Haggle hard, and you too can get 31% off a brand new BMW 7-Series.

Haggle hard and you can save 31% on a BMW

What Car? Target Price insight reveals the most you should pay for new cars

The biggest new car discount in Britain is for a BMW 7 Series, exclusive research by What Car’s Target Price team can reveal.

The saving of £18,650 was negotiated by What Car?'s mystery shoppers and represents an enormous 31% saving off the car's list price.

The reason for the huge discount is that the BMW 7 Series is about to be replaced by a newer model, but What Car?'s Target Price research reveals that it is just one of several double-digit discounts achievable on BMWs.

As a result, the premium car manufacturer sits third among all car makers for the overall average discount available on its cars. Others significant BMW discounts include a £10,719 saving off a BMW 640d SE, which is available for £52,411 against a list price of £63,130, and a £2056 saving on a BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics, which can be bought for £26,719 despite a list price of £28,775.

The biggest average discounts across a car maker's range are available on Volvos (14.7%), Renaults (13.6%) and BMWs (13.2%). Across all sectors and manufacturers, the average dealer discount stood at a 12-month high of 10.3%.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: “For months now, we’ve been told that the increased new car sales volumes mean that discounts will disappear, but the insight offered by our Target Price team shows that you can still get a healthy amount of money off if you are prepared to haggle.

“BMW is, rightly, perceived as a quality brand, so it may surprise new car buyers that they can bag some of the brand’s most luxurious offerings for much less than the list price. The fact is that the 7 Series is due to be replaced soon, so there are incredible discounts available. Using Target Price means that you can be bold when you step into the dealership because you know what you can demand.”

Discounts of cars in the luxury segment are particularly strong at the moment, with an average saving of 17% off the list price across the sector. This is an increase of 75% on the same time last year and is also largely down to BMW 7 Series discounts jumping from 9% to 29.3% on average.

City cars, small family cars and coupés, where demand is stronger, have all experienced a dip in discounting but cars in the small SUV sector, which includes the BMW X1, Peugeot 3008 and Suzuki SX4, can be snapped up for an average of 8.4% less than the list price.

Biggest discounts by car sector

City car

Suzuki Alto SZ3

List price £8299

What Car? Target Price £6999

Save £1300

Small car

Fiat Punto 1.2 8v Pop 3dr

List price £10,175

What Car? Target Price £8220

Save £1955

Family car

Citroen C4 1.6 HDi 90 VTR+

List price £18.105

What Car? Target Price £14,674

Saving £3431

Coupé

BMW 6 Series 640i SE Gran Coupé

List price £62,375

What Car? Target Price £48,277

Save £14,098

Luxury car

BMW 7 Series 740i SE

List price £61,675

What Car? Target Price £43,025

Save £18,650

Estate car

Volvo V70 D4 SE Nav S/S

List price £33,120

What Car? Target Price £25,791

Save £7329

MPV

Vauxhall Zafira 1.7 CDTi 110 Ecoflex Design

List price £14,135

What Car? Target Price £9995

Save £4140

Small SUV

Peugeot 3008 1.6THP 156 Allure

List price £21,750

What Car? Target Price £18,177

Large SUV

Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 200 SE

List price £40,190

What Car? Target Price ££32,242

Save £7948

Executive car

Mercedes-Benz C-Class C220 CDI Executive SE

List price £31,130

What Car? Target Price £25,990

Save £5140

Convertible

Renault Mégane 1.2 RCe 130 Dynamique

List price £23,800

What Car? Target Price £19,971

Save £3829

Hot hatch

Skoda Fabia 1.4 TSI 180 vRS

List price £17,555

What Car? Target Price £15,369

Save £2186