How to 'negotiate' cars for sale?

[JAKE-26]

Hey all. Been looking at a few cars lately and some have seen fairly expensive for what they are. Lots of them have price negotiable in the description, but i'm not really sure how to go about 'negotiating' with a seller . Any tips appreciated!

Cheers everyone

[GetToDaChopa]

Give them a lower price then what he is asking for Seriously no science here. If you think a car is a rip of, tell him! (give them reasons why though)

[JAKE-26]

haha well yeah thats the obvious! but there's only a certain amount of $$ you can go down just buy saying that. would offering to buy the car without like spare wheels, personalised plates etc a good way to get the price down.
This is an example of what i mean. i know its had money put into it, but for a vt it seems way to much to me.
what do you reakon?

2000 HOLDEN COMMODORE S VT II Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au

[11gothevt11]

Hey all. Been looking at a few cars lately and some have seen fairly expensive for what they are. Lots of them have price negotiable in the description, but i'm not really sure how to go about 'negotiating' with a seller . Any tips appreciated!

Cheers everyone

Just what i do
If your realy interested in a car look all over it take your time 1 hour or so
Mention all the faults you find like tiny dents ,tiny marks, anything and everything
Then when you have gone all the way through the car,,,,,,
Depends how "ono" they are but
Say car is $3600 Say......I will give you $3100 cash if they say no
Walk away...most of the time they will call you back and accept...But if they don't go back to them and say ok my last offer $3200 CASH
They do the same But
Depends on the car...But You could save $1000's if they want to get rid of it straight away
Also take note:::::::::::: When looking at car yards....Yeah they look very clean and tidy!!!!! But don't be fooled they just had a detail... Few hunderd km's later you will start to see any oil leaks if any
But....Take your time!!!!
Hope this helps?

[Maxxiz]

This should help you a bit, courtesy of monty python.

[11gothevt11]

Hey all. Been looking at a few cars lately and some have seen fairly expensive for what they are. Lots of them have price negotiable in the description, but i'm not really sure how to go about 'negotiating' with a seller . Any tips appreciated!

Cheers everyone

Also when looking at the car never mention any good things...Like " Nice clean paint jod," I like these wheels"
As saying this the seller thinks" hes gonna buy it pay top money for it"
Only mention the negatives

If you know any one that knows about cars take them with you...
Like find the negatives say ....This will cost Around $ such and such to fix
And deduct these of the sale price,,,
Remember they can only say "no"

[11gothevt11]

haha well yeah thats the obvious! but there's only a certain amount of $$ you can go down just buy saying that. would offering to buy the car without like spare wheels, personalised plates etc a good way to get the price down.
This is an example of what i mean. i know its had money put into it, but for a vt it seems way to much to me.
what do you reakon?

2000 HOLDEN COMMODORE S VT II Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au

Just looked at that Vt
Thats a rip off !!!!!! But Nice car
If it was a ss yeh About the right price.......
Compare to ebay what similar cars sell for...If this was on ebay.....Lucky to get around $4000-$6000 I would think

[JAKE-26]

Ah classic video Maxxiz.

And yeah i really like the VT and its got all i'd want to do done, but still theres no way id pay 9.9k for one, the value of those has gone down a ridiculous amount!
i'd probably pay 8 for it though :P

[Junny]

have cash ready.... money talks =]
I paid 12k for my maloo =D

[JAKE-26]

12k holy!!
man you are lucky!

[Junny]

haha money talks... take cash and a cheque book.
if they want 10k but you talked it down to 9k... offer then 8k in cash or 9k in cheque lol thats what I did.
always hang on to your price... never let them take advantage of ya...
haha take the missus... let her be the bitchy one.

[JAKE-26]

haha well i dont really wanna be walking around with a 9k bag of cash. If i put it in a bag on draw a dollar sign on it it might look a bit shifty hey!
But im guessing cash seems like the cheaper option to go!

[Junny]

trust me it helps....
when you have cash it shows your serious and when they see it they will think.. take the cash now and be short of 200... or wait 3 weeks.
just get your rents to drive you there if you not comfortable with 9k cash in hand

[sweefu]

Yep i agree cash, when ppl see it and can touch it it changes everything.

[Junny]

oh yeah look at the bad points of the car...
e.g my bumper was stuffed... the guy was like you need a clip for that.. cost $50 from holden so i took $50 off the price.. lol
car sales people will do anything to get the extra dollar outa you... so dont be shy to save that extra dollar

[JAKE-26]

haha yeah i would go with my old man anyway he'l have some buying experience under his belt, i've got no clue!
So everyone reakons cash is the way to go hey! i never actually thought of that. i guess thats what i'l do then.
Any other ways to drop the price apart from pointing out minor dints etc and by buying without some included parts like plates etc etc?

[Junny]

from a private you can probly get them to take the rims/audio gear out...
from a dealer I doubt it.

[JAKE-26]

yeah but thats the stuff i want! hahaha.
Thanks heaps anyway fellas

[Junny]

what are you gonna take out then? the steering wheel?

[justincredible]

you don't need to take anything outta a car. two points I'll make. buy private. private sellers may have less experience than you, they don't sell cars for a living and they are selling there car for a reason (hopefully not coz its stuffed lol). my car was advertised for 3000 (4 years ago) and I got it for under 1900. how? well first of all, the same way other ppl would have done it, the dents (which didn't exist haha) and rust (which also didn't exist, but was just dirt), but a large chunk came off the remaining price of the rego.
take the seller to the driving authority and get the remaining of the rego refunded, and taken off the price. U'll buy the car unroadworthy but it may be better because if there is anything wrong you will have to find out before driving it.
Hopefully you get the idea and just remember never to seem keen,
good luck.

[tivoom]

long test drives with the seller and a mate and get your mate to chuck in a "oh i can here a clunking back here or men there is a bit of a wine in the diff ect ect ect" read the seller to if they start to smile your going the wrong way if they start to look lost and flat faced your doing it well good luck and let us know how you go

[Ace_VP]

It all depends what you are buying, if its a rare car then the seller has the advantage, if its a commodore then the buyer has the advantage because there are always heaps on the market to choose from. Many people will price a car based on what they think its worth, not what the market says its worth.

A person might buy a car for $4000 and then put $3000 in bits an pieces into it to make it nice, that doesnt make the car worth $7000 but some people think it does. They might get lucky and find a buyer who wants exactly what they have on the car but for most people there might be things that they dont like so arent prepared to pay for.

I always do heaps of research find out what a high km model is worth and then what a low km model is worth and then i can have a gauge of price range for vaying km's, then you factor in the condition. Is the paint peeling, is it faded, are there heaps of carpark dents and scrapes that will need touching up etc. Most people will take these issues into account and price accordingly, like buying a hail damaged car. Some people dont, so tell them whats wrong and haggle accordingly. People always add a few hundred onto the price and all people will have a minimum price that they want to achieve in their mind. Your job as a buyer is to offer a little bit lower than this price and then have them come back with a counter offer, if they accept your offer first up well thats a bonus. And then as Junny said have the cash with you, people loose their sense of value when they see a wad of $50's and the thought of getting all those 50's in their hand now makes some people accept stupidly low offers. Matt

[HamaTime™]

Pick out all the negatives on the car, pick out stuff that needs to be fixed etc etc etc.

When you go and look at cars, take someone who knows alot about cars with you, obviously let them test drive it since you don't have your license and also don't have the experience to discern and find smaller problems with a car when you drive it as opposed to someone who has been driving for longer and has more mechanical and car knowledge/sense.

Also, try and find something a little 'less' modified, half the time when you go and look at cars exactly like that VT, you will find that they would have been abused, thrashed etc.... Sure you might have to spend the extra money to get the car to where you want it to look, but 9 times out of 10 you'll get a better car, and have the fun of 'modifying' it to your taste over the year(s) that you own it.

At the end of the day, you don't want to pay good money for a car that only 'looks' good and will give you the shits for the rest of the time you own it

[JAKE-26]

Yeah i know exactly what you mean about it highly likely being thrashed as its been modded. Of course that wont always be the case and some people might treat their cars like its worth million dollars, but more than often itl be thrashed lol.

I'm mainly looking for vs or (if i can afford it) a vu ute, at 9k or so at the most. There's so little out there in manual that the rare manual ones i find are always overpriced! but ive got some good tips here, and im always looking with my dad who seems to know his fair share about it. I just want a car a rediculous amount and its so hard not to rush into the first one i see!

[HamaTime™]

There yours problem, you need to be impersonal with the car your looking at. Yes, appreciate the car that your looking at, but look for the things that are bad about it more than whats good about it! Because then you know exactly what your getting that is going to cost you money, going to cause you stress and annoyance.

Good luck getting a VU V6 Manual Ute for 9k, ute's hold their value alot better than sedans, manuals even more so. One of my mates from high school had a VU ute which he bought for $17, still only sold it for $16,500 or something last year.

1996 HOLDEN COMMODORE Base VS Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au

1998 HOLDEN COMMODORE S VS III Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au

1998 HOLDEN COMMODORE Base VS II Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au - carsales.com.au

1998 HOLDEN COMMODORE S VS II Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au

1995 HOLDEN COMMODORE S VS Private Cars For Sale in VIC - carsales.com.au