Horse Prices and Haggling

AmyMay

AmyMay

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So to those of you who have recently bought a horse. How easy was the haggling process, and how much did you manage to get knocked off - if anything?

What is a good starting point?
 
I hate haggling, I am completely rubbish at it!

It depends on what the asking price for the horse is really as to how much you can haggle
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start real low .went to veiw pony recently selling 1800 offerred cheeky 1200 if she put saddle in agreed .but then because im tight i started to notice all things wrong with said pony changed my mind and said no thanks .desided it would cost me to much to fix
 
We recently sold one. This was the first time I sold a horse on my own, no parental presence. It was just sort of, he said he'd like the horse, I had given a price, he said, och but you'll take such and such, and since i had to travel you'll take 50 quid off. It wasn't really awkward at all, I got slightly less than I wanted, but the horse got a good home.
Always make sure you are pleasant to the seller!(not that you wouldn't be!). I'd go for 500 less (depending on the price) and see what they say.
 
An excellent starting point is it failing the vet, 40% off is what I've done and seen in the last 12 months! Offering cash is often a way to get the price down a bit, I would normally expect to knock between 10 and 20% off when buying.

ETS: Oh and not messing them about, I try and make a quick decision, and if it's not right I don't waste their or my time schooling their horse.
 
With thumper he was advertised for 2,500 and I got him for 2k as the vet brought up some potential problems (pigeon toes mainly) and I just said to the owner that it was the max I was prepared to pay for him. The next owner haggled me down to 2k as I had initially over-priced him in order to get my money back.

I didn't haggle at all for meg, she was worth the asking price imo and as I didn't have her vetted, and she was as good as gold when trying her, there was no reasons to try and get the price reduced.
 
My youngster I found in a round about way, told the breeder I had up to X amount, she said 'you'll need all of your budget for this one' so I paid X with no haggling although she did thrown in his rug!

I would pretty much always expect to put an offer in on a horse unless the seller had made it clear that they wouldn't drop.
Realistically I would go in at about 10-15% under, any more than that and I would probably mention a figure over the phone before wasting the sellers time during a viewing.
 
I can't even haggle at tack shop tale sales...I was told a good bit of advice to remember when horse shooping you can always upper your offer but never lower it so its always worth offering lower then asking, if they accept more money for tack, if they don't offer more.
 
i got nothing knocked off Archie's price, we did try but she wasnt having any of it!! I really wanted him (for some bizarre reason!) so we paid full price.
 
I got £100 off my most recent purchase. I have a horse to sell at the mo, i have set a figure in my head of what i will drop to if i have to!

I think most people price a horse slightly higher so there is some room for haggling.
 
Honestly, the only reason I have horses vetted is to get the price down. My mum was really cheeky once and offered £500 for a very nice 6yo mare that I think £4k was being asked for. I can't remember what it failed on, and the lady wouldn't accept it but she rang us up 2 weeks later! We'd already bought another by then, so we didn't get it, but it shows what people will accept when they have limited options. A mare I sold a couple of years ago I dropped the price by a third as I'd been offered cash and following day pick-up, and not many people had been interested in her, so I just cut my losses. They didn't vet her either.
 
I am crap at haggling, so I've not done it, although with Paris I got her from a wanted ad, and though owner wanted a bit more, my budget was stated in the ad and she said she'd be prepared to let her go for the amount I had.

All 3 horses that I've sold have gone for exactly £200 below their asking price - they offered me that money, it was fair and a good home, so I took it. I don't think I would be prepared to sell a horse for much more than 10% under though, and unless the horse is way overpriced to begin with, or fails the vet, I think its a bit cheeky to ask for much more off.
 
Does that approach often work? Assuming a 5 stage vetting costs a few hundred quid, does it usually get you a bargain even with the vetting money?
 
When we bought daughter's pony we offered £200 less than asking price (which was low anyway) and was accepted straight away. TBH, we would have paid the full price because she was just what we wanted, but my OH just loves to haggle!
 
Yes, the way I see it if it does pass it's a bonus and gives me some hope that it may pass when I sell it on, and if it doesn't (which seems to happen most of the time, I think vets are just so over-cautious) I've always knocked far more than the cost of the vetting off. I can't think of a horse I haven't bought because it's failed the vet if you see what I mean! My mum and I picked up a proven Primitive Rising broodmare for £750 because she was very parrot-mouthed, and that was deemed a fail, but her foal hadn't inherited it, and she was very easy to sell.

A pony on the yard where I am was sold this week, he's a proper PC pony, nice little jumper but not really BSJA material, he's 11, and the vet said that his hocks should be x-rayed because although there was no sign of any abnormal activity in the hocks, and he had excellent hind-leg conformation, because he would be jumping he might get spavins
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, and that constituted a fail. I mean how stupidly cautious is that?!
 
P is the only horse I have paid full price for, and that was because there was another full asking price offer on the table (I checked and it was genuine) but I did get her rugs thrown in
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Stan was £5k and I got him for £4.3k

Zante was £4500 and I got her for £3800 (Offered £3500 but we met there)
 
I didnt even ask if there was room for any movement on the asking price. Knowing the person selling, that is the price and that is it. My YO sneaked into tell me afterwards that the mare is worth alot more
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To be fair I wanted a safe horse that wouldnt splat me, for that, money becomes pretty irelevant IMO.

Hb x

Good Luck if you are looking.
 
I will pay the full price. But it has to be exactly what it said it is . I expect the same from buyers too i never overprice weather its 2k or 20k. Maybe i'm just bloody minded!!!
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I think people who are open to offers tend to state so as not to put of protential buyers. Dermots advert said 'or near offer' but he was definatly the right horse, stupid price for what he is as sellers wanted shoot of him before they took dealer they got him from to court, I knew there was alot of interest in him.... I was the second to call for him in five minuits of his advert going up, second to veiw but others where still thinking, there was a few weeks of viewing already planned by the weekend so and gave them full price that day.... They had to take the advert off because the phone wouldn't stop ringing....When I sold Liberty I accepted £500 less becuase although I had two others wanting her who offered higher they where the perfect home.
 
I got £450 off from £3950 on my boy - mainly coz he had been kicked the day their ad went out, so no-one except me wanted to see him. I said it would cost them that to keep him for another month and to re-advertise, so they gave in.

I waited till it was all better b4 I got him - spoke to the vet that treated him and had a 5* vetting.
 
depends for me really , if i think the horse is worth the money , a good buy etc i'll pay full , chances are if its not i won't want it anyway , if i see a horse i like but over budget i ask if they would consider an offer before even going to view so as not to waste anyones time

personally i have sold 3 horses over the years , each time i have been given exactly what i asked for without any haggling , on one it was full price & saddle in at a favourable price to the buyer, having said that i didn't go asking above what i thought they were worth realistically

from a personal point of view i would always want to discuss price before vetting & would be very unlikely to buy regardless of price on a fail , if i were selling & someone made me a low offer before the vetting(eg 20% off) i would politely remind them of the advertised price & ask why they think the horse is worth so little , i would be very unlikely to budge much
 
Paid full asking price for the last one, but got a buy 1 get 1 free offer (as they wanted a good home). Ironically the bogof one is doing very much better - they were both unbroken at 5 & 7 yrs, the 7 yr old tbx cleveland bay , that everyone said would be too set in her ways, has been an absolute sweetheart & riding out beautifully. Only just managed to get a saddle on the other
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Had to be really really nice to OH to let me have the two
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I was in the market for a horse....I'm not really into haggling so I took the YO with me. We saw the horse we wanted....he was over our maximum price by £1000. I left the YO to do the dealing & he managed to get the £1000 of him. We probably would have found the extra if necessary because we really wanted him but fortunately we didn't have to. Oh, nearly forgot, it cost me an additional case of beer for the YO for his trouble....great deal
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I got Bel for £1.5K less than she was advertised for
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I got my friend (who buys and sells A LOT) to come with me as I was terrified to haggle. He did the deal, with me stood there. The lady selling her tried very half heartedly to raise our opening bid, it ended up only going up £100, then she got quite teary and said "Oh, I want you to have her, have her for X (what we'd first offered), keep the £100 and put it towards the vetting"
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I actually had push come to shove been prepared to go up quite a bit more.... hence how come Bel now has 2 albion saddles...!
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AND I found out AFTERWARDS that people had been prepared to pay over and above the asking price
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But she came from some VERY lovely owners, and they were (quite wealthy, I think, for one) but also very concerned about the home she went to.
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Lucky for me as I absolutely adore her!
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I tried to knock my mare down but they were having none of it and she flew her vetting. I got a 3yo TB that i got 20% off the price. I always advertise horses for a bit more than I am willing to take
 
We've never paid full price for our horses apart from Bertie nearly 17 years ago. i make the point of not insulting the vendor. You have a pretty good idea of what type of horse goes for what around our way.
I did manage to get £2k off of winston tho.
 
I knocked about 20% off the price of ponio. I said "I'll have him for xxxx pounds, but want the tack, rugs and transport thrown in. They agreed and delivered him a week later. Upon selling him (If we ever do) i'll ask more than I want and put "or nearest offer" as then people can haggle with me and i can let him go to the best home, as that's far more important.
 
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