What Car? Q&A - What discount can car supermarkets give?

Q: What discount can I expect to get on a car from a car supermarket with a windscreen price of £7500? I have no part-exchange and will pay in full on the day.
Grace

A: It's impossible for us to tell, because you haven't told us what car you're looking at! Different models are available with different levels of discount.

Find the model you're considering online at whatcar.com or in the back of What Car? magazine. Beside the list price you'll find our Target Price, which is the most we think you should pay for the car.

If the supermarket's sticker price is already below that, you're probably only going to be able to chip off another £200 or so. If it's above our Target Price, you need to start haggling to bring it down to a more sensible cost.

Having no part-exchange and paying in full isn't going to help you get a bigger discount than someone who has a car to get rid of or needs finance. The supermarket has a chance to make cash out of you in both of these areas, especially when selling finance to you.

Many buyers will get a good discount on the list price, but they can let a dealer get a lot of it back by agreeing to a poor part-exchange value, or by not haggling over a better finance rate. You don't have to worry about focusing on these three 'cost-to-change' elements, so concentrate hard on haggling down the price for the best deal.