New car offers - what's the catch?

Information and questions about driving in Andalucia, buying or importing cars and motorbikes plus legal issues surrounding taxes and licenses.
Superplonk
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New car offers - what's the catch?

Postby Superplonk » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:06 pm

I'm after a new Citroen and have been comparing prices on the aggregator sites that are the first returned by a web search. One in particular has the model I want at a couple of thousand less than its competitors. Are these prices typically as is, or would they be dependent on taking financing or something else I don't require? I am wondering if there's any point in asking my local dealer to match the price.
Also, I have an 8 year old Citroen to get rid of. Is part-exchange likely to help me with the above?
Thanks.

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Campo Steve
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Re: New car offers - what's the catch?

Postby Campo Steve » Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:34 pm

I have never found trading in an old car for a new one particularly helpful as the trader has then got to try to sell it. It might give you some bargaining power if you are prepared to drop your asking price for the old cat but, at the end of the day, you are losing out.
I've got an inferiority complex, but it's not a very good one!

Beachcomber
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Re: New car offers - what's the catch?

Postby Beachcomber » Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:41 pm

Campo Steve wrote:... if you are prepared to drop your asking price for the old cat...
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El Cid
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Re: New car offers - what's the catch?

Postby El Cid » Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:33 pm

Discounts on new cars are decided by the manufacturer rather than the dealer. Room for negotiation is pretty small because of that.

The deals you see advertised such as €4000 off are often included in the advertised price and they nearly always assume you will be using Plan Pive where you give them your 10+ year old car and you get a discount of €2000 (half from the dealer and half from the government). They also tend to make the company finance a part of the deal. There are other discounts on top of these which can vary from make to make. In total I got over €7000 off a new car last year.

Apart from Plan Pive you won't get much in part exchange unless it is fairly new.

Don't be surprised to find the salesman totally unhelpful and apparently not really bothered whether you buy or not! There are exceptions but sadly they are rare.

Do your homework using the online configurator that every maker has on the company website. Otherwise the options can be very complicated and mutually exclusive - Citroen seems very bad in this respect. If you want one particular engine that will probably decide which trim level and the extras you have to have with little room for manoeuvre.

Dealers do not seem to carry much stock, unlike the UK where they often have a lot of preregistered cars. You might find an ex demo car at a good price.

Best of luck!

Sid


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