7 Top Tips Let You Buy A Cheap Car Directly From A Main Dealer
If you want to buy a cheap new car, there are a few juicy little secrets that the dealers don't want you to know, but could add up to a huge amount of money. After 23 years working in a main dealer, I'm going to spill the beans - and you can benefit hugely.
For a large part of my time in the motor trade my job was to buy cars at 'trade' prices, that we would then stick on the forecourt with sometimes as little as 1,000 on top of the price I paid, and occasionally as much as 10,000!
If you choose you're moment, you can get a great deal. No dealer will turn you away because you're buying at the wrong time, but the last week of every quarter (March, June, September and December) sees a rush to get registrations, and manufacturers give dealers bonus money for taxing cars then, and the dealers will pass that on to you for being in the right place at the right time.
Rather than buying a new car, consider a demonstrator model, dealers get extra discount for running these cars, but what's more important is that the salesman running them also wants a new car. He often won't care about how much profit is in the deal, because he can't have his new model until he's sold his old car.
Consider buying a pre-registered car. These are cars that have been registered in someone else's name, either a dealer or a leasing company, in order to get extra discount. You would appear as the second owner, but the car is brand new with delivery mileage, and you will have saved hundreds - maybe even more - into the bargain.
Apart from the obvious 0% finance offers that you see, normal dealer rate are usually lower than the bank to start off with, but you'll find that they're also prepared to reduce their rates if you just ask. And for every 1,000 you borrow, a 1% reduction in interest rate could save you as much as 50 - on a 10,000 car you're another 500 in front - just for asking for a lower rate of interest!
Most people when they buy a new car have one to put in part exchange, but very few people get the best price for it, even though you already know how - you just don't know that you know it. When you go to buy a car, you expect it to be clean, smelling nice, without any scuffs or scratches, right? Well if your car is clean, smelling nice and well polished a dealer will fall for your car the same way that you fall for theirs - just make it look the best you can, and you'll get the best offers!
In recent years, car dealers have started to buy fleets of late model, low mileage cars from leasing companies and other sources. Because of the huge levels of discounts that these companies command, their fleets are incredibly cheap - you can often get them at almost half price, even though they're only a few months old and have only covered a few thousand miles. They're still under warranty, probably haven't even covered enough miles to need a first service, but you will make massive savings just because your name isn't the first one in the log book - but if you've just saved 5,000, do you really care??
About the author: After 23 years selling all models of new and used cars in the UK, Mark Stephens will tell you how to buy a cheap car with the peace of mind of buying from a main dealer. There are more top tips on his website.
Click here for other unique buy a cheap car articles.
About the Author
Rating: Not yet rated