Has anyone ever used a car broker to buy their new car and how much do you think you saved? I am not very good at negotiating and thinking of using one.
New car buying broker
David76 on 05/02/2017 - 21:28
Last edited 05/02/2017 - 21:39
Last edited 05/02/2017 - 21:39
Comments
same. found my own car for about $3000 less than a broker offered.
when negotiating for a car - find the cheapest on car sales.com.au then go to the dealer and say "XYZ on car sales has it for this price, can you beat it?" if they say yes then that is good. if no then go to the next dealer.
if it takes you a week to save $1000 (which would really take a 5-8 hours of actual time) then work out how much per hour you are saving/earning by negotiating.
find the cheapest on car sales.com.au then go to the dealer and say "XYZ on car sales has it for this price, can you beat it?"
We did something like that for a lease vehicle (Outlander) and saved over 8k.
autogenie gets good reviews on whirlpool … never used them though.
Brokers charge a finders fee which affects the best price they can get. This fee is normally around $500-$1000.
Learning to negotiate is a life skill worth knowing, not just for car buying but for a lot of purchases in life.
+1
I never liked dealing with Brokers…
My wife is a beast of a negotiator - always gets crazy deals - but this is essentially what she does for new cars:
Go into your local dealer and ask them for their best price and to include any extras they can. Tell them you will be shopping around.
Then look on carsales in the new section for the car you want and contact the dealers that have them. Do the same thing and ask them for the best price and deal. Make sure you tell them if you have a better price already and they will usually match it or beat it.
Call any other dealers you are interested in buying from and keep asking for a better price than you have. If the dealer is within a couple of hours of you they will often offer to deliver the car to you for free - especially if it's near the end of the month.
Once you have the best deal, go back to your local dealer and give them one last chance to beat or match the offer. If they won't, then buy the car from the place with the best deal.
And don't be afraid to tell them what you want, with what extras for what price - especially if you are actually at the dealership. They won't let you walk out the door without a sale if the offer is at all do-able for them.
how do you tell the difference between a "low-ball" and a "best deal?"
You need to be very clear with them and tell them you are after a drive away price - no more to pay. Once they realise that you are not someone who can be stooged - they will do their best deal pretty quickly as they would rather they got the sale than some other dealer.
When I put an "low" offer, I feel very shy, to be honest (unless I saw that price before on carsale. I am not a good negoniator as well. Do you think we should add extra (such as car mat..) and then deal with dealer or we just deal the price of car only? Thanks
I deal without any extras then when they take me into 'the room of rip off mats, paint protection and tint' i get them to chuck it all on for free. Takes them a while but you can break them easy ;)
Before you go into that room, you have a signed contract for the car…
The aftercare consultant won't throw extras into a deal already signed.
I hadnt signed anything when i was taken into 'the room'
I used a leasing company to negotiate for me, but didn't lease, they also do chattel mortgages / loans etc. They were able to get such a good deal for me that the local dealership kept questioning the figure I had (Subaru Levorg last year). They also organised my trade at a reasonable amount, but not to the dealership that I bought the Subaru from, so I didn't take a hit on the new car price.
Still not sure how they managed to secure such a great price for me. I'm guessing they have quite a bit of pull with some of the bigger auto groups.
Tried 2 brokers. The prices they gave were considerably higher than I negotiated and I am not good at negotiating. Beware
Get over your shyness… be bold but not cheeky… nothing to lose but plenty to gain. No need to use a broker.
Do your research… spend some time looking at web car sales sites… there is more than one. If you have to ask what they are then you have not looked and frankly, don't deserve to get a good deal. Effort = reward in this life.
Also check the local papers… sometimes dealers will advertise offers in there that they will not advertise nationally on the net. Also look up owners forums and even whirlpool.net.au to see what people there paid. Quite often prices paid discussions happen.The aim of all this is to get to a "happy price"… one that you would be willing and happy to pay.
When you go to a dealer be coy… ""don't mouth off"". Some people blabber some of the silliest and irrelevant things and this gives the salesman more clues to your weaknesses and how to "hook" you. "Keep it simple", you want your car and accessories at a hot price and the salesman wants his sale and the commission and your ass out of his showroom.
Never forget.. that really nice guy salesman who seems like you best friend for life will NOT want to know you immediately the sale contract is signed and the deposit paid. After that you instantly become a pain in the ass and he does want to see or hear from you. Prior to that the ball is in your court, you are the boss, so don't give in too soon.
I know of a person that got absolutely ripped off big time on a small suv but was so taken by the salesman and his spiel / fake friendship that he took the salesman and his wife out and shouted them an expensive dinner.. a sad lad.
Different situations require a different approach.
If you have a trade in, buying outright for cash, or on finance, or buying a very expensive car vs a sub $20k cheapie, or even when buying a used car, can change how you approach the deal.
BTW… buying using dealer finance is preferred by the dealership so do not think your cash purchase will appeal to them.. it wont.
There's plenty written on here and other forums that will tell you some of the quirks involved in each situation so invest the "effort" and look for them then read and learn. Speak to friends, workmates and relatives, surely you must know others that have purchased a car in their lifetime???
Even if they have been ripped off, like most have, you can learn from their experience.
People that just sob and say "I don't really know" are ones that have not made any effort to learn, simple as that.
What you learn during this process will benefit you in later life when purchasing other expensive items just as Spackbace said also. Call it part of growing up… one of the many things they don't teach you in school or uni.The car you want can determine your chances of getting a good deal also… some in demand cars will be RRP and they wont budge a $ while others may be very desperate to offload junk that is hard to move and will jump at any silly offer you make.
Do not ask what is your best price.. DOH!!
You can make your offer in two ways.. one is non committal where you say.. would you take $?. Sometimes the salesman will not commit to a question placed like this because you could just walk out the door and go and bargain lower elsewhere, but it is worth a try. The best time to make your offer is when you are ready to buy, know your happy price for the car and accessories and can say "I am ready to pay a deposit right now" but this is my price. Be careful there because when you do that you are hooked, no backing out, no crying to mother ……Such things as a full tank, mats and other low cost extras are normal in nearly all deals so don't get all excited over a set of floor mats for gods sake!!
One trick worth trying is if they have taken your hot ready to buy now offer say .. great, I think we have a deal then watch the glow in the salesmans face.. :-) …then hit him with an accessory that you wanted but had not disclosed worth say $500 - $1000 and say if we can squeeze that in we can do the paperwork. Often this will work.. sometimes not and sometimes that $1000 item might be workable if you added 2-300 extra to the deal. Be brave and give it a go, but don't be cheeky with it.
If you score your amazing deal don't wet your pants just yet… take the time to closely examine the order before signing and forking over your cash.. This is where most screw ups happen because people are so fuzzed with their shiny new wheels.. Make sure every detail and accessory is specified "exactly" as it should be, roughly right is just not good enough. It must have a delivery date. If that is left blank then be prepared to wait many months …
You can even specify that the build date should not be any more than ? months. You don't want a new car that has been sitting in a paddock for 10 months do you? Check the numbers as quite often this is how they can squeeze in a few hundred dollars. A car I purchased a few years back had almost $600 in little errors.. so it is worth looking closely!!!Do not get the extras they will try to screw you with such as paint protection, fabric protection, tint, dog insurance or any other value adding garbage. If you really need any of that get it done elsewhere later. You will usually get a much better job and for half the price.
OK.. I have written a small book here.. hope it gives some help and I hope you have taken some of it on board??
I have spent time with some people who asked for assistance explaining how they should approach their situation and the next day they just walked into the car yard totally ignoring everything they were told and got screwed blind. Some people are just like that.. but don't have to be.Make the effort and research and read. Remember that some advice, like some even written above on here, can be wrong so read between the lines. Effort = reward. Making no effort will get you exactly what you are trying to avoid.
Good luck and hope you get a sweet deal.
It doesn't hurt to try both. Finding your own bargain and then approaching a car broker.
Perhaps try emailing the car yards rather than negotiating in person. I had a friend who was very successful at negotiating nearly $20K off a BMW. He would email a dealer to ask what was their price, wait for a reply, then CC their email onto the end of a email history and enquire to all the other dealers. Then repeat again and CC the next reply onto the long history of emails. My friend said that every dealer could the entire history of his negotiations. That not every dealer wanted to participate but he was OK with that.
It helped that my friend was already a very experienced car buyer. Knew the exact specification and options he wanted. Made it clear he was definitely going to buy in the next month or two. That the sale would go to whoever could sell at the lowest price.
The downside to negotiating by email is that you don't get to see the car. Sales people will try hard to contact you on the telephone. You may be more susceptible to a sales person trying a bait and switch (eg. selling as new an ex-demo, ex-lease, ex-journalist, executive car).
Or the simple solution is to post the exact car (with price) you want on ozbargain and say "is this a good price?".
Within minutes you'll have the price and location of the car you want. E.g. from a car sales advert.
Print out that best price page and take it to a dealer and ask if they can beat that price.
You don't really need to negotiate. As you know the best price. But anything less is a bonus.
I used motorbuys.com.au and was very happy with the results. No negotiations and saved me about 10% on price.
Did you have to pay any sort of fee to motorbuys.com.au?
This was a year ago, but it was $20 to get them to put the call out to all of their dealers (or whatever they do) and give you the results. This was refunded in full however if you bought through one of their quotes.
I engaged a broker for my car.
The broker was unable to get a better price than one I had already negotiated.