Buying nearly new

[MetManMark]

All

So I haven't much experience of this. First car I bought from a civil servant who sold me the trusty old saab 900 that he had been ferrying his family around in. Second car was bought from my Mum when Dad died and Mum didn't want such a large car. Didn't argue the price on either of these purchases.

Now looking to spend ~£15k on a Auris hybrid touring sport. I have been looking online for the last couple of months and it looks like you can get one a year old with less than 10k on the clock. I intend to ask whether there is any flexibility on the price as I'll be a cash buyer and won't be trading in our car. What should I be looking for? What would be a sensible approach? I'd quite like a bar boot protector thing (£50 if I buy it new) and also roof bars (about £150 if I were to buy it). And also if it is due a service I'd like that done first! She I start with this or ask for a cash discount to start with and then fall back on this.

Thanks for advice - I am pretty rubbish at haggling and my wife is even worse!

Mark

[FROSTYBALLS]

Nowadays I don't think there is much in the way of discounting for cash sales. Dealers make some money through providing finance, so a cash sale isn't as attractive to them.

Thing to be wary of with a used car up to one year old, is who the previous owner was - the car could be an ex-lease or ex-rental. Should be able to discount ex-driving school cars, as The AA contract with Ford for their cars and BSM with Peugeot (previously Vauxhall). 

Bear in mind the Toyota service schedules are every 12 monthsor 10,000 miles,whichever occurs first, then a car less than 12 months old, but approaching 10K miles will be due it's first service.

[Jim45]

I have just purchased an Auris HSD Excel for my wife and my local Toyota dealer knocked £1k from the screen price without any serious pressure from me. I simply told him I had no exchange & a cash sale & mentioned my budget and he adjusted the price of a car I liked to within £500 of my budget which I ended up buying.

I would suggest you have look round and pick a car you like at say £15k screen price and find a salesman and tell him your budget is £13.5 to £14k and let him suggest what he can offer for that price, he may well drop the £15k car to within sight of your so called budget.

[Countrylad]

Here's a little 30K wrinkle that you might like to consider.

I bought my Auris Touring Sport (Icon Plus, 1.6 VVT, 64 reg) in March. Exactly 18 months old, and paid £10,000 from a main dealer. That seemed to me like a lot of car for the money! And with three and half years of the Toyota warranty still to run.  Decent trade-in value on my old Passat as well, so I'm well happy.

The reason, I think, was that my car had 30,000 miles on the clock, which some would say is a lot for 18 months (but I personally wouldn't, because I usually buy motorway-munching diesels that have done more). All three of the car's services had been done right on the 10,000 mile  interval, which is a good sign in my book. And I could find no sign that anything except the driver's seat had ever been sat in.

What's so special about the 30,000 miles is that it's the limit of what the Toyota warranty will cover in the first year. That means that some business buyers who know that they'll be doing a lot of motorway miles will buy the car new, do the miles and then trade in/write down and move on.

Whereas for me, I only do about 10K a year, so even after seven years it'll probably still be shy of the 100K mark at which most cars get expensive to run. And motorway miles are my favourite because they don't wear the transmission like town driving does.

Methinks it might be interesting to run an Autotrader search for 30K maximum miles and 1 year maximum age and see what comes up?

[FROSTYBALLS]

3 minutes ago, Countrylad said:

What's so special about the 30,000 miles is that it's the limit of what the Toyota warranty will cover in the first year. That means that some business buyers who know that they'll be doing a lot of motorway miles will buy the car new, do the miles and then trade in/write down and move on.

The Toyota GB website states:

- 5 years or 100,000* miles from new whichever comes first, with no mileage limitations for the first year

https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/warranty/toyota-warranty.json

 

 

[Countrylad]

4 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The Toyota GB website states:

- 5 years or 100,000* miles from new whichever comes first, with no mileage limitations for the first year

https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/warranty/toyota-warranty.json

 

 

Cheers for that Frosty, looks like I've mis-read something there, and always glad to be corrected.

Still a bit gobsmacked at the value for money, though! I guess that 30K on the clock just knocks a lot of noughts off the perceived value, whereas for most family users the long-term difference between 15K and 30K is neither here nor there. Your friends are going to be looking at the reg number and the general condition, not the mileage. And as long as the warranty's there to soak up any problems, it's no great issue. Just my POV, anyway.

 

[MetManMark]

Thanks for the comments. Really useful.

Mark

[unclepoo]

These toyota hybrids will cover very high mileage with very few issues. The only thing I`ve seen is the rear brakes can seize, they don`t do much work, and the 12v Battery can drain if the the car is not used much. The paint can chip easily too....so motorway miles can take it`s toll on the bonnet paintwork. So a touch up pot and a tooth pick can sort that out.

[FROSTYBALLS]

28 minutes ago, unclepoo said:

The paint can chip easily too....so motorway miles can take it`s toll on the bonnet paintwork. 

Really as a result of car manufacturers having had to move away from solvent based paints to water based paints - car paint now being more prone to paint chipping affects most manufacturers. Not just related to hybrids.

[Countrylad]

11 hours ago, unclepoo said:

 motorway miles can take it`s toll on the bonnet paintwork. So a touch up pot and a tooth pick can sort that out.

My last touch up pot (Halfords finest, for a Volkswagen not a Toyota) came with a needle applicator as well as the usual brush in the lid. Duhh, I didn't even know it was there until I read the instructions on the pot! Pretty good for doing tiny areas, but you do have to shake the pot yery vigorously and then waste a little bit because it's a very long way up that needle for the mixed paint to travel.

 

[Wristl355]

dealers will likely treat you as God if you do financing instead of check or cash, that's a sure thing

[eygo]

i have read on the lexus forum that the best way to get a discount this was on a new car was to 

get the car on finance get any dealer discounts and then pay the credit off then next day

i dont see why this couldn't work on a used car as there maybe more money for the dealer to

play with after a finance agreement being signed.

[TomdeGuerre]

..... You wish.... Dream On.....

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards finance for used cars, main dealers now seem to be offering finance at around 9.5-10.9% APR. Which is quite a bit higher than personal loan APR's.

As regards finance on new cars, as I've looking around over the past couple of weeks, Toyota's national offers on finance are purely for PCP's. So the punter who doesn't want a PCP and wants a Toyota, gets nothing.

[TomdeGuerre]

Saw a new Auris in the showroom recently with the chrome strips coming off the rear doors.

 

[Heidfirst]

aren't those strips dealer fit?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Yes.