How to reduce the price when buying a car

Bargaining when buying a used car: how to reduce the price of a used car

Almost all car owners, when putting their car up for sale, deliberately inflate its price in order to bargain during the inspection process. Perfect cars don't sell! And the sooner you comprehend this truth, the sooner you can choose the appropriate option. And we have compiled a guide for you on how to reduce the cost of a used car.

Alexey Petrin, auto expert:

“The most important thing you must remember when it comes to reducing the price of a used car is that haggling over the phone is strictly prohibited! Firstly, it is stupid to discuss the price without seeing the product. The price of junk cars for sale may be inflated by 100-150 thousand rubles, and in a telephone conversation you will bargain for 10,000 rubles. And why do you need this bucket of nails for a huge amount?

Secondly, you may scare off the seller. Few people want to enter into transactions with irresponsible resellers. By demanding a price reduction in absentia, this is exactly what you look like.”

How to reduce the price of a used car

It’s worth starting with your appearance and manner of dialogue. Be neat and polite, let this work to your advantage. Feel free to ask questions.

After a polite introduction and questioning the current owner with passion about all the shortcomings, proceed to inspecting the car:

Body. Do not agree to inspect a dirty car, especially in the dark - you will definitely miss something. Check with your nearest service center how much it costs to paint one element (from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles depending on the make of the car, service and region of inspection), to remove scratches on the windshield (from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles), and dents.
Engine compartment. You can only check something visually; for a full diagnosis, you need to take the car to a service center. It shouldn't be crystal clear under the hood. If the owner “licked” all the dust, it means there was something to hide: oil leaks in oil seals, cracks, seals, brake and any other fluids.
Vehicle interior. Check all switches, electronics, and adjustments for functionality.

Listen to the sound of the engine. Notice how the gears change. There should be no crunching, squealing, or grinding noises in any position on the manual transmission. The gears should engage the first time (unless, of course, you are a novice behind the wheel). Cars with a working automatic transmission do not jerk when changing gears. If this is not the case, the owner must concede at least the price of a new box.

Check to see if the car is pulling to the side. If so, then the car either needs a wheel alignment (from 2000 rubles), or its body geometry is damaged due to an accident. Then it is better to refuse the purchase altogether. Listen to how the suspension behaves: it should not rattle on bumps or “peck” when braking. The steering wheel should not vibrate, and there should be no clicks or crunches when turning.

If you find any of the above, it means that some of the hinges in the suspension are in critical condition, or it’s time to replace the shock absorbers. These are consumables - don't be alarmed! But the owner is obliged to reduce the price for replacing suspension elements.

Check your car through the Autocode online service. Check the car in advance and go to the inspection prepared. When meeting, ask questions to the seller, already knowing in advance where he is telling the truth and where he is lying. And then show the report. This will serve as a reason to reduce the price.

When bargaining when buying a used car, start by drawing the seller’s attention to all the breakdowns and errors that he kept silent about. During the inspection, add up in your mind the prices for eliminating defects. This will be the discount you request from the seller.

Ekaterina Lipatova, editor of the women's car portal Careta . info :

“Any detected defect should be a reason to reduce the value of the car: a chip, a scratch, a non-working light bulb, a broken switch, etc. And any significant problem is an argument in favor of refusing to purchase. Inspect the car carefully and save your nerves and money. The final cost of the car will depend on your ability to tactfully, but clearly show the seller the shortcomings of the car, which you, as the new owner, will have to eliminate. Learn to bargain with reason."

What to say when bargaining

Evaluate all similar offers on the market, compare prices. Many of the same cars with similar equipment, but at a lower cost should reduce the seller's ardor.

If the owner stubbornly insists on a high price, citing expensive additional equipment: a powerful audio system or satellite security, then offer to remove it. It is unlikely that the seller will do this, because it is usually not so simple. Besides, it's not profitable. Separate from the car, additional equipment costs a penny.

If the seller asks the question: “How much will you take it for?”, urgently take the initiative into your own hands. The owner doubts the price indicated in the ad! Based on how much time, effort and money you will now have to spend to bring the car to perfection, reduce the cost to an acceptable one.

What to do if the seller does not reduce the price

If the seller does not agree to bargain, be more cunning and turn to the laws of NLP. Listen carefully to him, smile, copy his pose, do not insist. Answer with your own reasons for lowering the price. Look the seller in the eyes, do not interrupt when he speaks. Use your knowledge of the automotive market and prices for used cars, spare parts and labor. But don't forget to actually research the market before doing so.

If politeness, psychology, visible defects of the car, the report of breakdowns from the service station did not help reduce the cost of the car, but you still like the car, then maybe these 10-15 thousand rubles are not so important? If, on the contrary, you do not feel love for the chosen car, then feel free to proceed to inspect the next one.

Bargain. How to bargain? How can I reduce the price? Why drop the price?

What should you know about trading? And how to bargain? And what can you pay for? And how to do it. You will find the answer to these questions below.

It doesn’t matter what kind of car, it doesn’t matter how much investment is in it, it doesn’t matter everything, every person has an extreme price in his head, below which he can fall in a very extreme case and not by much... And if he came up with a price of 200 tr, and set it for 250 tr, at least if this car burns out, a person will not reduce the price below 200tr... If finances or other reasons don’t push... But if finances push, the car will go to resellers...

To bargain, you need to know the real price of the car and know how to correctly assess the condition. There are a lot of cars that are simply not even worth buying, and for no money at all... And it doesn’t always make sense to bargain, sometimes you just have to walk away from the car... Also, if the real price of the car is 150 tr, but they sell it for 250 tr, then 100 tr is not enough for you who will throw it off... And are you ready to take on all the hassle after the purchase? I’m not ready... In general, understand, not every car makes sense to bargain... often you just have to look for other cars.

The simplest and most effective thing is to point out the car’s shortcomings to the seller! He knows almost all of them. Everything visible, at least. Moreover, if you found him more than he knows, and really proved it, then sometimes he is ready to go lower than described in the first section.

But there is a BUT. If you shout at a whole car that it’s painted, I can see it with my eyes, they’ll just send you away. And maybe they will refuse to talk to you and leave... You need to correctly assess the condition of the car.

What will help you? Thickness gauge. He will show you what was painted (often) and you can calmly show it to the seller, but no one will ever believe in YOUR MAGICAL eye that sees everything. They will say, “I look too, and it’s intact.”

Bargaining by phone. Many have written on the phone “I don’t bargain”, or “bargaining” near the hood. I don’t really care about that anymore. This FORD was bought for 290,000 rubles, although the original price was 367,000 rubles. They couldn’t pick it up at that price because they didn’t have that much money... It was 350,000 rubles. So I called and said that there is 340 tr, and I’m either going to look, or sell it further, in general I have nothing to lose.

And they usually answer, come, and they’ve already given you 27,000 re.

They may say nooooo, I won’t give it back. How much will you pay for? In response - 345,000 rubles and take it.

And stuff like that... You can bargain over the phone, and I often do this when the amount is insufficient...

Bargaining for joints is easy. Bargaining for something painted is hard. But this is just the beginning stage

Want to save more? Go to the service :)

And here are a couple of options. There are no pillows, etc., etc., something that will push you away from the car altogether.

Or they will find something, but it won’t be that expensive to do, but it needs to be done. Like a boot on a grenade, oil in the automatic transmission, some kind of leak, etc., etc.

There are things that are still possible, there are things that need to be done right now. And if they won’t give you a penny for a dead silent block, then they’ll give you a penny for a torn boot on a grenade, or for a leaking crankshaft oil seal, etc., etc.

Why will they throw it off? Because this should have been done the day before yesterday. And he drives without knowing about it... But when he found out, he will certainly do it, or he will end up with more money in the future, for example, on a grenade tomorrow than on a boot today... Or to replace the oil seal now or to add oil to the internal combustion engine... And then either do it or drop it... They choose to drop the price, because the seller doesn’t want to invest money in the car they’re selling... But you might come across a person from the first section... Who stands by his price and doesn’t care about anything...

Imagine, the car, although used, is ideal, there are such things. Don't give anything away... Even the price is lower than others, but the car is the best! Everyone has an on-duty bargaining unit. 5-10,000 rubles, and they’ll throw it off anyway if you say that you’ll buy it for cash right now, and don’t look for something further.

It happens - No bargaining. That's all. I just won’t take it off at all, that’s all. Moreover, this does not depend on the car. They just won’t throw off a penny... These are rare specimens, of course, but they do exist. And I understand them when their car is really great and their price is average in the market. But for the life of me I don’t understand when their cars are great, and the price should be much lower.

The best option is one of my relatives. He’s selling a car, the first one who arrived said the amount was even 100,000 rubles cheaper, he’ll just give it away. Simple, fast, no problems, and he won’t even go to the outbid. He’ll just give the car back and that’s it. But this is rare these days!

In any case, you need to understand the seller's bottom price... It can actually be much lower than you think! You might think that from 367,000 rubles they can give you up to 290,000 rubles? So I couldn’t at first. But it happens in different ways. And if they knocked off the price over the phone, I’m ready to knock it off almost always! And after a service station, it’s always easier to bargain, because there’s something for (usually)!

And there's more to know. A normal, adequate owner who understands the car understands the costs he will face and often pays for their elimination. Even if he doesn’t understand much about cars, everyone understands ordinary little things, like cracked windshields, dead tires, and so on and so forth. With these, everything is simple!

When they say it’s all bullshit, I offer the simplest option, DO IT YOURSELF , get as much as you ask for! Replace the windshield, buy new imported tires, replace the stabilizer struts and not from China, etc., etc. And you will receive your amount. It’s bullshit, I said it myself!

Girls. They don't care about anything! Here's the price. You should take it, don’t take it, don’t take it. There is a certain bargaining on duty and that’s all... No matter what you find there, it doesn’t matter to her, she’s in a tank... She may not have a chassis, she will say, “I drive and there are no problems... In short, these are difficult cases, but most girls are like that. Or it’s all scratched, they’ll say it doesn’t affect the speed, etc. At the same time, the price of a car is often higher than that of others.

Guys. There are people like, it’s a used car, what do you want? New only in the showroom, etc., etc... Usually these guys sell rubbish! But he says that all used cars are like this, although he does not know the real condition of other cars of the same kind, for the same money that he is asking for... You should immediately leave such ones... And there are used ones that are not damaged, not painted, with real mileage, and good-excellent condition! And everyone who says that is simply fooling you, passing off what you want as what is REAL.

Bargaining is always so different... You never know how it will go... You never know how much you can throw off... You always have to do everything according to the situation, look at the seller, be a bit of a psychologist.

I'm looking for the best options, and you understand that there is often simply nothing to bargain for... Everything is fine as it is! So what to do? You have to bargain... And so I say that the customer has less money than you want, let’s come to a single price, and if everything is fine on the lift, then for an amount lower than yours (for example, 20 rubles) they will buy it from you right today! And people are ready to bargain, almost everyone, and almost always.

Sometimes a person hesitates, neither here nor there, doesn’t want to throw off just a little, but you simply don’t have any more... And you don’t have enough of these five “Yaroslavl” cars, and the seller doesn’t want to lose them... Then you say that go to the meeting and sell it without problems, and don’t wait for the next purchase, and don’t wash it anymore, and don’t refuel, don’t pay for parking, and you never know what else could happen... Just give it back, but it’s 5 rubles cheaper, and I’m pleased, and you’re with the money. This often helps. And if you really do the math, it’s 1,500 parking per month. Wash 500. Already 2000 rubles per month + either a punctured tire, or a shuffle somewhere, insurance ends the other day, etc., etc.

And sometimes, in the ad - there is no bargaining, or there is a bargaining near the hood, or I don’t bargain on the phone, and really there is no bargaining... You come to look, and there are 10 elements painted crookedly, the mileage on the dashboard must be multiplied by two or three, there is no running gear, etc. etc. And you say, honestly, its price is 100tr at best... No body, no chassis, no interior, no engine... Why are you asking that kind of money? And what kind of bargaining do you have? I'm ready to drop 100. I screwed up when I bought it. I'll do it myself. I will continue to sell, etc., etc.

In general, I often bargain, with almost everyone, I’m just interested in the psychology of people and in general it’s interesting how much you can throw off sometimes. Here an outright dead thing is for sale, and the bargaining price is 5,000 rubles... Well, how can that be? ? This is funny... She's all crooked...

They often give me a lot of money. But these are the kind of cars that I call buckets! There’s simply no point in taking them at all, because even if you finish them, this discount will still be small... Then they take them outbid, at their real price, and try to sell them to you at the market price.

Previously, while I was engaged in resale, there were many different cases ... But why did you give up this business? Yes, it’s simple... I’m selling REALLY, not broken, not painted, honest mileage 120,000 km, excellent chassis, etc., I’m asking for 400,000 rubles. Other outbids sell the same car, a year or two younger than mine, 0-50,000 rubles cheaper, and dead, repainted, with a lot of mileage, but not enough on the dashboard... What car do you think was sold, and which one was standing next? ? That's why I stopped doing this... I never have braids or covers, everything is fair, but what's the point? People don't like this. People need less than 100,000 km mileage on a 2003 car...

And how many times has it happened, you sell a whole car (even if only one wing is painted) , they come, look, and start, the whole side is painted... How do you understand? If I know that I’m not painted?! I saw it with my own eyes))))) Just for the sake of bargaining, they say too much... But I always sold it like this, if you find something to knock it off for, I’ll knock it off for it. I know everything about the car. And they start saying unnecessary things, I’m leaving people... Tell me honestly, Sergey, your car is really good, throw us 20 tr (figuratively) and we’ll buy it. Cheers to your health! But no... They will tell lies, and then they ask you to knock off 50tr, and these are not outbids, but people like that... But the saddest thing is that after looking at all the cars, they will buy junk that has been standing for 6 months and is not for sale, that smokes, has been repainted, etc. etc... If only they knew what happened to these cars before...

A simple example, this year, a friend of mine bought a Passat B6 without pillows installed... I assembled it, fakes instead of pillows. The mileage was 185,000 km. I set the mileage to 74,000 km, wrote - HONEST MILEAGE, the price is 50,000 rubles cheaper than the others, 2 hours later I sold it without haggling... But someone is selling an honest Passat, with an ORIGINAL mileage of 150,000 km, with pillows and whole, and not can sell... Somehow it’s not fair... Honest people are no longer valued...

That's why I decided to help people! Because selling an honest car is sometimes problematic... But now, I find them the other way around, and don’t sell them!

And to be honest, when I find a car that is close to ideal, I don’t try to save a lot... Why? For a really good car, the average price is quite normal! And there is no need to offend a really honest car owner! Of course, there is always an on-duty bargain (it varies from 5-100,000 rubles), but I will not look for some little thing to throw off another 10,000 rubles if the customer has enough money. And if you don’t have enough money, but the car is GOOD, I’ll just say, 10,000 rubles are missing, let’s solve it, we need your car. Give it away without winter tires or a bunch of other options, or better yet, just throw it away. And often, people, seeing that I’m not rudely looking for a reason to bargain, but rather politely asking for it, meet them halfway.

Everything always happens very differently... I have a lot of stories about this. 10 posts are not enough! The main thing is to find an approach! And it can be different, for some it’s a stick, for others it’s a carrot. You just need to leave some people, and vice versa, go to a meeting with others. The main thing is not to go too far, otherwise it will shoot at you!

How to buy a car cheaper? Real ways to reduce the price

An inflated price or simply a lack of money for a piece you like is not a problem. The main thing is to understand how and what to talk to the seller about.

Buying and selling a car is an exciting and memorable process, because you have to communicate with a variety of people, polite and impudent, convincingly arguing why the price should be reduced, and casually throwing out phrases about a discount. Sometimes the parties begin to hate each other even at the stage of a telephone conversation. We’ll talk about how to sell a car correctly (at exorbitant prices) next time. In the meantime, here are instructions on how to reduce prices.

Let's start from simple to complex. Press for pity: say that you have dreamed of this car since your school years, but you can only pay half. Otherwise, you will drink cyanide and jump out the window.

Offer to list for a car with a price tag of 700 thousand “500 thousand right now.” According to statistics, this works in 5.568% of cases, but suddenly you get lucky.

A more effective option to negotiate a discount is to cling to the lack of winter or summer tires - after all, you will have to buy them.

Untidy interior? Most likely, the driver is a slob, and this nuance may indirectly hint at his attitude towards the car as a whole. If you like the copy, point out the worn-out seats, dirty floors and other shocking circumstances.

The reason for bargaining may be an obvious discrepancy between the condition of the interior and the mileage. Simply put, a “killed” interior with low mileage.

Inspect the body for defects. A dispute over chips and scratches on the hood could theoretically be crowned with success if you are asking the price of a completely new car, on which this would be inappropriate. If we are talking about older equipment, then dents and wear can become your “allies”.

Let's move on to more effective, but also more complex methods. If the car has obvious technical problems that are not indicated in the ad or the owner kept silent about during inspection, bargain mercilessly. But to identify them, you must either use service diagnostics, or be well aware of the weak points of a particular model.

Before you go for an inspection, it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of the prices for repairing particularly costly and weak areas. Let’s say if a car is sold for 700 thousand rubles, but it requires an expensive replacement of the timing chain, then this is an argument for bargaining. Of course, in this case, the market picture is important - if there are cars on sale for a comparable amount with a chain that has already been replaced, but for some reason you are targeting this particular example.

How to reduce the price when buying a car

Buying a used car is one of the most significant expenses in the budget, second only to buying real estate.

Suppose you have decided on your desires: what brand of car to choose, what years of manufacture, what the car should approximately look like and in what condition it should be in order to fit into your budget. We also did a market overview (car dealerships, online platforms, advertisements in newspapers). And we even did a test drive of several options and decided on a choice. Now all that remains is to give the money to the seller and go home happy.

This usually happens, provided you overpay !

What discount can you ask for when buying a used car?

A very common question. If you negotiate the price of a new rather than used car at a dealership, you can usually expect to pay a few percent off the price of the car. Less often - from 5 to 10%. Large discounts are rare exceptions, such as the sale of a model that is leaving the market.

Unfortunately, if you buy a used car, it is impossible to predict how the seller will behave and how much the price of the car can be reduced. It depends on many factors. The final price depends largely on your negotiating abilities: how competently you can point out to the seller the shortcomings of the car and argue for reducing the price for you. And this ability can be developed a little by reading this article to the end.

Pay less because...

Remember that the price of a used car is always flexible? And you should use every opportunity to lower it.

A used car has a rich operating history, one way or another associated with various breakdowns and shortcomings. And which the car seller tries to keep silent about. But you, on the contrary, to the best of your knowledge, should see for yourself the shortcomings of the machine. Anything that is discovered can be used as an argument for a discount.
A used car is definitely in worse condition than a new one, and it doesn’t happen that everything is perfectly fine with it. Maybe the car just needs to undergo a technical inspection, and the time is right to replace certain expensive parts. It may be from an accident and poorly painted (it is always useful to have a thickness gauge with you to measure the thickness of the paintwork, which allows you to determine non-factory repairs). The leather upholstery may be damaged, or the windshield may have cracks or chips. All these points need to be used for bargaining.

Find any possible shortcomings in the car you are buying, even those that you personally would not pay attention to, but for someone else it would matter - this can always be used as a reason to reduce the price or make other concessions.

What is very important, the car immediately drops in price after it leaves the dealership as new. (This statement does not apply to vintage cars and Youngtimers, but that’s not the point now). This argument can be used in your favor, since the seller knows that time works against the value of the car. The sooner a car is sold, the higher the price you can get for it. Especially if we take the end of the year as an example. Because the cost of a car directly depends on the year of manufacture. And at the beginning of next year he will become accordingly a year older, therefore cheaper. Carefully study the sources where the advertisement for sale is posted. Perhaps the owner of this car has been selling it for quite a long time, as evidenced by older, outdated advertisements for the sale of the same car. And if the end of the year is approaching, or based on the analysis of old advertisements it can be concluded that the seller is motivated to sell it as quickly as possible, remember that this is the very case when a person will make tangible concessions. The same “pressure” can be exerted on the seller if the car is unusual: for example, an unpopular make or model, non-standard design (a sports version of a popular model, a large engine capacity, an original color for everyone). Such copies are, as a rule, less popular, and often wait a long time for a buyer. This is a good opportunity to benefit. Just remember, when you subsequently sell such a car, you may experience similar difficulties.
Used vehicle is sold "as is". In the sense that you cannot choose a different color of the model, additional options, or performance versions. This is a great opportunity for negotiations. You can tell the seller: “The car is in good condition, but I'm not very happy with the pink color. If it had been black or white I would have paid the asking price. But for this color I can give a maximum of so much.” The color is just an example. You can counter with the power and volume of the engine (a large one eats a lot, there is a higher tax on it; a small one is too weak; gasoline consumes more than diesel; diesel is more expensive to maintain and is noisy; etc.) with a body type that does not suit you (station wagon, hatchback; number of doors) type of upholstery (fabric, velor, leather), interior color (for example, light is impractical and needs to be constantly looked after).

So, there is no reason for you to buy a used car at the original price. In theory, this can only happen if a particular example is so good that it already has several potential buyers who can compete with each other. But such a situation, given the current state of the car market in the country, happens extremely rarely.

Determine the real price of a used car

A) Market price.

“A product is worth what customers are willing to pay for it.” This expression could not be more suitable for the used car market. Before bargaining with the seller, determine the real market price of the car.

First, look through all the ads for this model. Keep in mind that in most cases they are overpriced by 10-20%, since these are “advertising” prices, and it is not at all a fact that the transaction will go through for that kind of money.

Secondly, use services for calculating the cost of a car. For example https://automama.ru/ocenka-avto

B) Your price range for bargaining

The first price you offer as a starting price is a price that is 10% lower than the market average you previously set, or if the asking price is close to the market price, lower it even more than 10%. The second price is the maximum amount for you that you are willing to pay for this car and for which the seller will be willing to give it, according to your estimates.

Also come up with your counter offers if the seller refuses to sell at the first price you named. You can make 1-3 concessions, but the price for you should not rise above the maximum that you have set for yourself.

When setting your maximum price threshold, leave room for 2-3 concessions until you reach it.

Prepare a Plan B

When you look for cars, choose not just one good option, but at least two. To have an alternative. Look them up, check them out and you should feel like you could buy any of them. It is clear that this is quite a difficult task. However, believe me, if you can do this, your self-confidence when bargaining will increase significantly. Because if the seller does not agree to your terms, then you will immediately leave for someone else.

Make an offer

Tell the seller your price, thought out in advance.

If you are buying a car from a dealer or auto sales firm, be careful because if a savvy salesman hears a lower price than he is offering, he may try to induce you to take out a loan to buy at his stated price. If you succumb, you will not only buy a car for a price higher than you could afford, but you will also have to repay the loan, which includes the seller’s margin for intermediary providing you with such a service.

Another trick of sellers: when he realizes that you are not ready to pay the asking price, he will try to convince you to buy a cheaper car: of a less prestigious brand, smaller in size, older in year of manufacture, etc. If you get caught doing this, you will end up buying the wrong car at an inflated price.

Don't give in to attempts at manipulation. Rest assured that there are plenty of options on the used car market.

Either way, whether you're buying from a dealer or a private seller, your initial offer will be rejected 90% of the time. But you set it so low that there was something to dance about. The performance begins.)

If you disagree with your first offer, the seller will usually begin to praise his product to prove why it costs exactly what he asks. Fortunately, by following the advice you received above, as well as later in the article, you are perfectly prepared for this. Tell the seller that you know the price of this car very well, that its market price is X. That you have looked at many ads, visited dealers, tested several options for this make and model, and most of them are competitively priced compared to this offer . But you like this particular one. Make it clear to the seller, whether you are bluffing or not, that this offer is not the best in terms of price. And that you have an alternative. After this step, offer the seller a price slightly higher than your original offer. And here you can add (if you have demonstrated your knowledge of the market situation) that it will be difficult to sell the car at the advertised price: it is clearly overpriced.

From now on, such a conversation can have 2 options for development.

The seller will soften his rhetoric and begin to reduce the price. Don't immediately agree to his new offer, even if it is already within your acceptance range (between the original offer and the established maximum). You have the opportunity to pay even less. You made only one concession, but prepared 2-3. So you are still “cartridged.” Even if you can't negotiate more, you can always return to the seller's last offer. When the first concessions from the opposite side appear, there is a temptation not to waste time and quickly complete the deal. But here it works in the opposite direction. Do not hurry. Vanity here is your enemy. Whoever rushes first will lose money. If you already have a concession from the seller, take a step towards him: raise the price a little. When he again offers a more favorable price for your offer, which practically coincides with your reasonable maximum, this is that “golden moment” when you can shake hands. If after the first concession the seller does not agree to the second, you can try using another technique: dividing the remaining difference in half. If, despite your efforts, the seller does not agree to a meeting, and the price exceeds your maximum, then inform him that you are refusing to purchase. Don’t be afraid of taking this step - this does not mean that you won’t buy this car at a good price. You can switch to another ad for sale and the seller there will be more accommodating. Refusal to buy is one of the oldest, most effective and somewhat forgotten methods of negotiation. Read on and you will learn how to carry out a controlled breakup of negotiations and what to do next.

If, despite the procedures described above, you do not receive discounts and concessions from the seller that allow you to purchase a car for the desired amount, then do as stated above - stop negotiations. Let them know that you cannot buy a car at this price. Tell the seller that he might think about it and change his mind about the price (here you need to set a short period of time from 1 to 3 days to put pressure on him), leave your phone number, politely say goodbye, do not hesitate and leave. Leave the seller alone with his own thoughts. Find another option and try to get a good price there. And who knows, maybe it will be a much better option than you expected. Don't forget that the seller is dependent on the sale of the car and that he was close to the deal - after all, he may become motivated and interested. There is a high chance that he will call you and say that he agrees with your last offer.

In conclusion: be careful

At the end of this article, I would like to draw your attention to some tricks with which you can be attacked by cunning sellers.

Time pressure. An attempt to convince that there is already an interested potential buyer for the car who has not yet fully decided, or that after some time the car will be taken off sale for some reason.

“How much will you give?” You often hear from sellers who do not put a price tag on their car. On the one hand, there is an opinion that the one who names his price first reveals his cards and finds himself in a losing position. Since the seller immediately understands which stove to dance from. But this is no longer a problem for you, since you have already learned to determine the market value and make allowances for the inflated price tag. You can use this situation to your advantage. Once you know the market price, don't be afraid to give numbers. And even if it is a very low price, the main thing is not to reach the point of absurdity. Scientific research in the field of negotiations and our observations indicate that the price around which bargaining begins and the price of the concluded transaction are close to the first offer made. So, contrary to popular belief, don't be afraid to take the lead!

A smart seller always sets a price higher than the one for which he is willing to give up.

How to reduce the price when buying a used car?

Who among us doesn't want to save money? Especially on such an expensive purchase as a car. You can also bargain when purchasing a new car from an official dealer. But it all depends on the seller, and the client has no arguments to reduce the price: the car is just off the assembly line. Another thing is the secondary market. There are different copies here, and not a single one is without shortcomings.

The reseller, of course, will bargain shamelessly, even despite real shortcomings - simply by virtue of his profession. Our material is designed for ordinary buyers and sellers who, we want to believe, approach the process adequately. The author of these lines is just one of those: I bought and sold a lot of used cars of different classes and ages, but all exclusively for personal use. This is just a personal opinion, but based on experience and, I would like to believe, balanced.

Documents for the car

Fitting for any used car should begin with checking the documents. Problems with them may turn out to be insoluble, and you will lose your expensive purchase instantly - and legally. And you won’t get your money back. This is not even a reason for bargaining, but for refusing an option. But this is in the case of outright crime.

There are other nuances, such as an abundance of owners or a duplicate title for a completely new car, or incorrect indication of engine power. It depends on your luck: maybe it’s nothing terrible, or maybe there really is a murky story behind it. For example, a car changed owners due to constant breakdowns, a duplicate was received in return for one given to the bank as collateral, and incorrect power indicates replacement of units or documents.

Are you ready to take a risk? I’m not trying to dissuade you, but at least bring the price into line with the degree of risk. After all, this is probably not the only option on the market and there are alternatives with hassle-free documents.

The body is the most expensive part of the structure. Replacing it with an ideal one costs incredible amounts of money, and it is often impossible to put the existing one in order. As in the case of problems with documents, it is better to bypass an obvious “corpse” without bargaining.

On a car that is a year or two old, a potential buyer has the right to point out the abundance of repainted parts. One or two are normal for a metropolis, but a larger number indicates a difficult life. Traces of unqualified repairs on a car under warranty are a reason for a large bargain or refusal to purchase. If they didn’t spare him from a young age in serious matters, then they probably didn’t care about the little things either.

But you shouldn’t demand ideality from a specimen that’s 15 or more years old. A smooth body in original paint is an exception here, and they usually ask for the appropriate amount of money for such a car. Putting pressure on the seller by pointing out the complete or partial repainting of the “old lady” is wrong and is unlikely to lead to the desired result.

Modern engines often require serious repairs already during the warranty period and at mileages of up to 100,000 km. The same can be said for some types of transmissions. There are still many cars from the era of “millionaires” still alive, but their mileage has just reached the point where the life of the units is running out. If they show signs of ill health, and this does not affect the price of the car, ask for a discount.

This could be unstable engine operation, the “wrong” exhaust color, jerking in the transmission, and much more. The main thing is not to forget that you are buying a vehicle to drive, and not to park it, saving money for service. To make an adequate assessment before purchasing, it is useful to find out what is wrong with the units of the model you like, and how much they charge for their resuscitation. But when the car feels great, and you are furiously haggling over possible breakdowns in the future, it looks stupid. If you are so afraid of buying a problem car, it is better to contact the dealer for a new car under warranty.

The situation with the suspension is ambiguous. For our roads, this is a consumable, so, in my opinion, it is incorrect to bargain because of knocks and squeaks in it. Well, perhaps except for the option when the sounds indicate the complete demise of everything, otherwise some people want to get a discount for worn stabilizer struts.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, a “dead” chassis on a fresh car does not indicate anything good. Since the owner killed her at an accelerated pace, it would be fair to compensate the next owner with a good discount. In the case of malfunctions of an expensive pneuma, there is also a reason for bargaining. Repairing it will cost a pretty penny even using non-original spare parts.

The chassis and components wear out naturally, and the body can suffer damage in accidents through no fault of the owner. But only the owner is responsible for the condition of the interior. In my opinion, dirty seats, carpets and plastic are more than a significant argument for bargaining. With proper care, they can remain ideal even after a mileage of several hundred thousand kilometers. Therefore, it is worth getting at least compensation for the upcoming global dry cleaning.

Torn upholstery is repaired quickly and even the color and texture of the material is selected. This is a small problem, but eliminating one small defect will cost at least 1500-2000 rubles. More shortcomings - more money. You wouldn’t be pleased to sit in a tattered interior every day, would you?

With deep scratches on plastic, the situation is not so positive. It is not always possible to eliminate them, and the result of the work does not always remain invisible. And replacing a dashboard is not a cheap pleasure, even if you find the part at a disassembly site.

Other faults

Finally, all kinds of options and small details. An obvious reason for bargaining is faults that prevent the car from passing the MOT and registration procedure. To replace a roaring exhaust, cracked windshield, broken or broken optics, it’s not a sin to ask for a discount. In the latter case, we are, of course, not talking about haggling for a hundred rubles for a non-working light bulb, but about a dead LED flashlight, which can be replaced as an assembly and costs more than three kopecks. These investments await the new owner immediately after purchase. Bargaining for non-working “bells and whistles” depends primarily on the age of purchase. Everything should work on a new car; an older car is allowed to have shortcomings in this area. Also consider the severity of the faults. For example, in the absence of air conditioning, dead window regulators are a big problem, and it will also have to be solved immediately. For this, it would be correct to give in in price.

Often, car enthusiasts get rid of their car shortly before a major and expensive maintenance. The buyer should find out in advance when the next service is coming and how long it will take. It is unlikely that you will be able to get a discount in the amount of its cost: that’s the purpose of transferring the investment to other shoulders. And on other points, the positions of the seller and the buyer may not agree. But reasoned bargaining still looks more pleasant than an unreasonable desire to pick up a car at half price.

How much can you bargain? If we get lucky. In the end, it all depends on the seller’s desire to sell the car as quickly as possible. In general, you can count on a discount of 5 to 20%. Of course, major repairs can cost a lot of money, but it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to save it. Rather, the seller will try to disguise it more thoroughly before the next viewings.