Hi Bernard,

With regards the first part of your query, there’s really nothing more to it than dealers looking at what they would get for a car on the open market, and then knocking a few thousand Euro or so off it so they can make a profit on the transaction after they get the car ready for sale. So if you can ascertain the value of your car on the second-hand market, you can then (roughly) work out a trade-in price.

As to getting a lower price on a new car, again it’s quite simple – haggle, and haggle hard. They want your money, so you actually have the upper hand. Play hardball and ask them to throw in a few extras, like a full tank of fuel on delivery (and floor mats, if the car you’re looking at doesn’t have them as standard), and if you feel like they’re not budging on price enough, simply walk away. They’ll soon call you back to chat again, probably telling you that since you left the dealership, they’ve ‘had a chat with their manager’ and they can move a bit more on the car’s ticket…