Haggling Could Save New-Car Buyers £4 Billion
Published: 18th March 2005
Britain’s car buyers stand to save a combined £4 billion a year if they haggle with the salesman the next time they buy a new car. The astonishing figure - enough to run the European space programme for two years - is revealed today in new research published by What Car? magazine.
Many car buyers fail to realise that the list price is only the starting point of negotiations. The What Car? Target Price, an achievable discounted price for every car on sale in the UK, proves that new-car buyers could save an average £1578.
The discounts available are getting bigger. What Car?’s 2004 survey disclosed an average saving of £1337 per car, compared with £1200 in 2003 and £997 in 2002. This is explained by slowing new-car sales, which fell last year and are predicted to slip again in 2005. As buyers stay away from showrooms, so salesmen have to lure customers in with bigger discounts.
What Car? editor David Motton said: ‘If you are buying a new car, you shouldn’t expect to pay the full asking price. Make clear to the salesman that you expect a discount and use the What Car? Target Price to indicate the level of discount you want.’
The biggest discounts are available at Citroen dealerships, which discount their cars by nearly a fifth, or an average of £2883 per vehicle. MG Rover offered the second-biggest discounts - buyers can save nearly 16%, or an average £2597, off every new MG Rover.
Top 10 most generous manufacturers
Position |
Manufacturer |
Avg discount |
Avg saving per car |
1 |
Citroen |
18.0% |
£2883 |
2 |
MG Rover |
15.8% |
£2597 |
3 |
Proton |
13.3% |
£1345 |
4 |
Renault |
12.9% |
£2118 |
5 |
Fiat |
12.9% |
£1642 |
6 |
Suzuki |
11.6% |
£1336 |
7 |
Ford |
10.5% |
£1795 |
8 |
Vauxhall |
9.9% |
£1572 |
9 |
Peugeot |
9.8% |
£1369 |
10 |
Alfa Romeo |
9.1% |
£1701 |
Not every manufacturer discounts their cars, however. The new MINI, built by BMW in Oxfordshire, remains so popular that dealers still refuse to discount a penny. The same is true of smart, the small-car brand, which offers no discounts. However, even quality brands such as Mercedes-Benz offer discounts; the biggest saving in the survey was £8223 off a £92,010 Mercedes S600 Limousine.
What Car?’s survey analysed the geographical spread of discounts offered by dealers around the UK. Salesmen in the North West were most generous, saving you an average of £418 more than the stingiest dealers, those in Wales.
Discounts by area
| Area | Avg discount |
Avg saving |
| North West | 8.9% |
£1740 |
| West Midlands | 8.8% |
£1726 |
| North East | 8.6% |
£1685 |
| East | 8.5% |
£1675 |
| East Midlands | 8.5% |
£1669 |
| South East | 8.3% |
£1632 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 8.2% |
£1608 |
| South West | 8.0% |
£1571 |
| Scotland | 8.0% |
£1569 |
| London | 7.6% |
£1484 |
| Wales | 6.7% |
£1322 |
