New car discounts fall as prices go up

31 August 2010

Discounts have fallen over past year
Average discount £248 less than a year ago
60 deals for 60-plate cars

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New car discounts have dropped by over 12% over the past 12 months, while most list prices have shot up.

According to the What Car? Target Price (What Car?'s monthly mystery shop of thousands of new car deals), the average discount car buyers should be able to haggle off a new car this September is £1779, £248 less than September 2009 when the average discount was £2027.

However, there are still some great deals out there for anyone willing to do a bit of research before they buy. What Car?'s deal-hunters have been sniffing out the best deals on 60 new cars to coincide with today's 60-plate change. Savings on the 60 most searched for cars on whatcar.com total more than £158,000.

Car buyers rate a big discount ahead of any other incentive, according to a poll on whatcar.com – 58% 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'.

Read 60 deals on 60-plate cars