http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/finance/valueyourcar.do is very handy for getting free Glass's valuations.

I've used it in the past when haggling over trade in prices.
A printout from that is a very handy tool.
Usually the dealer will try and get you to name a price you want for your car first , so if you undervalue it they will agree.

I've found it's best to take them to your car and ask them what sort of condition *they* think it's in and argue over that till you agree.
Once that's done you can then show them the printout and ask for the trade in based on your car being good , average etc.

I got almost top book price for my old car when I bought my current Octavia (and got that with a big discount as well) so ended up with a very favourable deal.

Also be prepared to travel to other dealers to get the best price to change , and if you are ready to buy then let the dealer know that you are prepared to sign there and then at the right price.

Oh , and the deal you'll get will vary a lot depending on how close the dealer is to meeting their monthly or quarterly target. A dealer getting close at the end of September will offer a lot better figure than one that's already hit their figures by the start of the month

Dan500 said:

Wessex offered £7,000 for our 2004 MX5 Sport which was lower than we were hoping for. Those who were offered good trade-in prices, which dealers did you use? (Stoneacre is now on the list, thanks white 500 )

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Evans Halshaw are still a Fiat dealer, although they mainly deal with Citroen. Wessex are the newest after Victoria Park Fiat ceased trading.

My personal experience of Wessex wasnt a good one. The girl who showed me the cars was very nice, but seemed to know very little about the 500. I also asked to test drive a 1.2 sport and was told one would be available on a saturday for me. I turned up on the saturday to discover that the 1.2 was in another part of the country and i'd have to try the 1.4 instead. A phone call would have been nice! ) They also tried to get me to buy the Punto instead.
Then when I enquired about finance, I was fed a bunch of blatant lies by her boss, which I was not impressed with at all. I dont know if I would buy from them.

I also enquired at Evans Halshaw and the guy that helped me was quite pleasant. Not pushy at all, but also didnt seem overly bothered about selling any 500's. I suspect thats down to there being little profit for them in it.

My best experience so far has been at Harwoods on the Isle of Wight. Not exactly local I know, but I travel there quite regularly. The guy I spoke to (Tim) was very knowledgeable about the 500, didnt push anything, and offered me the best finance deal ive seen so far straight off the mark. He also let me take a 1.2 for a spin that very moment. I had to sit with the Wessex guy for almost an hour before he would even give me an even remotely reasonable finance deal, which was still higher than the Harwoods offer.

newcar4me were hundreds better than fiat dealer on PX and it's fixed. If i can sell it private for a bit more just before delivery I will just give then the cash instead.
Can't lose really?

Just to update this, we ordered the car from Simonstone a week ago and went to Bristol on Saturday so they could make sure the MX5 was as described.

The 500 is being built next week and should arrive towards the end of August, ready for us to collect it on 1 September

WooHoo! the race is on, you or me first! Mine is arriving in UK on 12th August, with delivery to dealer within 14 days....................

Heidi said:

WooHoo! the race is on, you or me first! Mine is arriving in UK on 12th August, with delivery to dealer within 14 days....................

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Yes we've caught you up quite a bit as there was a car in the spec we wanted (no extras at all) already scheduled to be built - not sure why, if no one had ordered it.

I guess our car's journey from the docks in the UK to the dealer might be slightly quicker as they're just down the road..!

Will keep you updated - probably in a new thread