An issue with obtaining a larger discount than the dealer is entirely happy with is that they will probably then reduce the trade-in price (if any). It is necessary therefore to balance the two aspects (saving on new car, loss on trade-in) and see if the deal is still satisfactory.

Please don't take this as personal criticism but for me, and I expect many people, negotiating a price is a horrible experience, it's the whole haggling thing. Some folks love the bartering and some hate it. It's one of the reasons I went to leasing.

I guess Carwow is used as a reference model, so you know what's possible and what's not in the smoke and mirrors of car buying. For those of us that are uncomfortable with the whole haggling thing then it's so easy to get a price from there, then go local and see what they can offer so you know if you're getting a decent deal or not. It takes away the whole uncomfortable aspect of buying for some. Likewise, I'd use webuyanycar.com to know what my car is worth at trade value (if I had a trade-in).

I mean take a V90 as an example, I go into a dealers and he'll quote me £40k for an entry level V90. He might hint at a discount of a couple of grand off depending on targets/mood/Volvo/stock levels. etc. Or I go to Car Wow, get a price in a few minutes of £35k, then go local and say I'll have one of these or as close as you can get to this price.

I did a negotiation skills course recently at work, Carwow arms you with what's known as a BATNA - best alternative to a non-negotiated agreement. So you have a reference point to know when to walk away.

Did the same with my lease, got a price online and asked the local dealer to bid but he couldn't get anywhere near, even though the lease was through Volvo/Santander. I'd have thought the pricing would have been standardised across all dealers but seems not.

Hi

I totally get all of the above, and wasn't criticising the desire to get a good deal in the slightest.

The point I was more making, is that if there are dealers out there (us included) who are offering you a good discount "off the bat" without having to negotiate at all with us then why not give us the business? Often we can do all the paperwork by email including finance documents, etc, and deliver the vehicle to your front door. We even have product trained drivers who give a full handover, exactly like you'd get at the dealership, so the experience (other than not going to the showroom) is exactly the same....

Kind Regards

Marc

In theory we all have the same margins available... its a case of how much of it we are willing to give off straight away/advertise and how much the dealer will make you "work for it".......I prefer trying to be up front and not get into a back and forth as its the way I'd want to be dealt with :)

Kind Regards
Marc

I remember when I went to the showroom to get some figures for a XC60 (my current vehicle). After sitting down we started to 'play the game', doing all the maths he said that will be £XXXXX, the full list price. I knew full well that 20% discounts were easily achieved at the time but he never mentioned it. After some toing and froing I dropped the discounts into the conversation. He simply said "if you don't ask you don't get". I firmly believe if I had been daft enough to pay full list he would of happily taken it.

Funny thing is I had never seen this guy at the showroom before, and the next time I went to place my order he had left.

Unfortunately none of the dealers who Carwow listed for me with the XC40 were local, and I didn't want to have to travel to get them to assess my part exchange, drop off paperwork and the like, and I also like having a local number plate.

My dealer is in a small area where there are various other car dealers, so Volvo was just one of a number of places I visited on the same day to sit in the cars, take a test drive and try and make a decision. I could have saved a bit more money with a Carwow dealer, but as I was sitting in the showroom about 20 miles away from home, convenience won out. They were probably on the borderline of me saying "Sorry, not good enough. Thanks for your time" and leaving.

Having said that though, I'm not hugely impressed with the dealer so far. The salesperson was great on the day, but I've sent a few emails about winter tyre/wheel packages and after an initial response, they've not replied to any of my emails (either the salesperson or the person from parts). Neither have two of the other local dealers who I've emailed on the same topic (one didn't respond at all, and the other responded to my initial email but not the follow-up). Sadly I suspect the original dealer would respond negatively to any attempt on my part to cancel and get my deposit back.

Edit: another factor was that the day I ordered the car was the first time I'd seen the car close-up and in the flesh and the first time I'd sat in one and driven it. I didn't know before entering the showroom whether I wanted to buy that particular car. I must have spent between two and three hours test driving a XC40 and an XC60. This may sound a bit lame, but I personally think it would be a bit rude of me to turn around and say "Well, thanks for your time, I wasn't going to buy from you as I can get it cheaper elsewhere". I didn't want to drive for several hours (as opposed to 45 minutes) to a cheaper only to find I didn't like the car and had wasted my time.

The other option is to join the Volvo owners club and for £35 get the affinity discount. So in addition to the dealer discount you get the discount on the car from Volvo plus free paint. In my case I just ordered my new XC40 today - I got a discount of £3882.76, which is very good indeed.

All with no haggling.

Unfortunately, and I'm sure I'm not including you but an awful lot of dealers just say "nope, that's the price, no discount available", untill confronted with an online 'discounted' price. At which point it's usually "I don't know where they managed to get that price from, wait till I go and speak with the sales manager / director" upon which they come back after ten minutes and say "wow! We've never done this before! But we've spoken to head office and we've managed to shave it to the bone", and bingo, there's a discount. As I say, not aimed at you, but the number of times it's happened it can't be a coincidence.

My salesperson said to me that they'd never given anyone a discount on the XC40 before. She was quite insistent that this was the case. I just nodded and kept my mouth shut. This was after she'd wandered off for ten minutes to talk to the manager.

many thanks for all the replies... makes for an interesting read from my side of the fence! :)

All the best