Buying from a French Car Dealer - Negotiation?
Discussion
I've been here five+ years now and I've noticed that (in my limited experience) the French don't negotiate as readily as in Blighty. Sometimes they look affronted and are very reluctant to discount, but sometimes they do.
My question is, I'm looking to spend quite a bit on a car from a dealer soon and I'm not sure how hard to go in on my first offer against their asking price? In the UK I'd reckon on starting about 10% below asking, expecting to get 5% without any part exchange. But here??
Interested in any thoughts or similar experiences...
My question is, I'm looking to spend quite a bit on a car from a dealer soon and I'm not sure how hard to go in on my first offer against their asking price? In the UK I'd reckon on starting about 10% below asking, expecting to get 5% without any part exchange. But here??
Interested in any thoughts or similar experiences...
If they don't want to negotiate and you believe they have room to do so, you've got to be prepared to walk away, but you're right about their refusal to negotiate. I wonder if they have monthly sales targets and might be more amenable at the end of the month?
I got registration fee and road tax on the first car I bought here, but nothing on the second as at the time it was an in-demand scarce car (both were "nearly new"). I also noticed that the same car was advertised for 500€ more on the forecourt than on the internet, the dealer's answer to that was that the internet price was a discount and he wouldn't go any lower......
There were a few useful deals about, not particularly well publicised - VW offered me a five year guarantee if I took their finance over five years - I didn't take it but later wished I had. Why not lease? A while ago there were posters all over our area for MB c-class estates at 450€ a month - worth seeing if anything like that is about. There's a C-class saloon at from 400€ pm here:
http://www.mercedes-benz.fr/content/france/mpc/mpc...
That sort of price would get headlines on Uk money saver sites at the current rate of exchange.
I'll mention though, if you're not aware of it already, that you should be extremely wary of borrowing or committing to a lease in a currency other than that of your income source. A way of hedging against this is to transfer the total cost for the term at the current rate.
One thing's for sure, if you don't need to trade in, you are in a the strongest position you can be.
Hope my experience/observations help.
Steve
I got registration fee and road tax on the first car I bought here, but nothing on the second as at the time it was an in-demand scarce car (both were "nearly new"). I also noticed that the same car was advertised for 500€ more on the forecourt than on the internet, the dealer's answer to that was that the internet price was a discount and he wouldn't go any lower......
There were a few useful deals about, not particularly well publicised - VW offered me a five year guarantee if I took their finance over five years - I didn't take it but later wished I had. Why not lease? A while ago there were posters all over our area for MB c-class estates at 450€ a month - worth seeing if anything like that is about. There's a C-class saloon at from 400€ pm here:
http://www.mercedes-benz.fr/content/france/mpc/mpc...
That sort of price would get headlines on Uk money saver sites at the current rate of exchange.
I'll mention though, if you're not aware of it already, that you should be extremely wary of borrowing or committing to a lease in a currency other than that of your income source. A way of hedging against this is to transfer the total cost for the term at the current rate.
One thing's for sure, if you don't need to trade in, you are in a the strongest position you can be.
Hope my experience/observations help.
Steve
I agree that genuine negotiation does not exist. My local franchise offered a 4% discount and spent ages looking for reasons to offer me a really low price for my then current car.
I sold my old car through leboncoin and printed the quotation from here http://www.elite-auto.fr for the new car (a 10% reduction) and then went to the main city franchise in Tours and said " I am buying this car - can you match the price?" They said "yes", no negotiation. I saved quite a bit and it saves time not having to visit several franchises.
No negotiation works in your favour when selling. It seems that if someone comes to look at your car, they expect to pay the advertised price, so you just need to get it right by using Argus online quote. You show them that when they arrive, they know it is a fair price.
I sold my old car through leboncoin and printed the quotation from here http://www.elite-auto.fr for the new car (a 10% reduction) and then went to the main city franchise in Tours and said " I am buying this car - can you match the price?" They said "yes", no negotiation. I saved quite a bit and it saves time not having to visit several franchises.
No negotiation works in your favour when selling. It seems that if someone comes to look at your car, they expect to pay the advertised price, so you just need to get it right by using Argus online quote. You show them that when they arrive, they know it is a fair price.
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