My good lady is trying and I mean TRYING to buy a new car but you would never think there is a recession. She has been met with the most unhelpful bunch of people anyone could hope not to deal with. The Suzuki dealership didn't know the dimensions of the car she was interested in and couldn't find out, they had no brochures, they said to she had to arrange an appointment for a test drive even though several salesmen were stood around doing nothing and there were numerous cars sat on the forecourt, they even told her to bring me along when she returned....To say she was less than impressed is an understatement.

Her next place was Mitsubishi, helpful salesman, car ok, but they so tried to screw her with the part ex price and the sales price. She and I have bought and sold many cars over the years with the help of What Car so we have a good idea how much profit the dealer is making and what can be haggled but in this case the profit they were trying to make from her was just rediculous. She'd done her homework before so she already knew the figures and to be quite honest she was insulted as I think I would have been, so she left.

Next stop was Vauxhall and I was with her this time and it was like pulling teeth (not with her I hasten to add). They were helpful in the test drive but it was clear the car they wanted her to have. She was having none of it and eventually when we did get down to discussing the car she wanted they would only offer her £200 part ex against any car and they wouldn't budge on the selling price of any car. Again, we know from What Car there was over £1000 profit in the deal that they would not negioate with so we left.

At all 3 dealerships they all said they had sold between 10 and 16 cars in the last week so they were doing really well. So my question is where is this recession? My good lady knows she has a disadvantage straight way for being female but surely in this day and age, dealerships know women aren't stupid and if they don't then they need to learn pretty fast. She ended up speaking to another lady on a forecourt who was also trying to buy a car and she was finding exactly the same thing, she was either being ignored by the salesmen or the deals they were offering were insulting and she was fed up. She even said to my good lady if you are looking for a bargain, forget it, they don't exist, they are not moving on prices and this get a cheap car is rubbish, it's media pants.

If anyone has any advice or suggestions for a decent car and a good dealership or web site, we would be most grateful. My good lady is looking for something small like a Ka, Corsa, etc and if anyone knows of any manufacturers or companies with offers then we'd love to hear them.