How to negotiate with dealers while buying your new car

[Pralay]

Hello India-Drive Members & visitor friends!!

Well, I am based at Hyderabad since 2010. A bong from The City of Joy, love cars, passionate about travel, and a great foodie! Nearly a year back we had our "white knight" the Grand i10_Asta(O). We already had couple of road trips including, Warrangal, Mahabaleswar-Panchghani, Bangalore, Munnar-Thekkady & keep sailing:). I really liked to share my experience of all the road trips, but before that I thought sharing my experience on buying new car like how to negotiate, how to register a new car, how to arrange finance papers etc. would be helpful for newbies! First I would like to start with how to negotiate with dealers while buying a new car. Dint get the proper directory to post, so posting here in "Hyderabad" under "Travel". Mod can move the thread to suitable place if the post approved. This is my first post, please don't mind if anything goes wrong!!

Hoooohh!! Okay here it is, I will not start with some generic line like "buying car is always dream, but you have to be careful...â€, rather I want to directly say, do not get emotional while buying your car. Be logical & have patience while negotiate with car dealers. Remember one thing you may feel special & top of the world while buying car, it’s just a regular matter for the car dealers. So better you don’t carried away by the emotion, they may make some money on your emotion. Rather bargain and don’t think “woh log kya sochega, sabji khareed ne aaye kyaâ€. But obviously be reasonable & logical. To do perfect and spot on negotiation with car dealers, you have to have solid knowledge how their business works. Below are the few things you can tell to give him a message that you know their business,and you are a serious customer looking for a reasonable negotiation.

1) Portion of Sales Exec.’s cut: Just ask whether that Sales Executive can share a portion of his cut or not. Every dealer, sales executive have their own cut from the car manufacturer. Understand the business. He may want to share 1k-2k (as a cash discount) from his cut to get bigger amount. But unless you ask the same, they will simply keep quiet about it. You can directly talk to the showroom manager as well regarding this.

2) Timing of inquiry_Give and take policy: Call dealers during 2nd-3rd week of the month. They have their own monthly target. 2nd -3rd week is crucial for them to get the numbers. This way you can negotiate easily. And tell this fact frankly, that they want their number of sales just like you want your car, so let’s come straight to the point do some serious business!

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3) Cut from Finance: I would say DIY all the bank or paper job if you take Finance. This way you will come to know many things how works, also you can save few thousand bucks which they would take as commission! we had done all the paper work on our own. Anyway if you don’t want to take the hassle of doing all these then negotiate here for the commission part. Ask him to reduce the cut.

4) Half tank of fuel::If at all you can’t negotiate with any of the above, ask for 10-15 litres of extra petrol instead of standard 5 litres. This way you can save nearly half tank of fuel cost. They will try to settle with anti rust. But trust me, better deal with fuel.

5) Commission of Insurance: You can very much buy your first insurance online, and not from the dealer,though initially they will tell, it is not possible, you insist for the reason & no rule says that you have to purchase only from the dealer. See the insurance premium. This is very important. If you compare with online their quote will always be on higher side. So directly tell that, at which rate you are getting the same through online. It is best to go with them at least for the first year to settle any claim easily, but ask them to match the rate as much as possible. I am sure this way you can save another 2-3k bucks.

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6) Commission of Registration: Another area where you can ask for a deal is registration processing charges. Again, I would recommend you to go & arrange all these yourself. When we did registration they asked around Rs 2-2.5K (exact figure I forgot), we had done it in just Rs 1300, thus saved around Rs 1200. It’s just a matter of a day. Remember, even if you do the registration through your dealer, you have to go there for signing purpose.

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7) Freebies: Ask for freebies like, seat cover, car cover, perfume etc.

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8) Corporate Discount: Don’t forget to ask about corporate discount or any running discount.

9) Say No to Handling charges: Last but not the least never pay any handling or other extra charges. It is illegal to collect any handling charges from customers at the time of selling car. You can Google it.

Remember, the more you negotiate the more you can gain. There’s no point to leave any chance just because you are buying car! When you drive home your car don’t feel special only because you bought your new car, but also because you have saved lot of money & got your knowledge about how things work. Don’t forget to share your experience!

Cheers!!

Image Courtesy: Google Images & the respective websites

Please share your feedback about the article by participating the below poll.

[Naveen1]

Hello Pralay,

Welcome to the group.

​​​​​Nice topic, this information will definitely be helpful for the first time buyers.

Looking forward to hear your travel stories.

[sagar]

[uSER=38]Pralay[/uSER] ..That's a great piece of information.. a real guide for a newbie planning to own a car:clap:. In addition to your points, I would like to add another point which i felt you have missed out on post-purchase procedure ..

When you finalize on the purchase of your new car, you'll be forced to work with the dealer's finance officer to sign all your paperwork. This will try to sell you a number of additional services like an extended warranty, paint protection, gap coverage etc. You don't need any of these services. Advise you to turn them all down and simply purchase the car like you originally intend to.

Good to see you around and looking forward to see some of your road-tripping tales online..

[balag]

Nice post on how to negotiate with the car dealer bro.. My principle before i owned one has been very simple..

The first is to walk in with your offer, and then walk out. The second is to low-ball them, then build incrementally towards your true offer .

Things to keep in mind…

• There’s always a better deal. Dealers are very well aware that someone, somewhere is going to sell you a car for the price you’re asking. That's the reason we negotiate and that's also the reason you should negotiate with multiple dealers at one time. As with most things in life, getting a bargain is a numbers game. The more offers you have out there, the more likely you are to strike gold.
  
• Walk away. This can’t be emphasised enough. If the dealer won’t come down to your price, walk. Like I said, there’s always a better deal. Don’t lock in to a negotiation when it’s clear from the outset you’re not going to get what you want. :cooler:
  

[ramuc]

Excellent article! Covered just about everything. With a word to add by my experience, You have to be polite, but firm, Be confident but authentic.

If the dealer feeds you the sticker price, it’s probably time to walk away. But if they deliver a counter-offer, it’s time to haggle. Be clear on the price you’re driving at.

After some back and forth, if you’re not getting what you want, leave your phone number before you leave the place. You might get a call back.

[kamal]

That's a very comprehensive article [uSER=38]Pralay[/uSER] . Its helpful all those buying their new vehicles.

[vivek]

Each and every step mentioned in this article is every bit helpful and important when one buys a car. I have failed to implement this when i bought mine but i was given the freebies for my i10 grand.. Thanks a lot for sharing such an informative thread [uSER=38]Pralay[/uSER]

[bpt]

Great tips guys, surely helpful for those who plan for a new car.. Thanks for sharing

[sharma]

Very timely and extremely informative article.. Didnt know about all these issues. Thanks guys.. After being forearmed by the post now, I guess I'll make sure I take time off the next time i get my new car..

[Gowtham]

Nice topic [uSER=38]Pralay[/uSER] .Thank you for sharing.

Coming to the discounts and Freebies, It mostly depends on the success of the vehicle in the market.

If there is a waiting period for a successful model, it is tough to squeeze even a single penny.

I have seen people paying extra money to get their car quickly.:fight:

Cars which are amazing and failed in the market. Following points can be helpful during negotiation.

• Free zero depreciation insurance
  
• High Exchange Bonus
  
• Loyalty Bonus
  
• Year end discounts
  
• Previous year models (Few friends of mine got 2 lakhs discount)
  
• Corporate discount
  

Note: moving the post to relevant section.

[karthik]

[uSER=38]Pralay[/uSER]

Wonderful topic to discuss.

I got huge discount for my new duster, based on previous year model point.

I am happy that I took the plunge and bought it.

Some times it is risky to buy a car, which is sitting in stock yard for more than 6 months. But in my case, it came out positive.

[Pralay]

Thank You so very much guys! very nice to meet you. Every words of yours & the poll will really motivate me to write up again. I am shortly coming up with "how to register your car on your own" very shortly. Hope that will also help! glad to know that my article will help newbies. Also I agreed completely on the additional points as mentioned above.

PS: I thought, my post will not get approved & will receive a blast in PM from the moderator to post something else in "travel" thread.

Glad you liked it. Very happy & excited :)

[ujwal]

I am sure this article would go a long way to help people who are willing to buy new cars.. Thanx a lot for the article.