[sahil624]

I voted for NO.
Interestingly, like most of the people above I too am impatient, which comes in the way of negotiating effectively. I just want to be done with my purchase as soon as possible and get my product.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

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.

For sure. I forgot to mention mine was a TN registration. Brio has quite a fan following in used car market

[HMV]

Voted for 'NO'.
Simple reason being that i am an introvert, so even talking to people is a big deal for me. Admittedly, we couldn't bargain for our Hyundai even after knowing that a mild-facelift was coming in a month or two, bringing some significant improvements (because Dad doesn't love haggling for anything nor do I)! However, our regret for that didn't last long, since the facelift brought along with it a considerable price hike. So, the point is, I am not good at bargaining and that's it.

[Jeroen]

When it comes to negotiating deals on car I suck. I will go as far as say everybody that I know, even remotely, appears to be getting much, much better deals than I do!

All of my friends seem to buying new cars every 1-1.5 year. They get a call from their dealer, who has a real sweet deal. They have a bit of a chat and if I believe some of them, the dealer will take their old 1.5 years car of their hands, provide them with a brand new vehicle, the latest, the greatest, fully loaded obviously. And almost offer them an additional cash refund on top!

I never ever get near to such deals. Their cars, going by how much they get for their trade in, how little they pay for the new one, it appears they are almost making money out of driving the newest car every 12-18 months! All my cars only cost money, lots of it!

Then of course, I got loads of friends who claim to be making pots of money by buying and flipping old and or classic cars. Again, that has never worked for me either.

Every single car I have ever owned, cost a bomb to purchase, a tonnes of money to maintain or restore and when I was ready to sell it was worth next to nothing.

I kid you not, once I even had to pay the scrap yard to take an old car of my hands!! (It was a Datsun 120Y in the UK in 1986)

I am very happy for all those folks negotiating all these fabulous deals. All these discounts, freebies, being really tough with the dealer. never worked for me.

Which, is quite remarkable.

Most of my career I have been responsible for Negotiating and Selling stuff, much more complex than a car. And for 4 years I was the Managing Director of our then European purchasing division.

But it still doesn’t help me getting those wonderful deals on my cars. I have several files full of invoices to show for it!

Jeroen

[Samba]

Voted yes!

More than negotiating, I make sure the showroom guys are not fooling me by including unnecessary add on’s/charges. Once I make sure about that, I do bargain for some freebies and discounts. I do not press them hard, but I stick to my point and I make sure am not demanding anything which they cant give. Firm, polite & straight to the point is my style of negotiating.

I have a small business of my own and I know very well how it feels, if one tries to be too smart in bargaining. Most of the time the hard bargainers are outsmarted by receiving inferior products or something similar. Everyone is here for a profit, we must understand that, so I always make sure, I get a fair deal.

Penning down my last car buying experience-

In 2018 Renault quoted me Rs 14.50L for the Duster Awd. I knew its a car which has very few takers, so I bargained and got it for 14L including- Fancy no, B2B insurance, side skirtings, steering cover, mud flaps, floor mats, 4 years extended warranty and a car cover. It indeed was a sweet deal then.

Had it been a Hyundai Creta, they wouldn't have entertained me. So one has to understand the situation and then bargain.

Selling a car is also similar! Its always easy to sell a Maruti Swift at a higher price than a Ford Figo! So at the end we need to be rational in judging, depending on the product we buy/sell.

[Archie_27]

Don't know if it's good or not, Bought a 2018 manufactured Elite i20 Asta (O) petrol last year. Got close to 90k discount on the OTR. It's not much but considering it was on Hyundai's most sold car, I am quite happy.

[anshuman_b]

Voted Yes.
I'm usually very bad at negotiation but during car purchase, somehow my sleeping talent to bargain wakes up.

Here are few examples...

1. Bought a Tiago petrol for my fiancee last December with 75k discount and some freebies. As it was December, year end discount was already there and pitting one dealer against another did the rest. The deal was sealed at 11:30 at night with immediate transfer of booking amount.

2. Bought a November 2014 registered Honda city Ivtec last at 5.8 lakh.
The car had only 34k on ODO and was single owner car.
The asking price was 6.4 lakh but when I said I'll make advance payment right away, the price came down to 5.8 lakh with free insurance and registration transfer.

[MegaWhat]

Slightly OT.

I've voted I'm terrible at negotiation, but if there's anyone who wants to get slightly better at it, do read the book "Never split the difference" by Chris Voss. He's an ex-FBI hostage negotiator and his points are quite good and practical. I have practiced some of these tips and seen them work and that has helped me professionally. For getting the full worth of the book though, you'd need much more practice on a day to day basis. In any case, it's a good read.

Cheers!

[Sahil]

Voted Yes. Guilty as charged I’m infamous with a lot of car dealers as being a hard negotiator who does his homework thoroughly. The upside is that This has resulted in me now getting upfront deals from dealers often as they know I will squeeze and shop around hence it’s best to give the rock bottom price possible. I however am always fair and when someone offers me a certain price and the other dealer only plays match up, I go with the person that first offered me the price even if it’s slightly higher at this point.

On average on luxury cars I have the negotiated discounts ranging from 10% to 40% on ex-showroom price, on OTR maybe higher. I’ve often been lucky with my timing and got some distress deals where dealerships have offloaded cars at a loss to clear inventory.

That being said, I have often also had to pay full price for brand new models as I did with my S class w222 about 5 years ago as well as my new gen CRV. Both these cars have been on heavy discount last year but I got the initial few cars so you win some, you lose some. All depends on your urgency.
However there is also merit in getting the car earlier which lands up being a good deal. For example the price I paid for the w222 S in 2015 is yet lower than the discounted prices it was recently being sold at in BS4 liquidation. This is because luxury car makers keep raising the price over the years and the discount becomes more notional than real.

My mantras- In my experience, timing such as calendar year ending and financial year ending always helps get a deal. Always always negotiate on ex-showroom price. Calling dealers across states helps a lot too, don’t respect “territory restrictions”. Speaking to the top management/owners of the dealerships is another way of the best deal. Last but not the least, the NEW car price thread on Tbhp is my bible in addition to hearsay at times.

One thing I have not negotiated yet is a used car, will have to figure a different strategy for that if and when I get to a pre worshipped car. Not sure if my skills will work there too. But I am tempted to explore this sometime.

[auto_enthusiast]

Originally Posted by auto_enthusiast

Hi all,

Finalized a deal on behalf of my friend for 2015 Figo Aspire diesel trend variant. Started the negotiations from 30k and finally settled at a mouth watering discount of 1.25L. The final OTR comes to 7.00L including basic accessories, 3rd year extended warranty, zero dep insurance, etc.

Voted 'Yes'

I've managed to get some very good deals, for me as well as for my friends and family.

Got a discount of 1.25 L off on the OTR for Ford Aspire TDCi for my friend in Jan 2016 when the car was launched just 4-5 months ago. Just for comparison, my BIL also purchased the same variant Aspire from the same executive, 15 days ago, but managed to get a discount of only 75,000 from him.

I got a discount of more than 80,000 in July 2016 when I purchased Aspire TDCi for myself, that too for the base Ambiente variant.

My pattern is pretty simple.
1) Pit 2-3 dealers against each other. Ask each of them to better the previous one's quote by a good margin. And go for the best 'overall' deal.

2) Insurance. Quotes from other insurers are way less than we can expect. Managed to get insurance on newly launched, face-lifted Creta for approx 20k whereas the official quote was for 50k, thereby saving a cool 30k just on the insurance.

3) Don't fall for offical accessories as freebies. You can get it at less than half the cost from outside.

I don't see any wrong in getting the best deal. You are not forcing them to sell their product. The deal goes through only after both the parties are convinced that they are getting a fair deal.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

I voted No

I am good at putting a value on the goods/service. But I also carry a sense of fairness which makes me take the deal if it makes sense to me. But till now, I haven't paid above the value which I have estimated.

Eg when I bought the GT TSI in 2013, I didn't haggle even for a bit. I took the "no discount sir" narrative and got over with it. But I ensure i got a new car, before the promised delivery time.

On the other hand, a truck had rammed into my parked Indica in early 2012. The rear door was shattered and had a huge tear. Cost of replacing at the showroom was around 15k (+ painting etc should have come to around 20-22k). For sure, I didn't want to invest 20 k on an 8-9-year-old car. So I went to a local mechanic who quoted around 12 k for the same job. Still not a good figure. I then went to a scrap car shop, got a decent door for around 2.5 k, and put another 2 k for repainting it at the FNG. And voila I had a new door for 4.5 k. Also had made a deal with the scrap guy to sell him my damaged door at 500 k with the lock mechanism. So effectively 4 k + some time invested in shopping around for a new door.

[Simha13]

Voted Yes!

We purchased Grand i10 Automatic (Magna) for my dad a year ago. The dealer was already offering close to 40K discount on the model, It was from excess stock at the dealership and new models had just arrived. Since we intended to buy immediately and without any loans we were able to get close to 1.1 Lakh discount OTR. Also managed to get a sweet deal of accessories including Car Cover, Reverse Camera, Sensors, Free Insurance Etc. We bought the car for 6.4 Lakh OTR

[haneeshN]

Yes.

My experience is mostly with used cars and bike purchases. I've managed to negotiate very good rates most times. Have sold some cars for more than the purchasing price very few times. I also have helped many friends with new car purchases.

I've been buying and selling vehicles for over a decade now and the key to getting a good deal is patience. While I've managed to get very good deals on used cars, I've paid more for bikes at times mainly due to my impatience. I paid a lot more than market value when I bought RD350 (a case of heart winning over brain).

some of my recent purchases:
- Got a less than six months old Xpulse200 for 35% less than new bike cost
- Helped a friend buy a one year old Ecosport automatic for almost 30% less than new car cost (seller was in a hurry as he was moving abroad)
- Got a very well maintained low mileage Civic automatic for a friend (<3 lakhs)

All these purchases are in Bangalore where the cost of the used vehicle is much more than North.

Below are some of the key things I follow to land a good deal.

- Be ready to spend TIME. If you need to save money be ready to spend time checking multiple cars.
- I stay away from dealers mostly. My experience with dealers is that most of the expensive cars are on 'park and sell' basis. So, a dealer won't sell until he gets his desired margin and he doesn't have much to lose even if it takes time to sell (except holding a parking space for long)
- Deal directly with owners. With a number of online classified sites, it is relatively easy to find leads of direct sellers (not easy for high-end cars though), especially in big cities. Make sure to spend time browsing through many sites.
- NEVER negotiate over the phone unless it's absolutely needed (exception: the seller is quite far from your place). The seller won't get much confidence if you start discussing rates over the phone without even checking the car. Trust builds when you deal in person and it always helps. It is very important for the buyer to know that you are seriously considering the purchase and not a window shopper.
- Do sufficient homework:
Know the market value of the vehicle you are considering. This can be done by checking the prices online (compare dealer vs direct owner price). Call a dealer and check how much he will offer to exchange for a new car. I don't really believe in OBV as for most models the pricing was away from the market (purely based on personal experience)
Always calculate the depreciation value from the original cost of the car and not the current value of same model new car. Try to get the invoice value (we can get to know on discounts availed). Sellers always compare it with new car cost and buyer should clearly highlight that it doesn't work this way.
Add additional depreciation based on the condition of parts like tyre, next major service schedule, insurance renewal time etc.
RESPECT the seller and don't quote a random price. Being nice won't cost us anything but can work wonders. Try to back your quote with proper reasoning. This always works as the seller will start to realise that his car isn't worth the price he expects and you won't look like an unreasonable bargainer .

There are cases where you'll come across a really good car and never mind spending a bit more when you are completely satisfied with the vehicle. The peace of mind you get will be much more valuable than the few extra thousand rupees.

Happy buying (negotiating)!

[BLACNWYTE]

Voted NO.

I'm really not good at haggling and I leave it to my better half as she is good at it. I mostly look for good products which seems durable and pay the premium it demands if it does. My motto is buy one good thing that can last for ten years rather than buy ten cheap things which might last for one year each. I'm quite sentimental when it comes to my stuff and I like to hold on to them for as long as possible, so this habit/nature helps.

Even with the car purchase, although armed with knowledge from threads on our forum here, I was not able to get any particularly good deal. I tried pitting dealer against dealer but it didn't work as one dealer didn't have ready stock of the trim I wanted and second dealer had too many potential customers for the car which was already in the yard. Other than the basic offers I didn't get anything remarkable.

[Asish_VK]

Big NO!
During any purchases, if the payment routine involves any negotiation, I sucks big time .

Heck !, leave negotiation , I feel too nervous or embarassed to even ask freebees