Is anyone awake?? So few posts after the watershed?

Not really that situation for me. I normally wait until 2 - 3 a.m. to speak to them (I do almost all my banking over the phone) and I just tell them what I want them to do. This time it was about me buying a car. I got a stupid deal (on their part) from the main dealers but it requires me to pay a lot of cash on Saturday. Their systems will automatically flag up a large debit card transaction and refuse to pay it . So I was giving them a heads up on the situation and clearing it with them.

I negotiated an extremely good deal at the beginning of January when the motor trade was in a bad situation. The previous quarter's sale of diesel cars had, nationally, dropped by 34% over the previous year and the manufacturers were getting a bit desperate. Particularly as some of them had stopped producing petrol versions.

So, just before Christmas, they had a change of mind and put out advertising for petrol versions with what, for them, was a keen price. After tough negotiations I got them to give me an 18% discount for cash. The manufacturer had been offering a £2,000 discount for taking their 0% finance but that didn't come with the big discount. So I did the deal for the 18% and then asked what the minimum amount of finance required was in order to get the £2,000 discount - and it was £2,000 . So I asked for that to be added into the deal - and got it.

There was one snag, they hadn't manufactured any cars with petrol engines and they asked if I was prepared to wait. I said 'yes' as long as they didn't put the price up in the meantime and they agreed. It has taken nine months to produce the car and they have increased the price three times and added some other things as standard. With no extra charge to me. We had also negotiated a good price for my old (current) car which is now eleven years old. That was all part of the final deal and the price is fixed - but the car is now nine months older.

So, I pick up my bargain (although still expensive) on Saturday

 

Once, when I was haggling over the phone (most of my haggling is done that way - and I still haven't seen my car salesman ), I told the person on the other end that it looks as though we're in for enjoyable half hour haggling and do they want and get themselves a coffee.

 

Similar here but I started off using Carwow (they're quite good although I don't like comparison sites) and then worked on the dealer that had offered the best price. They are down in Poole (160 miles away) but wouldn't deliver for that price - don't blame them. Then I contacted my nearest dealer who hadn't offered me anywhere near as good a deal. I told him what deal I had been offered and said that I would prefer to give my business to a local firm if they could match the offer. Then took it from there.

The car that I'm getting rid of came from Harrogate (nearly 200 miles) and they delivered and their price was £5,000 less than the local dealer. It was a special deal that, being two days before the end of his quarter would put him into the next bonus level from the manufacturer (an extra half percent on the whole quarter's purchases from the manufacturer). They drove the car down and went back in my old one.

The new car is manufactured in China!!!