Along with my official duties as a member of the Auto Express team, I’m also the unofficial go-to car guru for family, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, passers-by, and pretty much everyone else who has a remote idea of what I do for a living. I’m always happy to help, but a recent encounter has left me feeling a little perturbed.
In the same week, I was approached by my partner’s best friend and one of my old university lecturers – two people I was more than willing to assist with car buying (especially when they admitted that their know-how was somewhat limited).
One had sadly seen their beloved Vauxhall Corsa written off due to a distracted lorry driver (thankfully nobody was injured), while the other needed a replacement for their trusty but ageing Citroen Xsara Picasso. After a bit of discussion, as well as a few test drives, they respectively decided on a Vauxhall Crossland and a Volvo XC40. So far so good.
Buying a new car: your complete guide
However, once it was time to talk money, a dealer sensed one of my car-buying apprentice’s knowledge-gaps and used it as an opportunity to pile on the pressure. When I received a panicked phone call regarding the Crossland, I was troubled to hear: “I need to put the deposit down today because the salesperson has to meet a target”.
