be taxed on 8668 and not 13668 which can make a big difference. Here the taxes are 13% so that's an additional  savings of 650.

[JBR-Kiwi 286]

Good bit of advice:

 

If you are looking for a car purchase try going in at the end of the month. If the dealer hasnt hit sales targets they will be doing anything to secure a sale and with a bit of haggling you can knock off a fair bit of money or get a lot of options thrown in for free. Ive just recently helped my mum purchase a new Audi A1 Sport and by going in on the last day of the month we managed to get a car with lots of extras/upgrades, that should be around 21grand for just over 18grand. 

 

 

Make sure you go in there prepared. Ring up a number of other dealers and just see what they can do in terms of price and then play them off against one another. Be prepared to walk away if you arent completely satisfied.

 

 

In terms of paying in cash, im still a firm believer in what my old man says to me with the whole 'cash is king'. For a smaller dealership they will much rather prefer a cash deal as they have your money there and then. Bigger dealers have less interest in cash because like the others have said they will prefer to have your name down on a finance deal, but again it can literally depend on the dealer and sales advisor on the day.