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Posts: 3025

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Q: Has anyone bought a new car in China ?

I am seriously considering buying a new car here presently.  My GF and I have visited a couple of dealerships and seen a few, and I automatically in my mind convert the amount of Rmb quoted by salesperson into dollars, and to my surprise it is about average with car prices back home, or sometimes higher.

 

It seems a norm that "window" price shown on sticker at window IS the price to sell, and many salespersons loose interest in talking to you if you ask for a discount.  Yet, back home, the window price is the beginning of a conversation, not the end.  Normally you can get from 10 to 15 % discount at the beginning of a model year, and maybe even more at the end of it, when newer models are about ready to come out.  

 

We saw a new 5 person, four door sedan, with radio, CD player, GPS, retractable sun-roof, A/C-heater, etc that we both like it.  The asking (or window) price was 159, 999 Rmb.  During the talking, it came out that it was really a 2011 model, not 2012, yet no discounts allowed.  The only concession was to give 20,000 kuai down payment and finance the rest.

 

What has been your experience in China ?.  Are new cars discounted as everything else ?.  When is the best time to buy a new car ?.  I do know for example that buying A/C units in winter months will get you excellent prices, is the same for new cars ?.

 

Any information will be highly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

11 years 43 weeks ago in  Shopping - China

 
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Posts: 2409

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I have bought a couple of new cars here.  They will bargain, but it takes hours of negotiations to get them to start to bend.  One tactic that worked well for me was to bargain for features on the car rather than discounts in price.

 

The best time to buy is after (or sometimes during) a major holiday.  That is when they have their biggest sales.

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 127

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Unless you have a lot of money I think the best bet is to buy cars manufactured in China. The prices are usually reasonable. The smaller new cars like F0 runs around 40k RMB fully loaded. Kia and Skoda are good options too. Kia Soul runs around 80k RMB fully loaded. I went around looking for a car. The model of the car i wanted basically depended on:  "what purpose you want the car for. For basic grocery runs and driving around the city Suzuki swift look like a good option". Only changed my mind getting one was because I heard its hard to get a Beijing numberplate.

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 517

Shifu

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first do your research and find out which car you want/can afford...

i use this webpage often (use google translate)http://car.auto.ifeng.com/

get basic idea of pricing etc.. then go to the manufacturers webpage to find more detailed configuaration and list price...

 

once you choose your options... go to verious shops... not one... then compare prices.. tell them u get less there here bla bla... go for the best offer... most cases smaller shops give max discount as they dont have much added costs.. and very badly want business...

 

well... from my experinces (bought 3 cars already) proces can be ~15-20000 lesser than list price in manufacturers website.. for 200-300k cars.. Older models are expected to have more discount... especially when the next model is due very soon.. bt again in that case you would also wait and buy the latest model...

 

good luck

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Cars are cheaper in the USA than Canada, i don't think there is any 5 passenger cars we can buy for $10,000 , more like $17,000.

 At home it's different, cars are maintained, I've heard Chinese don't look after the maintenance. I never buy new any more. I'll buy a two or three year old car with low mileage for about a third the price of a new one. I have a friend with a car lot. Before I left I almost bought an Acura, sweet car, but bigger than what I like and no sense leaving a car sit for along time. Mine needed a brake job. 

 If I was buying here I would want a Toyota or something with some quality in the build. I don't like Kia. Suzuki maybe.

mike695ca:

did you just say Suzuki and " quality" in the same sentence???

11 years 43 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

better than Kia , or Hyundi or any thing Chinese built

11 years 43 weeks ago
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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
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Thanks for the input, I will continue looking, but hearing that window price is not the final price confirms my suspicious that my GF and me must visit dealers separate.  Me first to select car and her second to get a better price.

And please, do not get me wrong.  Basically the car will not be for city driving, parking here is very difficult to find, and we both have electrical bikes for city driving.  The car will be mostly for week end driving, and vacation trips.  And I do know that they are cheaper, but small cars like a Chery QQ worries me from a safety point of view.  Front end collisions are not rare in Chinese highways, so I would like a Detroit iron in front of me just for the sake of safety.  And my GF, her daughter, her mama and me are four persons, plus baggage and incidentals makes me feel that a four door sedan is our best bet.  But somehow I do hate to pay window price on any car I buy, especially if it will be a cash transaction.  Many thanks to all.

tomcatflyer:

Hi Expat, I believe you are in Nanning, but if not my story may still be of interest. We looked around before Christmas last year at buying a new car. The only Chinese car I saw that I liked was the Emgrand, it is the first car built to meet the European safety standards. My brother in law advised against buying any Chinese car as the quality is not good, in his opinion. We finally narrowed the choice down to the Buick Excel and went to the main dealer in Baisha Avenue. A friendly company to deal with and they offered a 10% discount on the ticket price without us even asking for it. At a cost of around 115,000rmb it was a good buy. In the end though we decided against buying a car as you have already said it is not that practical in the city and for the times we do want to travel further afield we decided just to fly or take the train.

11 years 43 weeks ago
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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 960

Shifu

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I am not sure about the Chinese models but Kia, Hyundai etc now all have 5 star NCAP safety ratings (the highest available) in Australia and are constantly up there with the most reliable cars on the road. I also have at present a Holden Cruze sold here as a Chevrolet Cruze and I have the diesel version. A very safe reliable and economical car with plenty of features at a reasonable price.

Detroit iron for safety is a fallacy as far as I am concerned.

 

PS don't worry about leather interior as you will be covering it with some LV seat covers in China anyway. See if you can talk them into giving you some much needed extras like the auto cologne for the front shelf, the Chinese mirror ornament, a few nodding bobble heads and most importantly a sticker of some rally course for the back window.

bat22:

i am not sure what you are asking unless its a lock for the lug nuts if thats the case its not needed i live in a very safe complex with cameras and security gaurds monitoring them 

11 years 43 weeks ago
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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1153

Shifu

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RIGHT MOW CAR SALES ARE DOWN AND THEY HAVE A 45 TO 60 DAY SUPPLY AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET A DISCOUNT AROUND 15 TO 20 PER CENT RIGHT NOW I AM BUYING ONE TOMMOROW THIS WILL BE MY 2ND CAR I PURCHASED SOLD MY LAST ONE 2 YEARS AGO WHEN I WENT BACK TO THE STATES NOW I HAVE BEEN BACK 7 WEEKS AND WILL BUY ANOTHER IF THEY LOSE INTEREST THIER ARE MANY OTHER DEALERS AND CARS SO DONT BE AFFRAID TO WALK AWAY 

woody:

A more important question for you bat22 may be. Where does one find the caps lock key?

11 years 43 weeks ago
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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1153

Shifu

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i just went to the auto center and looked at appx 50 diffrent mfgs and if you get a chance look at the s6 suv from bdy it was very nice looking and the clutch felt very smooth they are asking around 130  but we settled on 108 and thats with all the options sun roof screen on the dash and this has many options 1 is push the button and you get a view of everything behind you whenbacking up push another button its a tv screen push another button its a radio etc very sharp looking

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11 years 43 weeks ago
 
Posts: 887

Shifu

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Did you end up buying a new car, Happy?

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10 years 29 weeks ago
 
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I have bought a few cars here. The high level ones - BMW,Audi,Mercedes Benz - are now made in China so the prices are much better than before. You can tell the difference if you look on the back of the car and you will see Chinese characters showing the car was made in China. The level of service from these people is generally good as its supervised by the German company.

 

Middle level cars like Toyota, Honda, Mazda etc are made in China and copy the ones made in Japan. I had a big Honda which is really a copy of the American Acura car. I bought it new and took it back for its first service after the free service provided by the dealer. The bill was a couple of thousand RMB and I asked to see the car before I paid the bill. The service reception staff were looking at me in a strange way as I asked this. I asked them what they had actually done for the money I was paying. They said they had fully serviced the car and the checklist was in English and Chinese. So I asked them to lift the bonnet of the car so I could look inside. There were no hand marks on the engine and the engine was dirty. So I asked if they had lifted the bonnet to do the service. They said the computer does the service??!!!  

 

They hadn't actually done anything!!  I didn't pay the bill and asked for the manager.he was apologetic and said there was some misunderstanding. Sure . They wanted paid for doing nothing.

 

Be very careful in China when buying a car or having a car serviced as you will be cheated.

 

I don't know about local Chinese cars but I would suspect that they are worse.

 

 

 

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10 years 25 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I just bought a brand new 2012 Mazda 2, happy! smiley

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10 years 25 weeks ago
 
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I am driving Chevrolet Cruze 2012.  Nice car good features. affordable price. 140k Rmb Fully loaded.  But big cities parking is a big problem and those traffic jams.. Small cities are better. Be careful park your car in a way that even if someone want to hit your car he cant reach it. Stupid drivers will hit your car in parking and insurance company would would compensate you with 70% of the total amount.. 

 

 

best of luck!

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10 years 24 weeks ago
 
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