What is a Car Broker?
Typically a car broker represents you in negotiations with a new car dealer. A lot of buyers don’t want to spend the time running from one dealer to another and they simply accept the ‘best price on a new car’ that a dealer offers. And the dealer will, of course, tell you that this is their best price.
How Many Dealers Do I contact?
Generally, I ask up to 7 or 8 dealers to tender for your business. Just like a government department like a state government, local council or large company (Nestle, Coca-Cola, National Australia Bank) would.
The dealers submit their offer knowing that they only get one chance to impress me with their best price. The submissions are always amazing. Th difference between the highest and lowest sometimes runs to thousands of dollars.
I select the dealer who’s provided the best price and discuss this with my customer. Only when they’re happy that I’ve got the best price on their new car do we place an order. Usually, the dealer will deliver the new car directly to the customer from their showroom or it will be sent to me for delivery. The choice is yours.
What About a Trade In?
At Car Business, I can handle trade-ins too. We ask the dealers who tender for the new car to price the trade in too. Here’s a recent example of two situations.
Matt wanted to purchase a Mazda 3 SP25 GT Manual Hatch. The retail value, drive away on that car is around $35,000. Car Business managed to purchase the same car for $28, 123.90 and with our fee Matt paid $25, 588, a saving of over $6000. And how do we know? Another customer, (looking for a new Holden HSV) just paid $35,000 for the same car – but he did it himself, without our assistance
Trade In Value Example –
2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited. Average dealer trade value – $16500. We achieved $22,000
2014 Volkswagen Tiguan 118TSI. Average dealer trade value – $14000. We achieved $16000
There’s always the option of selling the trade-in privately through one of the online companies and I always help my customers who want to go down that road. There’s an art to writing a good advertisement and taking good photos. The better it looks to the prospective buyer, the easier it is to sell. And I’ll make recommendations as to the achievable price.
And Finance?
This is the part of their business that franchise new car dealers make a LOT of their money from. A new car dealer makes on average $2500 for every new retail car that they sell. For a finance customer that increases to $2800, so you can see that if you’re buying a new car and financing it with the dealer, you’re contributing over $5000 towards the dealerships monthly gross profit. Dealers will typically charge around 10%-15% for finance. Through my association with various finance brokers, I’m achieving 6%-8% – a very substantial saving.
Car Insurance?
Car insurance is a very competitive business. My personal car is insured through RACQ Insurance, but I find that most of them are fairly close in their quotes. My suggestion is that you stay away from Coles or Woolworths – I find them too expensive on new business but given that they guarantee to beat any insurer on a renewal premium, you can investigate at that time. If you’re shopping around for the best price, consider RACQ, SUNCORP, ALLIANZ and BUDGET DIRECT. If you’d like to get to their sites, I’ve added a link to each. Just click on their name to get there.
Are Car Brokers Licensed?
At Car Business, I hold a motor dealers license, a corporation license and I’m a member of the Motor Trades Association of Queensland (MTAQ). Besides coming under the Office of Fair Trading guidelines, through the MTAQ you have access to the fidelity fund if I ever do the wrong thing by you. I also have $20,000,000 in public liability through my company insurer.
Most people who work as Car Brokers can’t offer you this assurance and comfort. People with no experience at all in the motor industry can hang their sign and go on about the business of selling cars. Most of these people have arrangements with their preferred dealers and are paid under the table. You’ll see them advertise fee free purchasing – you don’t pay, the dealer pays us.
That might be the case, but how much is the dealer paying them and are they really shopping around for the best price or a price that you’re happy to pay. A few years ago, at Northstar Chrysler Jeep Dodge, we had to pay Private Fleet, probably Australia’s largest car broker around $2000 in commissions. They asked for and received a very sharp quote from us and then added a massive margin, which the customer funded through us back to them
At Car Business, I’m very transparent with my charges. I charge the supplying dealer $250 and my customer between 1% and 2% depending on the price of the car and the amount of time I need to spend to achieve the best price on a new car.
If I’m referred a customer from an existing relationship that fee is set at 1% or $250 whichever is the greater. I know that I can get the best price on a new car most of the time, but in the odd case where I can’t my customer doesn’t pay any fee at all. I’ve got a 95% success rate so I’m prepared to take the risk.
Am I able to use Novated Leasing to purchase my car?
Novated Leasing has been around since around 1986 when the Federal Government introduced it for Commonwealth employees. Novated Leasing slowly spread to the states and local government bodies and thereafter to some of the bigger private companies. In 2017, most small, medium and large companies offer novated leasing to their staff. Many companies now prefer to provide a car allowance and give the employee the ability to purchase any brand and model rather than supply company cars as they did back in the day.
One of the largest Novated Leasing companies in Australia is REMSERV, a subsidiary of McMillan Shakespeare, and ASX listed company. REMSERV are VERY good at their business – but that is the business of making a lot of money for the parent company. Over the last few years, I’ve got involved with comparisons between REMSERV and another company, Statewide Novated Leasing.
Recently my daughter purchased a new Subaru and got prices from REMSERV, Salary Packing Australia and Statewide. Statewide Novated Leasing was able to save her almost $2500 on a comparable package. And don’t think you HAVE to use REMSERV. The REMSERV salespeople will try to convince you that you have to, but that isn’t the case. There are a few closed shops such as Catholic Education, but a recent ACCC ruling now considers that as Third Line Forcing and that’s illegal.
A recent quote received from REMSERV for an employee of Catholic Education found that they were quoting an interest rate of around 10.5% compared to a market available rate of between 7% and 8%. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it.
Where can I get my Car Serviced?
Service departments have always been keen to retain the service work on any new car. Buying it from dealer A and getting it serviced at dealer C is fine. You’ll be afforded the same level of service no matter which dealer of that brand you service with. If the brands’ service department is close to me, you can simply drop your car off to me, borrow one of my cars and then collect it in the afternoon when it’s finished. I don’t charge for courtesy cars, it’s just part of the service that I offer through Car Business.
Start The Journey
You can start the journey to find that better deal by visiting https://carbusiness.com.au/wpcbadmn//new-car-deals-car-business With Car Business acting as your trusted advisor you don’t pay any more to get expert help and advice
Find One
Bob Aldons is the owner and founder of The Car Guy, Car Business, and Genuine Spares. He helps people buy new cars as a Car Broker, Reviews Cars, reports on Car Industry Matters and Car Tech, is a Consumer Advocate for car problems and comments on the world at large. He’s spent the last forty years (almost) immersed in the automotive industry from salesman to the owner of a 7 brand multi-franchise dealership. Bob knows cars.
Find One
If you’re hunting around for a great price on your next new car, irrespective of brand, you should call the auto expert, Bob Aldons from Car Business. My company, a car Broker, Car Buyers Agent or Car Buyers Advocate based on the north side of Brisbane, will return your inquiry within 24 hours and make the process of buying a new car easy and stress-free. Are you tired of salesperson tricks? I protect you from the pressure exerted by car dealer’s salespeople. There isn’t any obligation – just a pretty significant saving.
You’re where? Seriously, my services are available for you in any Australian state and territory: from Darwin to Hobart, Cairns to Perth. Car Broker Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, and Darwin – I’m available when you need me to be.
Here’s an example
Matt wanted to purchase a Mazda 3 SP25 GT Manual Hatch. The retail value, drive away on that car is around $35,000. Car Business managed to purchase the same car for $28, 123.90 and with our fee Matt paid $25, 588, a saving of over $6000. And how do we know? Another customer, (looking for a new Holden HSV) just paid $35,000 for the same car – but he did it himself, without our assistance
If you’ve got a vehicle to trade, we have some clever ways to maximize the value – from used car dealers keen for your car to assist you to sell it privately. Finance and Insurance? We can handle that too, and we promise you will not be paying exorbitant dealer markups there either.
Trade In Value Example
2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited. Average dealer trade value – $16500. We achieved $22,000
2014 Volkswagen Tiguan 118TSI. Average dealer trade value – $14000. We achieved $16000
So, to get the best new car price, talk to others and then talk me. I’ve got the experience to handle the dealers and achieve the lowest new car prices. If you think you’re entitled to fleet pricing, I can often get better than that too. Whether you’re a small fleet or a large national fleet, Car Business will go to work and get that price down. Lower new car prices are my goal. So you’ll get the best prices from us rather than hoping you can help yourself.
If I can’t get you the best new car price, better than you can get yourself from a car dealer, we won’t charge you any fee. No Saving, No Fee. – that’s what you should expect from a car buying expert.
Car Business WILL save you money on your next new car purchase – guaranteed