BUYING a new car is an exciting time but can also leave shoppers scratching their heads over the best ways to go about it.
Whether you’re picking up a second-hand motor, or a brand-new car from the garage – it’s important to know your stuff before parting with your cash.
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Jim Starling, an automotive expert who runs a YouTube channel on the topic has shared his tips and tricks for getting the best deal on a car.
Let’s take a look at the top seven golden rules to follow if you’re looking to trade your wheels.
Avoid the weekend rush
Jim says that the best time to visit a car dealership is on a week day – rather than the weekend.
It might mean taking the day off work, but it could end up saving you a lot of money as a result.
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“They are nowhere near as busy on a weekday. They’re a little bit hungrier for a sale, they’ve got a bit more time to spend with you, they can go round kicking tires a little bit more than they can on a busy weekend,” he explained.
Cash isn’t always king
It used to be that if you could buy a car outright with cash, you’d get a better deal.
However, Jim has argued that’s not the case anymore.
“Don’t walk into a dealership with a big stack of cash and think you’re going to get a tonne of money off a car buying it with cash – you’re just not,” he told his YouTube viewers.
“Nowadays, it doesn’t happen very often. The car dealers want to force you down car finance routes because it’s easier for them to keep hold of you as a customer and of course, they earn more money when they sell car finance.”
Take your time
Whilst it might be tempting to just go for it and pick up your new car – Jim argues it’s worth taking things slow.
“Don’t let a sales person rush you into making a decision, you’re in control of what you do with your money.”
He pointed out that before any money is exchanged, shoppers should have done a high level of research on the car, as well as shopped around for the best possible deal.
Don’t give away your budget
It’s good to know your budget before looking at potential new rides, but keep that figure to yourself.
“If you’ve got a budget in mind, never ever offer that budget. Offer under that amount so you’ve got some room to go up, they’ve got some room to come down.
“If you start off at your top price it’s going to go nowhere.”
Play it cool
Don’t walk into a dealership and let the staff know that they’ve got the car of your dreams.
As tough as it might be when you’re within reaching distance of that car, it’s important to play it cool if you want to get a good deal.
“If you walk into a dealership and you see the absolute car of your dreams in there and there are no others around or they’re more expensive or they’ve got higher milage – these are all things not to tell the car dealer,” Jim explained.
He said that you should go in and tell the dealer that you’re not looking for anything in particular and act as if you are just browsing.
Do your homework
If you get to the stage where the dealer starts telling you positive things about a particular car, it’s important to have done your research.
But as well as knowing your stuff on the car you’re after, it’s also worth having knowledge on other makes that offer a similar vehicle.
“If you’re looking at something like a BMW 3 Series and they come back and they say it’s got ‘this, this and this’, you can say: ‘yeah well the Audi A4’s got this, this and this, and he Mercedes C Class has got this, so we’ll see” he offered as an example.
“Make sure that they know that you know a little bit, you’ve done your homework and you’re not just going to be blindly talked into this car at any costs.”
Check before you part exchange
Make use of car-buying websites before going to a dealership, because it could give you up to £1,000 more on a part exchange according to Jim.
“If you’ve got a car to part exchange its really good to understand the value of that car before you walk into a dealership,” he explained.
“Perhaps stick it on Motorway, stick it on Carwow, go to Cazoo, go to webuyanycar go to any of those beforehand and get a really good idea of how much you can get for your car.”
“That may be somewhere you can make a bit of money. Maybe you don’t get knocked anything off the price but the dealership is going to give you £500 or £1,000 more for your part exchange than you’re going to get from one of those car buying services.”
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