Finance
Nearly £30 million in savings available on new cars this month
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on August 21, 2018
6 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Gbaf News
Posted on August 21, 2018
6 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
A whopping £28.5 million in new car savings is available this month, according to What Car? Target Price.
The savings are the total achievable if all 7500 cars analysed by the consumer title’s mystery shoppers were bought at its Target PCP Price and with the best available finance deposit contribution.
In total, the possible savings amount to the same that Everton recently paid for defender Yerry Mina or the most expensive property sale recorded by the Land Registry, for a home in Kensington & Chelsea, last month.
In general, shoppers opting for manufacturer finance deals, such as Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) agreements, benefit significantly more than cash buyers; shoppers paying cash can expect to negotiate an average 8% discount – or £2545 – off their car’s list price, whereas those signing up to PCP deals can get another £1478 in deposit allowances. †
And deals in the booming SUV market are finally becoming more readily available; in particular, discounts in the large SUV sector have leapt 23% in the last 12 months, with savings of nearly 10% possible on even prestige models such as the Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLS and Volvo XC60.
The average discount on a large SUV now stands at £3087, up from £2502 this time last year.
What Car?’s New Car Buying website uses mystery shoppers to highlight the best new car deals, setting a Target Price as the most you should pay for a car. It then links online users with retailers willing to match or beat that Target Price.
What Car? editor, Steve Huntingford, said: “The total amount of money that buyers could save if every single car was sold at Target Price is staggering and, tellingly, 37% of the total savings possible – or £10.5m – come from finance deposit contributions.
“It’s significant that bigger discounts are also now becoming available in the SUV sector – the strength of the SUV market in recent years has meant that dealers have been able to protect their margins, and discounts on large SUVs are still the second lowest of all segments.
“But savvy shoppers can now get good deals on even high-end cars such as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Jaguar F-Pace.”
Overall, Citroen, Seat and Volkswagen are the manufacturers offering the top average cash discounts.
Top 10 manufacturer discounts in the last month†
| Model | Discount (%) |
| Fiat Tipo 1.4 Easy | 28.8% |
| Vauxhall Astra 1.4i 16v SE | 23.2% |
| Seat Toledo 1.0 TSI110 SE | 22.7% |
| Mercedes-Benz SL 400 AMG Line 9G-Tronic | 22.6% |
| Vauxhall Mokka X 1.4T EcoTEC Active | 21.5% |
| Volkswagen Passat Estate 1.4 TSI 150 S | 21.0% |
| Citroen C4 Spacetourer models | 20.5% |
| Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium Navigation (prior model) | 20.1% |
| Volkswagen Golf SV models | 19.0% |
| Volkswagen Touran models | 18.3% |
A whopping £28.5 million in new car savings is available this month, according to What Car? Target Price.
The savings are the total achievable if all 7500 cars analysed by the consumer title’s mystery shoppers were bought at its Target PCP Price and with the best available finance deposit contribution.
In total, the possible savings amount to the same that Everton recently paid for defender Yerry Mina or the most expensive property sale recorded by the Land Registry, for a home in Kensington & Chelsea, last month.
In general, shoppers opting for manufacturer finance deals, such as Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) agreements, benefit significantly more than cash buyers; shoppers paying cash can expect to negotiate an average 8% discount – or £2545 – off their car’s list price, whereas those signing up to PCP deals can get another £1478 in deposit allowances. †
And deals in the booming SUV market are finally becoming more readily available; in particular, discounts in the large SUV sector have leapt 23% in the last 12 months, with savings of nearly 10% possible on even prestige models such as the Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLS and Volvo XC60.
The average discount on a large SUV now stands at £3087, up from £2502 this time last year.
What Car?’s New Car Buying website uses mystery shoppers to highlight the best new car deals, setting a Target Price as the most you should pay for a car. It then links online users with retailers willing to match or beat that Target Price.
What Car? editor, Steve Huntingford, said: “The total amount of money that buyers could save if every single car was sold at Target Price is staggering and, tellingly, 37% of the total savings possible – or £10.5m – come from finance deposit contributions.
“It’s significant that bigger discounts are also now becoming available in the SUV sector – the strength of the SUV market in recent years has meant that dealers have been able to protect their margins, and discounts on large SUVs are still the second lowest of all segments.
“But savvy shoppers can now get good deals on even high-end cars such as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Jaguar F-Pace.”
Overall, Citroen, Seat and Volkswagen are the manufacturers offering the top average cash discounts.
Top 10 manufacturer discounts in the last month†
| Model | Discount (%) |
| Fiat Tipo 1.4 Easy | 28.8% |
| Vauxhall Astra 1.4i 16v SE | 23.2% |
| Seat Toledo 1.0 TSI110 SE | 22.7% |
| Mercedes-Benz SL 400 AMG Line 9G-Tronic | 22.6% |
| Vauxhall Mokka X 1.4T EcoTEC Active | 21.5% |
| Volkswagen Passat Estate 1.4 TSI 150 S | 21.0% |
| Citroen C4 Spacetourer models | 20.5% |
| Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium Navigation (prior model) | 20.1% |
| Volkswagen Golf SV models | 19.0% |
| Volkswagen Touran models | 18.3% |
Explore more articles in the Finance category
