So, after a month or so, a black 08 reg Mazda 3 TS2 has turned up and the salesman has phoned to say itll be arriving today, and Ive booked a test drive at 4.

The problem is Id just about decided to go for an older TS2 because of the nature of my work and dirt track roads etc. However it doesnt hurt to go and have a look.

The other, bigger problems are:

They want £9995 for it.
And its done 17000 miles. In a year. Thats what my micra did in 2.5 years pretty much!

Im interested in what your thoughts are on this, what would be reasonable to knock them down on. The fact is Ive seen a private trade on Autotrader for another black TS2, 08 reg, and 14000 miles for about £8500, so the dealership is asking quite a bit. Obviously theyve bought this car in and want to make a profit. And as these cars are fairly uncommon in the scheme of things (sod all within a reasonable distance of here!) I think they know they will be able to sell it at that price.

Im thinking it wont hurt to try and get them to knock the price down say £500-£1000 (to which theyll likely say no), and failing this/including it, try and get some free services out of them, tax, or if it doesnt have an alarm fitted, get an alarm put on. Things which wont cost them as much as itd cost me.

The other main issue is that my contracts are 3-6 months, and I want to get a PCP deal, so they might not even be able to do it. Its why I didnt go for the private trade. Hopefully though I can use my parents as guarantours. They probably wouldnt care that I have the money to buy the car outright in shares, but want to keep the shares for the dividends (but the fact that the money is there if I am unemployed so I can keep the payments going!).

If I can get a roof/bike rack thrown in itd help sweeten the deal somewhat

Cheers for that info on the price, will be interesting to see what happens later!

As Edd says be patient, show interest but mention the price, the recession (jokingly) and dont seem too eager. Remember its a buyers market at the moment.

Im eager but at the same time pretty sure I can walk away from this car given the fact that the day I was called about it, I had decided to go for an 06 reg ish car for £4k less, so Im not too eager to spend £4k more than I was going to. Unless they can do a good deal Im happy to keep going with my micra till another comes up. Feel sorry for the guy at the garage as I keep changing my mind about what i want every 5 mins. Newer...older..diff colours...diff models!

Thats why he gets paid for!

You may struggle for finance... prob have to go in your parents name, rather than them as guarnator - Infact, you prob be better off looking at a bank loan & build up credit rating
there.

as for 17k in a year.... My current car is an 08, it passed the 17k mark months ago....

17k in a year is nothing really, especially on a jap car

Jaimz

i.e the 17k a year, if you do less miles on average per year, in 5 years it will balance itself out.

But i do understand what you mean, if i was buying a year old car id expect it to have either average or below average mileage, but just check used prices via parkers/ auto trader and make sure the dealers price reflects the higher mileage.

I briefly thought about it, but tbh if I needed something like that Id get whoever was employing me to provide it! I dont really like big cars (I drive a micra!) so a Mazda 3 is 1 step up for me.

HPI check was fine. Ended up getting them to throw in a free service and a roof rack, and add an extra £150 to the value of the micra, its not much but it was enough to get me to sign. Pick it up on Sat. Car is spotless with the exception of a small stone chip on the front, which they will sort out. The boot looks unused and has no scuff marks.

Now Im just paranoid when it comes to hand my car over they will find craploads wrong with it. The only things are minor - Spare keys buttons could do with replacing, radio LCD is going, and just a few dints and things that he saw. Hes not seen the key or the radio though...