Negotiating with car dealers

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i-luv-pie, Nov 24, 8:34pm
You are required to give an offer on paper. The salesman will then discuss with his boss whether or not your offer is accepted. Anyone have a rough idea what margins are in used cars these days?
The listed price for Toyota Corolla 2017 is $17400. What would be a reasonable offer?

kazbanz, Nov 24, 8:35pm
17400 —-right now you will find dealers very reluctant to discount in any way at all. Put simply its nigh on impossible to buy stock for even the price stuff in nz is SELLING for. I’m not being smart here . Hey feel free to try a lower offer but don’t be surprised if they don’t accept. Then again you could do the legwork and actually see if that’s well priced compared to other 17 corollas

franc123, Nov 24, 8:44pm
You could offer $16k but it will likely result in a sex and travel request. Why would a dealer be willing to offer any discount at all on a model that a lot of people would want?

intrade, Nov 24, 8:45pm
john cadogan has that documented kazban. i know you dont like him but he dont makes the videos to be liked. he makes them so people think for them selfs.

bigfatmat1, Nov 24, 8:51pm
Alot of yards are maintaining margins and saying no to freebies like towbars and letting the customers walk at the moment

kazbanz, Nov 24, 8:57pm
you mean the Aussie idiot? Zero relevance to NZ in 2020 with the affects of an idiotic law change in March causing a major blockage in the supply chain coupled to a mass stoppage in supply caused by c19 .

kazbanz, Nov 24, 9:03pm
yep. Lowballers not understanding that with c19 the rules changed. Heck it’s not hard to see what stuff is selling for in Japan. Ie same money as cars are selling for here

secretgarden88, Nov 24, 9:16pm
Under c19, people are losing jobs, businesses closing down, is not a good time for buying cars. You can see many cars have been listed on trade me for months. Is easy to bargain for a good deal! There are just less cars to choose from due to slow shipment. Most will go down at least 10% and my experience of car dealers is that some have clearly added at least 20% to the price they expect

tweake, Nov 24, 9:35pm
we bought a new work vehicle, part of the reason for the one we choose was because it was in stock. most others have a very long waiting time to get anything here.
same thing with other goods. just heard of a comment about my own trade that some supplies are running out, they just can't get any in.

s_nz, Nov 24, 9:36pm
Depends on how good of a deal is. If you have already picked out the best deal around on trademe, don't expect the dealer to discount by more than $500. On the other hand, if the price is higher than the market, of the dealer has had the car on hand for an extended period (unlikely with a 2017 corolla), then there could be quite a discount to be had.

As others have said, car's coming out of japan arn't cheap at the moment. However rental car companies have been decreasing fleet sizes, and cashed up members of the public have been swapping out their typical winter overseas holiday for a brand new car. As such there should be more fairly modern NZ New stuff around than typical.

sw20, Nov 24, 9:38pm
It's not just a lack of good quality stock of cars. I bought, well put a deposit on a new MTB the other day. It doesn't arrive till January. It was the only one available in my size. If I didn't buy it, I had to wait till December 2021 for the next shipment.

tnt423, Nov 24, 9:51pm
Some one told me the other day Ford have 1200 Rangers coming in and over 900 are pre sold already.

Lots of different trades are telling me that the are struggling to get supplies.

kazbanz, Nov 24, 9:54pm
or they have been forced to put prices up because they have paid lots more for stock. But hey what do l know.

curlcrown, Nov 25, 7:43am
Yes, I'll second that. A lot of dealers a keeping trades they wouldn't usually keep and we're having to pay a bit more to get the cars, A lot of the dealers of not selling trade ins at the moment but wanting to buy.

vtecintegra, Nov 25, 7:50am
Lots of ex-rental Corollas on the market at the moment and because there are so many to choose from they're mostly priced realistically anyway.

BTW $2k more will get the next shape - consider going for that to get the new 2l engine and better safety features

tgray, Nov 25, 8:23am
If your prepared to buy for $16500, I would come in at 16000 as your first offer will almost certainly be rejected no matter what it was. Car salesman are experts at reading body language and the salesman will already know if you are prepared to go higher. Try to be assertive. DONT say "would you take $16,000?" or "lets start at $16,000" etc.
If they reject your final offer of $16,500, get up and prepare to walk out. Call their bluff. You can always call back and offer more - the car won't sell to someone else 10 mins later.

trading-angel, Nov 25, 9:22am
Good advice! I am having a similar situation too but also have an old 2006 car to trade-in, so can I assume the value as $1000 for the old car and start from $15,000? Is that how it works?

Yes, I do noticed there lots of used Corollas out there. I am trying to buy a Mazda Demio. There are many on Trade Me also.

kazbanz, Nov 25, 10:08am
How are you able to come up with a figure of any sort without having a good look at the market? where does $17400 sit compared to the other 17 corollas of that cc miles and color ? Not saying it well but its kinda like your company product. Already for sale with minimum margin and you know that's the case.So that $17400 might be fantastic value.
Ohh and as Ive posted earlier in this thread. I can tell you from personal experience I have a waiting list on some makes/models currently.literally 2-6 people wanting to buy them. In one case with a popular model there are only 20 available for sale in the entire country. Basically take the whole pre esc/pre C19 rulebook and throw it away.

vtecintegra, Nov 25, 10:19am
Still curious to hear what 'popular model's lacks stability control - it's even in most of the cheapest nastiest Japanese models that don't come with side airbags.

intrade, Nov 25, 10:30am
i seen a lot of fresh 1999 imports lol i am waiting for the 2000 models so i can get a 1 year wof. I dont know how they get them as when i look at bforward they cost 6 grand landed plus danger of rust at 20 year old . etc. but i recon good minimum price is now 10 grand . its a bit like the housing market The advantage now is fresh import will likely have had services as where nz new ones Good luck finding one especially the popular jap brand that everyone owned because servicing is optional in owners minds. = you better stay the hell away from unless it is fresh import complied. as if its not serviced it can not meet japans emission testing. I presume they do emission testing during There wof like switzerland. going for a wof in switzerland is worse then going to the dentist.

kazbanz, Nov 25, 11:42am
intrade--I strongly suspect that loophole will close very soon.,

tgray, Nov 25, 12:29pm
A lot of Axela's, Tiida's and Swift's do not have ESC.
Three of the most popular imported cars until the law changed recently.

tgray, Nov 25, 12:34pm
I only said that simply because only a fool walks into a dealership and pays full sticker price without asking first for a discount. Notice I didn't say only a fool pays full sticker price - big difference, as you may have to to secure the purchase.

tgray, Nov 25, 12:40pm
As a Naiive 20 something, I walked into John Andrew Ford in 1987 and paid full asking price of $12,995 (a years wages at the time) for a 1981 Ford Cortina.
Didn't realize you could actually offer less.

secretgarden88, Nov 25, 1:15pm
It looks like it is a bad time to upgrade your car! If there is no urgency, isn't it better to wait? After C19, imports will go back to normal, salesmen will be beating each other offering good deals again, right?