Hey all,
Currently browsing through sites like carsales and looking at some of the prices for second hand cars. I don't have much experience buying/selling cars, but I would hazard a guess that people up the offer price expecting potential buyers to haggle a bit.
So just wondering if there is a 'standard' premium added to the 'real' price the owner is seeking, so that I can make reasonable offers? Like if I see a car listed for $31,000, would it be unreasonable of me to offer $28,000?
Just look what's around. Certain cities will be cheaper then others.
Once you know what the cheapest comparable guy is selling for you then have a base to work with.
Don't worry about what they have listed, it's super common especially for small cars, you'll see a 5 year old 100,000km Mazda 3 for $18,000 or some ridiculous amount.
The longer it's been on carsales or similar the more likely they'll lower their price.
Just basic supply & demand. If you want something now you'll nearly always pay more. If you look at them, contact a few, take a month or two, you'll have a much better chance of saving a few grand for minimal work.
you can use Redbook.com.au for price and spec reference purpose. In my opinion, you can bargain with private sellers easier than dealers as dealers also at heaps fix costs to their item, and of course, they want to make profit. One thing to remember, dealer has to be warranted your car 3 months when private people don't. In my case it works because when I brought my car to Toyota service, they reported my car had oil leaks and quote nearly 1,000 bucks to fix it. Then I bring back to dealer and ask them nicely to fix it.
Depends how desperate they are to sell.. and what arguments you're using to justify the reduced offer.
I'd have thought 10% was well within the "reasonable" range for bartering..
If there are problems, like balding tyres, major service due, dents/scratches etc, they're all good arguments to justify a reduced price.
In this example, my gut feel is that they're after $30k. Advertised at $31k so they can be "haggled" down to 30. So you're going to need reasons (as above) to haggle much under $30k.
Same as when you see a car advertised at $5250… that $250 is just "haggle buffer".
Desperation is the key. Bought a $2500 car posted as $3500 after haggling. You need to be careful though as some do get offended with low ball offers. In the end it is a matter of how much really you would like to pay. If you really like the car though it's a bit over priced, you should buy it.
You pay what you would be happy to pay considering the cars condition and the price of others on offer.
No different to buying anything second hand.
There are a lot of factors that come into play when valuing a car, and I think you already should have a fair idea of roughly where you want to be. Dont take the asking price seen on websites as the price these cars are getting, this is what they are asking and if theyre not a new ad and they are still for sale they are probably asking too much. But all things being equal I personally think an offer of 28k for a an asking price of 31k car is more than reasonable, I would actually start lower probably about 75-80% of asking price. Remember you will probably be haggling and end up in the middle somewhere. Unless its something special walk away if a seller is not prepared to haggle too much…theres plenty of cars out there.
hi you are making the first mistake in negotiations, do not make the first counter offer,
(notice how all the trash hunters and pawn shows on tv ask the seller first rather than making an offer)
(trying to keep this brief) lets say the price is $31k, you should ask the seller how much they can reduce the price by, so they come back at you with $27k (for example) this means they have quickly remove $4k from the price and indicates that they will happily take even less you can counter with $25/6k, or the alternative (there are many) they come back at you with $30k this would indicate they cannot reduce the price by much you may be able to squeeze another $500 of it.
so never make the first offer,
never make two offers back to back (this shows how much you are willing to pay see above)
if you cannot get the deal you want walk away, there are heaps of used cars around
Varies greatly, I manged to haggle from an advertised 42,500 down to 32,000.
This was because I said not to include RWC or Rego (due in 2 weeks), where they would have both been included otherwise.
Car only required new pads and rotors for roadworthy, as tyres were brand new.
And I was buying interstate, so Rego did not matter to me anyway.
Also, it helped that his next lease payment was approaching, and he didn't want to have to put more money down on that. So on the condition that I make payment before specific date, he agreed to that price.
Anyway, like I said, varies greatly, but these are some points to consider.
Everyone is right. Dealer Prices can be up to $4000-$5000 higher than private sales in this price range, so you may be persuaded by the confidence of buying from a known business.
If not, on Carsales, private sales can fall into a number of Categories, but two stand out.
Newish cars where the Tradein offer was appalling, and the seller believes it is worth more.
Oldish cars, which the seller just wants whatever they can get.
There may be another category revolving around suburbs and names, but you will figure that out.
Private Sales have a "Last Modified" date, which might tell you how long the car has been up. but, if you are after something newish, start with the Trade in Value on Redbook as a guide.
Remember most private sellers know as much about selling cars as you know about buying them, and as long as you don't want to be the Wolf on Wall street, it probably won't be too hard to meet in the middle. A seller on Carsales may have looked up Redbook to get an idea of what he could get, so the middle might be somewhere between the Redbook's Tradein and Private Prices.
If you're getting a hard sell, walk away - you may be out of your league, and there should be plenty of options elsewhere. There is 20,000 cars on Carsales between $25000 and $30000.
Some can reduce their price quite a lot, some aren't willing to. Their list price will give you an indication about how much they want to sell their car for. Say its listed for 8500, chances are they want it for 8000.
Hello,
Really depends on the car and how much its actual value is. Sometimes, sellers list the price low purposely as they are after a quick sale. Other times, its listed like a few grand more purposely as they know people will try to negotiate with them.