IRISH car dealers are so desperate to get rid of growing stockpiles of second-hand motors that they are reducing prices by as much as 25%, a Sunday Times survey has found.

The collapse of new vehicle sales and a slowdown in the second-hand market has left dealers with vast supplies of depreciating cars. Even when vehicles have been reduced to below normal prices, a buyer can still haggle a further 12% off.

A Sunday Times reporter made offers on 30 cars in locations throughout the country offering to buy immediately and for cash. Dealers who agreed to lower their prices complained of approaching “break-even levels”.

In one case, a Ford Focus which would normally cost €24,000 was offered for €19,950. Another which would previously have sold for €23,000 was available for €16,800.

Other savings on already-reduced prices included €1,450 on a Peugeot 206 listed at €7,950; a €2,995 reduction on a Ford Focus selling for €19,995; and €2,950 off a Toyota Avensis advertised at €18,950.

Conor Faughnan of the AA said: “What you have found corresponds with what people have been telling us. Dealers are desperate to sell stock because nothing is moving for them. The slowdown is astonishing. If you are in the market for a car, there is tremendous value and choice to be had.”

He advised buyers to be “extremely aggressive in negotiating”. “You should be unrealistic in how low you offer and try and get a substantial amount knocked off. If you don’t, go elsewhere.”

Faughnan’s tactics were used in the survey. Dealers were offered at least 20% less than the amount they were seeking and few refused to bargain from this starting point.

First Choice Autos in Dun Laoghaire was offered €6,500 for a 2005-registered Peugeot 206 with 45,000 miles on the clock and advertised at €7,950. “You’ll be robbing us at that price, but it’s a buyer’s market,” the seller said, and agreed to the offer made.

At Car Nation in Bray, Co Wicklow, a three-year-old 206 with similar mileage was listed at €6,750. When the seller was offered €5,000, the dealer complained that it had already been marked down from €7,250, before agreeing to let it go for €6,250. “We're just trying to get rid of all our stock at the moment,” he said.

A 2007 Ford Focus with 7,000 miles on the clock, was advertised by EP Mooney in Tallaght at €15,995, but the dealer was willing to take €14,000. At Morans of Avoca in Wicklow, a Toyota Avensis advertised at €18,950 was reduced by €2,950.

“We want to move a couple of cars on, so I could let that one go for ¤16,000,” the seller said. “We’re going to take pain on it, but there’s not many lads going around with that money these days.”

Discounts of up to €6,000 were offered on BMW 5 Series models. At Maxwell Motors in Dublin, a 520d with 12,000 miles clocked up was selling for €50,995, but for €45,000 the company could “do a deal”.

Not all dealers would negotiate, arguing they had already reduced their prices to break-even point. Navan Ford Centre in Meath refused to reduce the €18,950 price of a high-spec 2007 Ford Focus because it had already been reduced from €23,000.

New car sales are down 18%, with 151,426 sold so far in 2008 compared with 186,096 in the same period last year. Just 644 cars were purchased in November, compared with 1,416 for the same month in 2007. Next year, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi) is predicting sales of 120,000.

Motorcheck.ie estimates that 71,987 used cars changed hands in July, down from 85,180 in July 2007.

As the euro increases in value against sterling, many Irish buyers are picking up used cars in Britain. Motorcheck.ie estimates that 43,470 cars were registered as imports by the end of September.

Simi has called for the introduction of a scrappage scheme, allowing old cars to be traded in for fixed amounts of money.

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