[ashish2nd]

I voted as ‘Yes’.

Recently I purchased Tata Nexon (Facelift BS6 model) and sold my Maruti Suzuki Ritz. I managed to get a good deal in both transactions. We all will agree that, selling old car and buying new one need lot of homework. While selling my car, I visited Olx cash my car, Maruti Suzuki True value and Cars 24 to check how much they can offer for my 8 years old Ritz. Since buying Tata Nexon was my final decision, I visited all nearby Tata showrooms to check on-road price and offers (if any)

The D day –

1) In my opinion, if your decision is final, then the best way to get good deal is to assure dealer that you are interested in booking.
2) It’s always good to pit them against other showrooms. Every dealer has a target and they don’t let the potential customer to go away.
3) I went to Tata showroom and told them that I am carrying my cheque book and will book the car right away if a) They give better value of my old car and b) Attractive offer on new car.
4) Negotiations started with my old car value. Shown them quotations from all above resale dealers and managed to bag Rs 3.3 lacs of my Ritz VDI. I purchased it in 2011 for 5.72 lacs and drove 1,10,000 KMs.
5) Initially Tata dealer was reluctant to give any offer on Nexon as facelift was recently launched and many customers were enquiring about it. But since I was willing to close the deal they offered Rs 15000 cash discount + 5000 as corporate discount. I also pushed hard to waive of logistic charges of Rs 4000. Ideally they should not have mentioned that in quotation.
6) I negotiated on insurance and got 5000 lesser value than it was quoted and while doing final payment used No claim certificate from of Ritz’s insurance. That helped me in saving Rs 2300 on my new insurance premium.
7) Since I booked XZ+ I didn’t negotiate on accessories. I purchased floor mats and mud flaps.


So effectively, after many visits and lots of research, I got higher value of old car (Rs 60,000 more compared to resale care dealer’s quotation) and managed to save 31,300 on my new car. Not sure if I could have get a better deal but I am satisfied with whatever I have received.

[Sahilrai166]

Voted Yes.
Most of the times I let my mum negotiate but this time I tried to negotiate myself and the results were fruitful.
The negotiations gets sweeter when you are not in a hurry and the same thing happened to me while buying our Ecosport Titanium last year. While asking for the discounts my SA offered me 15K as standard discount and 5K as the government official discount. But I wasn't satisfied and here is a break up of my negotiations:
Insurance discount: Rs15,000
Exchange bonus(Eventhough I did not exchange my car): Rs15,000
Free extended warranty and RSA: Rs 13,000
And because the showroom was unable to deliver the car on time I changed my booking for Diesel and managed to squeeze out extra Rs5,000 as cash discount.
So all in all I managed to get close to Rs68,000 on a brand new Ecosport which had just come from the factory.

[PrideRed]

Taking right decision at right time helps you bargain/save better.

Few examples of mine:
1. Had booked Endeavour in 2016 Jan, Budget proposed increased in price of Endeavour to the tune of 1.5lacs, my booking was for red color which was yet to be shipped. A casual visit to dealer, got to know there is white one available with existing price, booked right away and took delivery in Feb. A cool savings of 1.5lacs on a new launch!
2. Innova Crysta: Back in 2017 govt. goofed up on taxes resulting significant decrease in price of Innova. The onroad price worked out to be cheaper(with freebies/discounts) even than launch price. 4 months later prices shot up by 1lac. The current cost is about 4.5lacs more, though comes with more kit.
3. Sold Figo for 4.70 lacs which was bought at 5.8lacs after 3.3 years! Depreciation of just 1.1lacs after using for 3.3 years and 35K on ODO. Found a buyer in my complex which made selling easier.
4. Bought a December manufactured Vento in Jan 2012, got a cool discount of 1.25lacs. The car was registered as 2012 model though manufactured in 2011.

Some other instances however has worked out just okay. The time of purchase and the type/model of car you buy has bigger impact than one's own negotiation skills.

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by aniyo

Voted Yes.

When I was selling Brio, I managed to sell SMT variant for 2L. I already bought it second hand and it was 6.5 years old when I was selling. So I believe I got a good deal. Mind you Brio was discontinued by this time

A well maintained Brio fetches decent value. Just before the lockdown, I had my immaculately maintained 2012 Brio S MT evaluated, and with ZERO bargaining, the first price I was offered was INR 2.2 lakhs - right off the bat. And of course, this is well after the car has been discontinued. Did not bargain further, because the lockdown changed all upgradation plans, but the price quoted was pretty darn reasonable.

[YashD]

Voted "Yes"

Though it highly depends but I've happily been able to save quite a few bucks on my cars.

• My latest purchase - BMW 320d Luxuryline - The BMW dealer pitched it me for around 32 Lakhs, ended up getting the same at 28 with a free Service and an additional extended warranty.

• Hyundai Grand i10 - Had purchased the Grand i10 in 2014, the diesel being the less popular version and my requirement being strictly a diesel helped me negotiate a tad better. Ended up saving 45k. The car was manufactured two months earlier hence relatively new.

• Hyundai i20 - A friend was in the market to buy the Elite, negotiated for him as the dealership know me well because I've bought all the Hyundai cars, we have used from them, managed to save 45k again on 1.2 sportz variant.

• Honda Jazz - Did this for a friend again, ended up saving 50k, as the OP said, pitch the dealers against each other.

• Ford EcoSport - The facelift was just around the corner and my uncle was looking for a Compact SUV, ended up getting the older generation saving almost 80k. The car was manufactured 6 months earlier which helped us get the higher discount, though I've noticed this, Ford dealers needs to be pushed a lot for discounts, I had tried the same for Figo and Figo DCT too. They just don't!

• Audi A3 - Again for a relative, We got the Diesel Top -1, I guess it's known as Premium Plus for 30.5 Lakhs on-road Bangalore. The dealer was adamant at 32 but thanks to the negotiations, we kept pushing till the month end and in order to move the inventory they agreed for 30.5.

• Audi A4 - My dad's friend has always been an Audi fanatic and he absolutely fell for the New A4 especially that digital instrument cluster. Being the Auto enthusiast, he took me along to talk to the Audi guys better, Thanks to him booking the vehicle instantly and some good bargaining skills with comparisons from my end we got the Technology variant for 40.5 Lakhs! The dealer initially offered the car at 43 after working out the discounts.

[dhanushs]

Just realised today I'm a really bad negotiator. When someone quotes a price for an item, I find it hard to re-evaluate the price along with the seller. I made a Water Tank Stand by myself today which cost me just ~5k in material. I know how much labour has gone into it, and all the details. If someone quotes 15k for the same stand, I find it difficult to let him know that its not worth it. I'm either for a priced item, or against it.

However: Coming to car deals, I always buy used and I believe I've always got a very sweet deal. Reason I suppose is, I have a price in mind and wont budge. It's take it or leave it, and I have cash on table, and all details about paperwork.

[digitalnirvana]

I'm absolutely terrible at negotiating. I find face to face negotiations stressful and inevitably fold and give in to the other party. Did that for both car purchases - Estilo and Aria.

The Aria was a blunder of unmatched proportions as I (in effect) paid more than the asking price because of my "nice guy" image. Long story best not repeated. Still cringe at the thought.

If only cars could be bought online with some discount coupon codes!

[Fordlover88]

Voted for YES. I bought my Ecosport Diesel on 2016 under Ford's family referral program. I got a handsome cash discount as well as few free accessories under the package. Apart from that i pushed them hard for free extended warranty of 2 years and succeeded ultimately. On the day of delivery i was shocked to see roof rails (not standard in trend variant) on the car supposed to be delivered to me. Reported the same to the manager since i haven't opted for it. The service advisor had goofed up and fixed someone else's roof rail in my car. There's no way i would let them remove it from a new car and i was not supposed to pay for the item as i had not opted for it. Still i paid 50% of the cost of roof rails as a goodwill gesture. Overall i managed to get a good deal for my Ecosport.

[warrioraks]

My father has an uncanny ability to close deals at shocking bargains. Although I have learnt a trick or two from him, I haven’t really used them during any automobile purchases.
Usually I am focussed towards ‘not getting a lemon’ as I have an innate fear of things going wrong while buying vehicles.
What this thread made me realise is - There is no harm in trying to save a few bucks without compromising on the quality and overall experience of both parties (buyer as well as seller).

Dear sellers - here I come!

[greenhorn]

I do not consider myself a good negotiator - I find stress somewhat uncomfortable and have found myself very uncomfortable in situations where my friends pushed long and hard to get good bargains - I would have given up long ago.

However, there is a different way to approach this - and I learnt this from my other hobby - Collecting Hi Fi equipment. And a fair amount of effort goes into it. I have been spending an hour a day, every day, trawling classifieds, ebay, deal sites etc for the past 7 years or so for this equipment, and i am now able to price to a fairly good level, the price equipment can fetch at different levels (eg on ebay with shipping and a 'used' guarantee vs parts/not working on ebay vs local as/is). Instead of trying to bargain, sometimes all you need is to wait for the right deal to come along. I now have plenty of current model $200+ headphones i bought for <$50. Then that gives you data and confidence to approach local sellers. Often my opening line is along the lines of - I like your price, but the prevailing market price on ebay (ebay shows sold listings price) is $X, and given that your target audience is people within a 10 mile radius, and given that you are not offering any guarantee, I am willing to buy this at $Y - please message me if you do not get any buyers - most often the deal works out. Also, the good deals do not last. The key lies in eternal vigilance, and being ready to jump out the moment you see a deal come up and get there first with money in hand.

With that newfound experience, i applied this to shopping cars in the US. I was shopping Fiesta ST's - but most of the local cars were priced higher than the ones in a big city around 30 miles away. At most of the dealers i went to, I said i was interested in this car, but Dealer X 30 miles away is offering it at $1k less - are you willing to make a deal? Because i would rather work with someone local than drive 30 miles - most dealers were willing to negotiate, with most taking around 500-800 right away if i was willing to buy right away.

Ultimately I wound up at the city 30 miles away with all the low priced cars, an found an extremely good deal on a civic - it was so well priced i felt it was unfair to negotiate. But i did get them to knock $500 off a $1500 extended warranty because (1) who the hell buys an extended warranty on a honda? (2) i was buying the car at sticker, and asked him politely if he could play around with the deductibles/payments etc to bring it down to a number i knew another honda dealer in the US which was famous for internet sales had already advertised on the forums. (you can buy extended warranty online from any dealer online - and this dealer had a rep who was active on honda forums and gave very good deals). I guess the local F&I guy recognized where i was coming from, and caved.

In all the above cases, it helps when both parties are aware that there are real alternatives in the market that I could have chosen instead of this particular deal, but would still prefer to give my money to them because they are local, and i respect them, and my intention is not to screw them out of their money

[fhdowntheline]

My best negotiating experience so far was back in 2011, when I purchased my Linea T-Jet. I exchanged my Dzire VDI in the process, got 2 lac off on the sticker price of 10.37 lac, and 4 lac on the Dzire. Effectively, got a brand new T-Jet for 4.3 lacs.

[Miyata]

Voted No. I am terrible at it.

Wonder though what do folks do with the money they just "saved" through the bargain - do you guys at least invest it or burn it some place else?

My in-laws don't buy anything without negotiating - whatever little. I find that so very pointless and lacking in purpose since they just burn away any savings in totally random manner - like spending on priests to do some puja at home; donating in temples; buying way too many new clothes in a given year because the "occasion calls for it", etc.

Hope people make better use of the time/energy invested into the bargain process and put the saved money to good use!

[rajushank84]

My father was a god of bargaining, and I am the opposite, I am terrible at it.

One thing I have learned that helps a bit if you are bad at bargaining - do a lot of homework and demonstrate it. This helps in two ways:-

• When a salesman sees that you are a serious buyer and not a tire-kicker, they see a real sale in front of them and are more driven to close it than give you attitude. I also take my wife with me instead of going alone; a family man with a printed set of deals, is a textbook "serious buyer". Their "don't let this guy go" instinct kicks in.
• The second aspect of it is: the biggest bargaining tool is the walkaway. My father's approach was different, he never did research on anything but he would talk his way out of it. But I make sure to pull numbers on barely-used cars, what other dealerships quote, things like that, print these things out and look at them visibly in front of the salesman. It is very difficult not to believe a walkaway when the guy is showing you on a printed piece of paper a better deal than he is giving, and the walkaway is actually genuine. At this point they stop me and offer a better discount than before. Granted this is not like the shocking deals my father scored, but it is better than nothing.

It is a different way of approaching things; I would spend weeks on team-bhp and other tools before going in to look at a car deal, but my father would (this actually happened) go out to buy subzi and come back with not just one but two cars - without paying a paisa yet, and no official loan! A crazy word-of-mouth agreement on ridiculous prices on a car - or two cars!

So in a sense.. play to your strength! If you are more of an analytical person than a people's person, then use that!

I think a lot of this is cultural according to times and trends too. Our parents lived in pre-Internet days where the small business was a lot more common, a lot of people were salesmen, and skills like negotiation, persuasion and charisma went a longer way than they do now. Today's world is a lot more data-driven, corporate-driven and the people we deal with are less able to make decisions on their own, they have some room but it is not the same as dealing with the owner of a small dealership that no one ever heard of. It is a different dynamic, with different parameters. So I don't blame myself so much for not negotiating well . Having said that - I suspect if he were still around, he would go out to buy subzi and prove me wrong just for the heck of it .

[JojyKerala]

Voted No. There are some great examples on negotiation in this thread and I wish I was more cautious. I've always been bad at negotiating while selling or buying cars. After a car-related transaction, I've always felt I'm at the bad side of the deal. It's a regret that lingers for years.

However, I'm quite good at negotiation in non-vehicle segments or professionally. I remember the time I bargained for a Mohabbatein-style glasses in Bangalore 20 years though things didn't end up well for me

[Mortis]

Voted No as I am usually terrible at bargaining but I did manage to get a discount of 30k on my mom's Dzire in late 2016 which was only a few months after launch and a much in demand fast selling Maruti so I consider it a win.
They way they agreed to it was, they cannot give any discount on the newly launched car so they gave me the discount by adding that amount to the buyback value of my old car for which they were already giving the best quote compared to others. I guess it's something to try out when the dealer says they don't give any discount on new launches