Buying a car {or how to be treated like an idiot} Part I

We are on the hunt for a new car. The main reason is that our old one is now nearing 11 years old and is not as reliable as it used to be, which can be a problem if you commute to London everyday.

After extensive lists and spreadsheets and thinking and talking and comparing, we narrowed our options to three - a French one, a Korean one and an American one. Now it's worth noting that we are looking for a cheap car. We are looking at their smallest models, mostly because of the great benefits of a tiny car - 0 or very cheap car tax, cheap insurance, great fuel economy, easy to park anywhere -, but also because we can't really justify spending a huge amount of money on stuff that doesn't really matter to us.

So we booked a test drive with the French and the Korean. At the agreed date and time, we arrive at the dealer, armed with our best haggling persona and a picnic and entertainment kit for Lily. After the valuation of our car, the driving and lots of colouring in the waiting area, we sit down to talk prices. Young bloke who is selling to us gets up and says: "I will have a word with my manager". Not a good sign, according to my haggling website reading. Then he comes back with his figures for the finance and we start talking about numbers. Which website had suggested not saying you are paying cash until the numbers are agreed, so you can try and haggle a final discount. When I think the moment is right, I drop the word "cash" in the conversation. What happens next is still making my blood boil: he looks at us and say "Borrowing money from the bank is not cash, it's still finance". I try to keep a straight face and have to work hard on not replying with what I think he should hear, mostly because I was not in the car during the test drive and maybe Mike had said something that led him to believe we were using a personal loan. I try to get past that and have a sit in the car again. I look at the dashboard. The car is very pretty on the outside, but inside it looks like a toy car. The air-con controls look like they don't belong in there. At that point, I just want to leave.

I know part of his job is to try and convince us that his finance is better than the banks'. However, if he was never told that we were considering getting a loan from the bank, he just jumped to conclusions. I hate to think why he did that. Was it because I was wearing a hoodie and Converse trainers? Because of where we live? Because of my accent? Because we are buying a city car rather than a MPV? If someone goes into a shop and says they're paying cash, it's none of the salesperson's business where the money came from, is it? Or am I overreacting?

Either way, I am glad that at least it the shortlist narrows down to two. The Korean were pleasant enough, so that leaves me (or Mike) to tell the tale of the visit to the American. Stay tuned for the second part of this exciting (NOT!) adventure.