So I was at the feed store earlier and spotted a second hand Landrover Freelander for sale at the garage opposite (product placement at its best
).
Here it is by the way - sticker price £10,998:
Anyway, I got chatting to the salesman and he offered me a test drive, accompanied by one of their junior staff - ok, I've got time, so why not?
I'm not crazy about the car (the gearbox was notchy as hell for one thing), but I don't hate it either. Anyway, I'm then taken back into the showroom for the inevitable sales negotiation session. And could I get him to knock anything off the sticker price? Could I hell!
I then asked about loan terms, since I know they make finance commission..... Nope. "Our prices are already guaranteed to be the lowest", etc etc, repeat ad nauseum. No road tax, no free mats and not even a full tank of fuel offered!
I even tried the line of "You're offering me a trade-in of £1500 for my old car, but the retail price is nearer £2500, so if there's £1000 margin in my trade in, then surely you can do *something* on eleven grand's worth of Freelander, since there's no way you paid that much for it?". Nope. Not a sausage. "The auto game has changed my friend. There's no margin in anything any more, and I'd be losing money if I knocked anything off at all".
So anyway, I'm chalking it up as half an hour's free negotiation training, but can this really be right? Has anybody had more luck than me at this kind of place recently, or did you get the same story?
Womble.