Britain's best new car deals - Christmas 2010

With a VAT rise on the way, we celebrate the best festive bargains around with our guide to the best deals of winter 2010.

October 2010

Welcome to the Christmas sales rush! With VAT soon set to rise to a steep 20%, car dealers are keener than ever to keep customers coming through the door, and there are attractive deals to be had whatever car you’re after.

Eye-catching finance deals, free insurance, cut-price servicing and of course plain-dealing discounting are the most common ways of tempting you through the door, but don’t forget to shop about before you submit yourself to their clutches!

Look out for manufacturers like Volvo and Hyundai, who are still giving you the chance to swap an old car for a massive cash discount, but if you've got nothing to trade in then makers like Renault and Vauxhall offer rich rewards to anyone who pays up front, sendind list prices tumbling across the range.

Check the websites of the big dealer groups like Perrys or browse the deal prices of brokers such as Broadspeed, and you’ll see there’s still room to manoeuvre, especially on bigger, or slighter older models.

For an alternative review of the latest Jaguar XF visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

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20 Comments

Mr Derek Wormald

Great scheme, but when you look on line at car deals ect, it seams to think that we all have an old car for scrappage. I don't!! what about showing other good deals??

By derekwormald on 2 January, 2010, 2:52pm

Mr

I want to buy a fiat panda 1.1 lit, 5 doors, manual, petrol and either black or, silver or blue colour under scrapage scheme. Please let me know about its asap

Regards,
Laxman
07877107633

By Laxman on 25 January, 2010, 4:43pm

mr

if 'laxman" can be bothered to click on the Fiat ad on the right of this article I think that he might find what he is looking for.........

By redbeard57 on 26 January, 2010, 9:37am

Don't be fooled

Most of the manufacters put up their prices by £2000 since the scrappage scheme started - so they were not really giving you £2000 off the price of a new car.
The whole thing is a big con.
They can well afford to give you a big discount.

By jamesmclaughlin on 26 January, 2010, 11:27am

Skoda - Deal or NO Deal

I've recently tried to get a 'good' deal with my local Skoda dealer as I'm due to exchange my car on an option scheme and they are offering NOTHING, in fact they are using the so called Credit Crunch as an excuse to make me feel pity for them as they are so hard done by!!! "we all have to sacrifice a little to get what we both want"

By MJM020360 on 27 January, 2010, 7:22pm

Manufacturers Offers

Why are close to all manufacturers still offering only a 3 year warranty on cars....If they are that good then offer 5 years...that would tempt me more than most of these other offers.

Agree with "Don't be fooled" prices for vehicle went up by sometimes more than the £2k scrappage before it started placing the blame on the value of the £GBP...So negating the scrappage allowance.

By Talnoy on 28 January, 2010, 11:41am

Discounts & Scrappage

Volvo are giving, for example, £4805 off a C30 1.6D DRIVe R-design with a scrappage deal. As £1000 of this comes from the Government, should it not be possible to be offered £3805 off without scrappage? The scrappage car is supposed to be scrapped - it is not a trade-in car that can be sold on thus recouping some of the discount. Or am I being naive and missing the point somewhere?

By BobKing2 on 1 February, 2010, 7:43pm

Audi A4 discount?

If Audi are giving a £2000 reduction on the A4 if you buy using their PCP finance, is this in place of or in addition to any dealer discount that can usually be negotiated?

By whittakerc on 8 March, 2010, 12:18pm

Why buy a New Car when you can buy a pre reg??

New cars are just throwing money down the drain.
No matter how good the offer you'll lose 50% in the first 3 years.

Personally even though I could buy new I never ever would.

The number of people who earn £20,000 a year who drives around in new £35,000 cars financial torture by car.

By the2beard on 2 April, 2010, 10:23am

Volvo discounts

A mate of mine has been offered £9K off a new XC90. They are stuggling to shift this end of line model now as the XC60 is superior and comes with the gadgets.
Kia aren't offering any discounts. They don't need too as they are selling so many cars as people have shifted to more 'value' brands.

By mpwox11 on 8 April, 2010, 10:21am

Skoda's - The Real Deal

Further to Deal or NO Deal; Complained to the Regional Manager about the lack of incentive being offered and out of the blue came the Real Deal, an offer I just could NOT turn down! Why wasn't this 'deal' on offer in the first place? I'm happy now but why all the un-necessary hassle?

By MJM020360 on 8 April, 2010, 8:41pm

Scrappage Scheme? - What a joke!

The scrappage scheme is a joke compared to what other European countries are being offered. The percentage of discount offered was minimal, and we were only offered that because there was a recession taking place. The car manufacturers were not shifting many new cars so the government came up with the "scrappage scheme" to save the ailing car makers. The price of cars of cars in the country has always been artificially high compared to the rest of Europe. And now the scrappage scheme is coming to an end, its a joke! Car manufacturers love Britain because they can make their biggest profits here (hence why importing cars from Europe yourself was so successful a while ago). Brits pay through nose for everything and that's the governments fault.

By bigbazza on 16 April, 2010, 8:26am

the2beard

the2beard - you are one of our few intelligent people who weigh up the cost vs benefit with such a big financial outlay such as a car, I salute you!

"New " car tax for 1st year is now in operation - more than twice as much as 2nd year "normal" tax.

Yes it feels great driving a brand new car off the forecourt, however, the depreciation in the 1st 2 to 3 years is hard to take. Ask yourself, do you really need a BRAND NEW car??

The many that had bought brand new cars, some are already heavily in debt with widespread loans, living beyond their means. Unfortunately, their ability to increase their salary earning potential is rather limited over the same period of the loan repayment period.

By scott1234 on 14 July, 2010, 12:45pm

Scrappage? More like Debtage

The number of people who bought new cars through the Srappage scheme was high, but these wew all people who had cars trhat were worth less than £2000 and they had owned them for over 12 months. Doesn't that give anyone else a clue?

If you have to drive around in a car of that age and that is all you can afford, how does getting £2000 off a new car help? You would still be taking on excess debt. We are coming to the crunch time for people who bought like this. They will not only have got expensive loans for their care, but due to the loss of VAT and car tax along with the fact that most bought were lower end of the market, they will not be able to trade them in for anything like what they would need to be able to buy another!

(sits back and awaits the s**t hitting the fan!)

By Rumour on 19 October, 2010, 9:15am

SEAT's best deal

Check your local SEAT dealer out, pay NO VAT, some decent chunks of money OFF with various good finance options available.

By brucem on 19 October, 2010, 9:21am

Leasing

I have bought new for at least the last 7 years and we always change our cars within 12 - 18 months!
Totally stupid I know but we can afford it and never go outside our means. Over this period we have probably lost the equivalent of 2 good size family cars in lost money.
Today I am picking up my first lease car after much weighing up of the difference in owning and leasing and leasing works for us!
It wont work for everyone especially as you never 'own' the car but these days most cars are on finance so who does 'own' a car?
Monthly payments are cheaper and you can get 1,2 or 3 year deals on any car you want.

Just my opinion anyway.

Steve

By insanekitty1 on 19 October, 2010, 11:00am

Common Sense

I see a lot of heated comments on here about new cars being a waste of money, like this one: "New cars are just throwing money down the drain No matter how good the offer you'll lose 50% in the first 3 years"
Well this may be true as the depreciation can be very painfull for the new purchaser, but instead of critising people who buy new vehicles why not thank them, as without them there would BE NO 2nd hand bargain cars available for sale, any those that where would be vastly more expensive due to the limited supply and thus increased demand! Honestly everyone needs to be a bit more balanced.
If you want to buy a new car buy 1, if you don't then fine but stop banging on about it! You're profiting from sone one elses depreciation so show a bit of restraint!
The scrappage scheme may not have been perfect but it helped keep businesses afloat (dealerships, employing sale, service & associated businesses such as parts supplier etc) and saved jobs. Those that bought new cars saved a few quid, so whats the point in moaning!
Dealerships are definately improving over the years, now offering better value now than years ago, in thanks part to competion from EU imports and car supermarkets, but yes they are still a bit greedy (such is life though. I don't imagine many of you would tell your bosses to reduce your salary a bit, voluntarily?)...Lets hope that there are some great deals before the VAT goes up!

By oldcar10 on 19 October, 2010, 12:55pm

Common Sense

By oldcar10 on 19 October, 2010, 1:33pm

Common Sense

By oldcar10 on 19 October, 2010, 1:33pm

2nd hand car market will rise after VAT increase

Its all relative. If the dealers don't offer better deals (or absorb the VAT in their prices in the new year) people will either shy away or steer more to the 2nd hand car market. So in turn prices will go up on new cars and the 2nd hand market price will rise as well, it won't stay the same as it is now. The value of a 2nd hand car will rise in line with the new car prices (as I said if the main dealers put their prices up). There are loads of ways to get around the VAT increase without breaking any laws so there are going to be deals out there in the new year. Take a snap shot of new cars and 2nd hand car prices on your fav dealers website and then see what happens in the new year and compare the difference in prices.

By aarontp on 24 October, 2010, 10:40am

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