Approved Used - What would I expect?

[DaddyDarren]

Local dealer phoned me today with a possible car! Bit early yet as need to save a bit more.

I will be buying one from an approved dealer but I have a couple of questions.

Will the car come with a standard length warranty? How comprehensive will this be?

I'm terrible at negotiating. Any tips on how to approach this? What could I realistically expect? Goodies? Price reduction?

Thank you for assistance.

[Megatron]

So a couple of rules I always follow. No1 - the sales people are not your mate no matter how nice they pretend to be, once they have your money their helpfulness and interest generally evaporates. No.2 - discounts can be had...but not always in the conventional sense.

As has been pointed out there are things they get commission from i.e. finance so taking these products gives them more room to discount. Discounts are more achievable in terms of swapping wheels, adding accessories, servicing etc, than a cash discount - basically stuff they can do in house that would usually have a mark up that they would be passed on to the paying punter.

If you have a car to trade in the old trick is to discount the car and give you less for your part-ex. Jaguar are unlikely to knock anything off the sticker price; but I found that I could drive a very hard bargain with my part-ex cost, getting accessories thrown all of which amounted to many thousands of pounds.

It may also be worth taking finance (even if a cash buyer - you can pay it off early) to get more of a discount....but you have to account for all the fees etc. Get a third party finance quote (e.g. Oracle finance to get them to come down on their in house finance rate - works a treat!).

Used come with a 2yr warranty, and from other people's experience the standard of the cars can be quite variable. Best advice is drive a few, work out which options and colours are essential and wait for the right thing to come up. There are plenty around!

Megatron2016-12-05 21:04:07

[Tall dad]

Warranties are largely controlled by EU regs . You buy something valuable and you have a right to expect it to last. This is standard for all FType cars used or new.

Dealers are not good at altering prices on request. They seem to have a completely different mechanism for pricing.

I found an FType at westovers, Poole up for £51k. I told them that at 50k I would get the next train down and buy it. For two weeks they held fast, even when I told them I had found a different car and was less interested. One week later I had bought a different car and they had reduced their price to £48k where it still sits.

Go figure!

[V8FTW]

2 year approved used warranty

December is the best time of year to get a discount

Expect £1k max on a used car, unless they have priced it super super keen

If you can have a staring contest with them, they will blink around 22nd December

[DaddyDarren]

Thank you for your responses. Much appreciated.

Got much to consider!

[ajbh]

Alloy wheel insurance i found handy, the free coating did last a year but not worth £400 or whatever they want, mine came free, as did a service, tax and mats, and a hat (convertible!). I think i got about £250 off pure cash - paltry! Although it was june Like tel i walked away to no avail, although there is some completely random variation between dealers, i have no idea how they price them up! Do it! ajbh2016-12-05 23:31:55

[timlaw]

got a good price on my white xkr but they knew that was guaranteed profit.

2 year warranty is excellent.

might not move much on price but you can get other stuff - at the £49k price (which was fair for the spec of the car) I got thrown in alloy wheel cover, a tracker fitted, 6 months road tax, a full service and 2 front tyres.

[Tel]

If you have a good relationship with the dealer, I would be inclined to explain the situation that you can't quite afford it yet, but give a price that you can afford. That way he knows where he needs to be to get shot of the vehicle - At the end of the day, that would rather clear the stock, not making quite the margin they do, than have them sit around looking sad at this time of year.

If you manage to work this, then I wouldn't be concerned about extras...but more interested in service history and condition.

Warranty is a must IMO.

[MOz]

Jaguar Approved Used Cars have to meet a certain standard and criteria. That includes min tread depths on all tyres. Don't let them fob you off with throwing tyres "into a deal" that should be done anyway.

It should be excellent condition-wise. My car had far too many stone chips on it to be acceptable and as a result the dealer is paying £800 towards repairs and respray.

Please learn my lesson. Don't trust any dealer distance selling. My "mint" car was far from it but I trusted the dealer and travelled 7 hrs with an overnight stay to be confronted by a car that was far from it. That said, the part ex offered was miles more than others had offered and all the issues have been sorted.

If you are not happy with anything mention involving Jaguar CRC and that should have any main dealer capitulating if the issues are unreasonable or outside the standards required pretty quickly. The penalties for a dealer found to be wanting by Jag are severe.

That said, the warranty is superb and is exactly the same as a brand new car gets. MOz2016-12-06 10:32:25

[PaulMc]

In addition to MOz's response above, read my experience here http://www.ftypeownersclub.co.uk/forum/hello_topic1172.html#.WElsLNKLRhE

Never trust a dealer or salesman. Do your homework and leg work yourself.

Great cars once in one though :)