If there’s a good chance you’ll buy from that dealership again, it can be useful to keep them in the wings. This worked well for me after I bought my first Audi. About 2 years later the salesman rang me to ask if I would be interested in the all-new version that was now on sale. I said that it was a bit soon to be thinking of trading my existing car, but that I would at some point be interested in the new version (which was perfectly true).

So he rang me a number of times subsequently and each time I let him think I was closer to trading-in but would only consider it if the deal was going to be worth it. I then agreed to go and just test drive the new version; I was by now retired and had all the time in the world to mess around trying out new cars. A little more time elapsed after that and the next phone call was to ask if I wanted to do a deal on the new car, to which I replied that I would be interested in opening discussions, but that I would be very annoyed if I drove over to the dealership only to be offered a deal that I could easily turn down.

Result - a good deal on the new car. I initiated the next change of car and I had no need to negotiate as the salesman offered me more than I was expecting on the existing car and a healthy discount on the new one, which I’m still driving.