How to haggle your way to saving money

For as long as there have been sellers there have been buyers who don’t want to pay full price, haggling their way to a discount. Often now as well if you are not haggling you are getting mugged off and paying way above the odds. So we are going to go through how to haggle your way to saving money, and the best services to haggle with. As well as good stories from others about how they got on with their haggling and saved some more money.

What is haggling?

Haggling is just a negotiation between a buyer and seller about the price of a product or service, with each side trying to get the best deal. Often reserved for buying a second-hand car or in an old market or car boot sale. But there are lots more places where haggling is not only worthwhile for getting the best deal but nowadays is a necessity. 

My methods on how to haggle?

There is no secret trick to haggling, but many still have that inward British awkwardness about them that prevents them in face-to-face situations bringing that price down. However, this is not so much a problem on online transactions such as eBay or Facebook, where if you have ever sold anything, then you have probably been greeted with monstrous amounts of ridiculous offers that are far below what a reasonable person would expect to pay. 

Rule 1: Be respectful 

Therefore making my first rule in haggling, is being respectful, you can very quickly lose the trust and respect of the seller by going in with an absolutely ridiculous offer, firstly they won’t accept, secondly they will quickly realise you don’t know what you are doing and will lose the incentive to trade with you.

We have all seen those offers on the apprentice that immediately gets the other person’s backs up Don’t be like this.

Rule 2: Build a rapport

More tips that feel like they come from the apprentice, but people are much more likely to negotiate with you if they get on well with you, build up that rapport talk naturally about things. Be friendly and polite. This works well in lots of fields, whether it be informal facebook deals, or with the car dealership. 

Rule 3: Be confident

Now this is my biggest struggle, I will go in with the intention of trying to see if there is any wiggle room on the new car or product, and it will be very clear that I am not confident in this negotiation, and I will make a vain attempt at asking for discount and will get nothing. 

One such way to appear confident is by asking the questions, not “can i have a discount?” but “what is the best price you can do?” Making the buyer think about a discount is a subtle change that can make a big difference

Rule 4: Be prepared to walk away

This is important in all negotiations, I remember going with my girlfriend to go pick something up, with the expectation of me getting a discount. I was given very strict instructions to get it for a fair bit less than what was being advertised but with the second intention of that no matter what we are getting it.

These two things cannot be, if you are not prepared to walk away from a deal, then you will not be able to haggle well at all. As with all things doing your research going in with what your minimum is and being prepared to stick to that is so important. 

This include when negotiating with sky or virgin etc over your tv and internet packages, if you are not prepared to walk away and stop using the service you will not get very far.

For more haggling tips this article from which is well worth a read

Haggling success stories and where you need to haggle

So like I said earlier haggling is often seen as done off Facebook marketplace or in market stalls and car boot sales, and the skills and rules we have talked about our imperative here as well. You also know going into these situations that people are more likely to expect a negotiation so more often than not have already set in their mind where they want to go you just need to find where that is. Then you both walk away happy. But what about outside of these informal selling settings where else should you haggle?

If your tv and internet package is up for renewal then don’t forget to haggle. 

It is very easy with these and other services to think the price is the price, and more often than not you can buy or renew online with consummate ease and therefore many people don’t haggle. But particularly if your current contract is up for renewal don’t just carry on and accept the price hike. Give them a call and tell them you are looking around at other providers you would like to stay but only if the price is right. 

You will likely be shared words of ‘loyal customer’ or vip status or something of the like. regardless there is now wiggle room, they want to keep your business they don’t want you going to an alternative provider and therefore will do what they can to keep you. 

Same rules again, do your research, know your price and be prepared to walk away. 

Emma from Bee Money Savvy says she has saved as well with three and virgin by getting the deals matched

Car insurance 

For car insurance well simply you just have to haggle or at least shop around. Every insurer I have had a renewal for the last 5 years has put my premium up. Then equally every time I do a comparison site search the same company is a lot cheaper. 

All you need to do is call them to discuss your renewal. They are counting on you being lazy for them to be able to put the price up Don’t – go in threaten to leave and when asked why because the premium is a lot cheaper elsewhere, use your comparison site search to bargain with. Normally every time I have done this the offer has been considerably lower than even the lowest I could find on price comparison sites. Once they didn’t budge so I cancelled.

Holidays

Others have also had success, haggling on their holiday with the travel agents. Hayley from Miss many pennies has saved money by going to them with deals they found themselves to get a better discount

How to haggle for a new car

This is prime haggling territory when getting a new car, and this often depends on how eager the salesman are for your business, obviously, they always want your business but sometimes are better than others.

Like when the plates are changing in September and <arch (just before for new cars on old plates, and for part exchange after the plates change as there is an abundance of second hand cars to shift. 

There are many opportunities for haggling stages, the part exchange of your old car, would elsewhere offer you more, the price of the car itself. 

Then we need to talk extras, little things that can all add up. Car mats, fuel, free servicing and much more are all possible. 

Overall we all need to embrace our haggling skills, if we don’t sellers will take the Michael, so we need to keep them on their toes. But remembering the golden rules, being polite and doing your own research is the most important. Know the product well and what is reasonable and you will know if you are getting a good deal or not. 

Love to know what success or failures you have had with haggling in the past, pop them in the comments or dm me on Twitter