Negotiation room on purchase - advice

[TheHound]

Hi, could do with a quick bit of advice. Am going to look at an e63s estate - it's nearly new, a '23 plate with only a few hundred miles on it. As such the price is quite high - around 99k. Would be trading in my S6 Avant, for which I have been quoted around 14k.

Wondering what is a reasonable amount to expect to be able to negotiate off the price, given the above?

It's an independent dealership selling on behalf of a private client.

Also, would I be better off trying to shift my car via Carwow/Webuyanycar rather than trade in? Would be more hassle so would need to be a decently higher price than the trade in, I think.

[randlemarcus]

As ever, focus on cost to change, rather than price or trade-in. Its worth going into the conversation knowing what WBAC/Motorway would offer , to see who is trying it on. Also, does the retail price make sense?

[TheHound]

Looking around, I think the trade in price is reasonable. Assuming that is fixed, my main interest is in how much it is reasonable to be able to expect to negotiate off the price of the new car (obviously this will ultimately amount to cost to change).

[alscar]

When you say the price of the E is high are you comparing that to similar models with similar spec and mileage or just “ gut feel “ ?

[TheHound]

I don't mean "too high", just that it's a pricey car due to its nature and relative newness. I mean it as context for my question about negotiation wriggle room.

[georgefreeman918]

How does the E63 compare to others of a similar age / mileage on the market? With the internet, dealers can't hide from overpriced cars.

If its overpriced, offer them market value and provide examples of other cars.

If its reasonably priced against others, you can make an offer, but they are likely to say no. They will know their car is competitivity priced.

When car buying, I wouldnt even bother going to see something that was over priced unless the dealer was willing to offer some level of discount to bring it in line with market value.

[J4CKO]

Go cold on it, more than I want to spend etc, and see whether they call back with a better offer, nearing month end....

[alscar]

TheHound said:

I don't mean "too high", just that it's a pricey car due to its nature and relative newness. I mean it as context for my question about negotiation wriggle room.

Then as gf replied earlier and summed up well (much more articulately than me ) I won’t repeat other than to say without ammunition your options are pretty limited.
I will add it also depends on your own negotiation abilities.

[andyalan10]

...and if it is the only one on the market anywhere near that specification you might have considerably less negotiating power.

Have you looked at Mercedes Benz's own website? Have you looked at howmanyleft to see if you can work out how many examples might exist that might come to market at some point?

[Pica-Pica]

Dont even think about a £99k car unless your negotiating skills are good. In a year that will lose £20k.
Add another £2k extra for your car, and that is a potential £22k first year loss. That’s my reckoning. Quite a few holidays that.

[CharlieDeltaTango]

J4CKO said:

Go cold on it, more than I want to spend etc, and see whether they call back with a better offer, nearing month end....

This won't have any bearing because they don't own the car. It's on a consignment sale so they have no money invested in it anyway, they just get a fee when it sells.

Depends on if the dealer has any room to discount, biggest issue is that it's not their car and they are just facilitating the sale. There will be a much smaller margin in it than a traditional dealer. BUT there won't be any warranty concerns due to the age so another dealer that actually owns their stock would likely have a smaller margin in it because the support post sale is mostly main dealer.

[Summit_Detailing]

CharlieDeltaTango said:

This won't have any bearing because they don't own the car. It's on a consignment sale so they have no money invested in it anyway, they just get a fee when it sells.

Depends on if the dealer has any room to discount, biggest issue is that it's not their car and they are just facilitating the sale. There will be a much smaller margin in it than a traditional dealer. BUT there won't be any warranty concerns due to the age so another dealer that actually owns their stock would likely have a smaller margin in it because the support post sale is mostly main dealer.

If it is on SOR then the dealer in theory would have agreed a fixed fee with the owner for selling it.
That doesn't mean you can't negotiate, especially if they've been looking at the car for a while and/or the owner is keen to get out of it for whatever reason, if you are serious about the car then why not offer £92k (if it's up for £99k?!) they can go back to the owner and negotiation begins....

Is it on Autotrader? if so you can see when the advert went live from the numbers in the URL.

Cheers,

Chris

[ZX10R NIN]

TheHound said:

Hi, could do with a quick bit of advice. Am going to look at an e63s estate - it's nearly new, a '23 plate with only a few hundred miles on it. As such the price is quite high - around 99k. Would be trading in my S6 Avant, for which I have been quoted around 14k.

Wondering what is a reasonable amount to expect to be able to negotiate off the price, given the above?

It's an independent dealership selling on behalf of a private client.

Also, would I be better off trying to shift my car via Carwow/Webuyanycar rather than trade in? Would be more hassle so would need to be a decently higher price than the trade in, I think.

In reality I don't see much wiggle room as that is a very rare car try finding another 2023 E63 S estate.

[bennno]

ZX10R NIN said:

In reality I don't see much wiggle room as that is a very rare car try finding another 2023 E63 S estate.

Is it the discontinued model? Market is very slow due to interest costs.

I’d start with an offer of at least 10% off

[ScoobyChris]

Seems a better approach to low ball and then negotiate up? Worst they can do is say no! Tbh just because it’s a rare car doesn’t justify a price … price is based on market demand (assuming they actually want to sell).

Chris

[georgeyboy12345]

It's got to be this one, right? It's the only one about

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202401115...

Find another. Oh wait, you can't (at the moment)

Maybe wait until March/April - there might be more choice.

[fflump]

Selling on consignment makes negotiating easier as you can get the salesperson onside. He wants it gone and likely has no vested interest in the sale price. Say you live it and are a genuine seller ready to proceed promptly etc. and offer 7-10% less. They are likely going to go back to the owner . The owners response may depend on how long it’s been on the market

[66HFM]

Perhaps my first question would be, why does the original owner want to sell a car that is only 4 months old? Perhaps his circumstances have changed and he needs the money out of it quickly (tax bill due end of Jan...?).
Try and get that info and build a rapport with the salesman selling it as likely he is just on a fixed fee to sell it.
Try getting some info from him as to how close to £90k does he think the seller will get...

£14k to £99k is a bit of a jump, well done!
Let us know how you get on

[J1990]

ScoobyChris said:

Seems a better approach to low ball and then negotiate up? Worst they can do is say no! Tbh just because it’s a rare car doesn’t justify a price … price is based on market demand (assuming they actually want to sell).

Chris

When someone gives you a lowball offer it just instantly makes you lose interest in them as a serious buyer.
If the price is considered fair then you can't expect much wiggle room, if someone wants a souped up luxury estate car then their options are fairly limited between this and the RS6, given that the M3 is a class smaller and the 540i isn't really comparable.
You're right that rare doesn't equal more expensive, but a quick glance at the fast estates thread shows that this is a relatively rare car with a surprisingly large customer base. Unless the seller is having eye-watering interest payments then there's little motivation to continue conversation after being asked for a £10k discount on your £100k car.

[ScoobyChris]

J1990 said:

When someone gives you a lowball offer it just instantly makes you lose interest in them as a serious buyer.

Maybe private buyers but for a salesman it won't be, especially at this price level. Customers making offers of £90k for a car like this won't need to be looking down the back of the sofa to increase their offer so why wouldn't the salesman engage and work towards a sale?

Chris