I did a stint in car sales once, you lose a percentage buying used as well. It's the difference between buying at retail and selling at wholesale.
Yes, a car depreciates the most in the first 2 years of its life hence the "deals" you see when buying used. However for me, it's ALWAYS offset by the fact that you have no idea what kind of maintenance the previous owner did. They might've put that 40,000 km's on without a single oil change. Sure you can buy or negotiate an extended warranty from the dealership but if you read the fine print they never cover everything.
If you're looking at new, anywhere between an 8% and 12% discount is cutting pretty close to the dealers cost. Always try to buy towards the end of the month, quarter, year. Late november is when most manufacturers start bringing out their clearance programs with big rebates and low rate financing on current year models. Keep in mind that this also goes hand in hand with limited selection.
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