bazzer70

It’s a while since I bought a new car in UK but each time I was expected to haggle and usually managed to knock a fair chunk off the initial list price. My last car was bought through an online crowd called “Broadspeed” and they gave the best deal with the car being then supplied by a local dealer!
my search for my French home is over because I have today signed the first of the many documents pertaining to my house purchase in the Dordogne! Very exciting.
I plan to spend 4 months in the new home next year before actually selling my UK home - I am sure I will not deci that UK is to be my final home but juuuust in case. The plan is then to move totally in January 2023 so as to keep tax etc less complicated.
So - to get back to cars…. Is it customary or expected that you haggle with the new car dealership?
Thanks as always

Helen1964

My husband haggles shamelessly when he's buying a new car. Seems to work. I'm so embarrassed I usually run off and hide until it's all over.

dmu

I couldn't haggle to save my life, but OH could be quite persuasive at times. Not so much for new cars though (ours usually lasted 15 years anyway...)
Maybe it's a man thing, or are there ladies out there who can haggle over prices?

Chatter Static

Never known a garage to shift on the price, and they try and charge for plates even if the car already has them.

Paying in cash for new cars tends to upset them.

EuroTrash

I don't haggle, if I think something is overpriced I just plain don't buy it and if I think the price is fair and I want it I buy it, but if I sense that a salesman is expecting me to, then on the basis it would be daft not to I say something casual like What would you knock off if I asked? and then they suggest something and I say OK.
My partner won't even do that. I went with him once when he bought a car, and to me it seemed that the salesman was inviting him to ask for a reduction, he even went as far as to say 'are you happy with the price?' and I whispered to OH 'he's expecting you to ask for a reduction' but he whispered back 'no I never do that'. In the end the salesman insisted on throwing in a complete set of OM car mats and a couple of free services. Even then I thought OH was going to refuse.

I don't see how you can pay for a new car in cash in France, it would be above the legal limit for cash transactions wouldn't it.

Rosemary

Same in Spain because they prefer people to take out the fincance. When you say cash I suspect that you mean the total amount paid via a bank transfer and not actual readies.

Rosemary

Chatter Static

Readies

EuroTrash

But if you're a French resident buying from a French business, the max you can pay in readies for one transaction is 1 000€
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...e%20priv%C3%A9).
If you want to pay a bigger sum in cash you are giving them a problem and if they accept they will have to fiddle their records and their accountant will shout at them, so that probably explains why they get upset.

Tweedpipe

I reckon anyone would be daft not to haggle on price, especially on an expensive item such as a vehicle.
We've purchased 3 new vehicles here over the last 15 years and each time I've been able to negotiate excellent discounts from the listed (MSRP) price, together with a few optional extras at no additional cost. Most car salesmen will say they cannot meet your reduced price, but on being told to "go speak with your manager" assuming that the buyers offer is reasonable they will disappear and then probably return to confirm that it's acceptable. It's worked every time with me. The proviso being that there is no part exchange involved, it's not a model that's just been launched, and it's near the end of the month (even better year-end) when salesmen are pushed to meet their month/year-end sales target.
Auto Plus is a good magazine which provides info on approx what discount one can expect on a given vehicle, a comprehensive list of the MSRP of all vehicles, how the prices are trending, plus an indication of the bonus-malus CO2 emision tax - which with a malus can be horrendous.

dmu

Another reason is that they get less money in the long run if you pay "cash" (by bank transfer and with a written receipt).
We leased a car 5 years ago, and I discovered, when I bought it outright after 3 years, that the monthly "rents" over 3 years plus the "balance" amounted to vastly more than what we would have paid had we paid cash on the spot. I suppose we should have done our arithmetic first...
@ tp - OH didn't haggle, as it was a new model, just out...