DRIVERS putting new 60-reg cars on the road this week are likely to have paid a high sticker price for their cars and won’t have been able to haggle the price down as much as they might a year ago.
According to influential motoring magazine What Car?, new car discounts have dropped by over 12 per cent over the past 12 months, while most list prices have shot up.
According to the magazine’s latest Target Price survey, the average discount car buyers should be able to haggle off a new car this September is £1,779, £248 less than September 2009 when the average discount was £2,027.
However, there are still some great deals out there for anyone willing to do a bit of research before they buy.
Volkswagen and Auidi models in particular are being heavily discounted in an attempt to boost new registration plate sales.
Three of the best deals uncovered by the latest What Car? survey were on the VW Golf, Polo and Tiguan with savings of £2,530, £1,383 and £3,403 respectively.
Meanwhile, one on-line retailer was offering a massive £12,084 saving on the outgoing Audi A8 3.0 TDI SE quattro, down from almost £55,000 to £42,751.
Car buyers rate a big discount ahead of any other incentive, according to a poll on Whatcar.com – 58 per cent of car buyers would rather have a bigger discount than an extended warranty. Low rate finance was a bigger temptation than long warranty cover, too.
Steve Fowler, What Car? editor-in-chief, commented: “Even though discounts are down, it still pays to sniff out the best car deals online before you go shopping. You might not want to shop online, but sticking a print-out under a car dealer’s nose is a sure-fire way to get them to up their own discount.”
Other deals uncovered by What Car? included £3,654 off the price of a Ford Focus ZetecS 1.8, five-door, £4,325 off a Jaguar XF 3.0D Luxury and a whopping £9,111 off the normal asking price of a Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 down to £26,219 from over £35,000.