Not wishing to rain on Freshacre's parade, but I believe I've done a stonking good deal today!. Went to MSB Skoda (Darlington) to see if we could agree a deal on a 1.8 TSi L&K monster, part-exchanging Musky. I thought it worth a punt as (a) I'm sure p/x prices on 'old' models are likely to fall with both greater availability of Yetis generally and the facelift ahead, and ( I thought it worth getting hold of a bargain-priced top end model (and one that's two years younger than my current car) for when I do eventually want to trade it in.

I've gone for Candy White, which I've always rather fancied, and will have the tyre pressure monitor and rough road package - so the only toys I won't have compared with my current car are the electric driver's seat (which, to be honest, I haven't made great use of, as SWMBO rarely drives my car) and the variable boot floor (which again, I've hardly made use of). Against that, I will have the panoramic roof and a DAB radio (though lord wknows hoe that will behave where we live - I hope it will pick upordinary FM well). The dealer has agreed to swap the OEM tyres for all-season tyres and to throw in mudflaps all round.

The OTR price of the new car is £25500 and I am having to pay only £5k to change. That means, if you assume no discount on the new car (although I don't know how the dealer will massage the figures), I have got an amazing 84% of my initial purchase price as a p/x on a two-year-old car with 23000 miles on the clock.

I think that's pretty good.

Estimate for date of new arrival is about 12-14 weeks, so probably about the end of April.

That sounds a remarkable deal.

My SM will be three in April, with 25000 on the clock at the moment, so I'm tempted to see what offers there are around here!

However, mine is a 1.8TSi, so I wonder if the petrol models will achieve similar low depreciation?

Well done - that is a "stonking" brilliant deal. Don't worry about how the dealer does the paperwork. You may have caught him at the right time by meeting his end of month target before tomorrow, although most dealer's sales target's work on when the car is registered not ordered.........who cares!

PS: Did you have to negotiate much?

PPS: Average trade price for your car is around £18K, so looks like the dealer has used a 10% discount on the L&K to add to your p/ex figure. Still a good deal by any standard, and is indicative of the high Yeti residual values.

Well done - that is a "stonking" brilliant deal. Don't worry about how the dealer does the paperwork. You may have caught him at the right time by meeting his end of month target before tomorrow, although most dealer's sales target's work on when the car is registered not ordered.........who cares!

PS: Did you have to negotiate much?

Fairly hard. The starting point was £7500 to change, including metallic paint, so in effect I knocked it down by £2000 since I opted for Candy White (although the tyre swap and mudflaps I threw in as necessary to clinch the deal right at the end). I may have been helped by the fact that I started talking to a new salesman (second day on the job, having previously sold BMWs), who professed some lack of knowledge of Skodas and summoned the sales manager to take part in the discussion. I also leant heavily on the fact that this would be thre fourth vehicle I had purchased from the dealership in 5 years.

The dealer will always start high (price to change figure) as a lot of customers accept that figure without question, but as you proved, there is always "wriggle" room in any car deal.

Price to change is the only way. However, if you can sell private, even if you sell for the same as the dealer is offering in p/ex, as you can almost always get a no p/ex discount (typically 10%).

Yes, I asked about a no p/x discount and was told it would be no more than £500, which is a measly 2%! As I am naturally cautious about the mechanics of selling privately, involving the exchange of rather a lot of money from a stranger, I decided this was hardly worth it. No doubt, however, if I were brave enough to attempt the private sale I could have saved some more dosh - but, of course, out here in the Dales, I don't have a large potential market to call on that is nearby, unlike, say, if I lived in or near a large conurbation.

Well done that man!

Satisfying isn't it? What is good is that you reach a mutually acceptable price so that you both feel that you've done OK.

As you've found, it's amazing how the Yeti retains its value, though I, like you, feared that the values will plummet as a "glut" of three year olds hit the market!

Well done indeed.

(Have you read Gervais Finn's books, oh HMI, sir?!)

I have indeed read them - when I was a headteacher in Wensleydale, Gervase was the local authority's English adviser so I knew both him and a good few of the (un)subtly disguised characters and schools in his books.

Well done!!! My next one will be white too for sure.

BUT as much as I think I will also get a great price for mine now (not even 22,000 on clock, Nov 2010 model) I would prefer to get less for this one and get a facelift one as my next Yeti. You must remember that as soon as the facelift comes out you will lose the money anyway on the one you've just ordered as it will look like a car from 2009.... So does not matter what you have, once a facelift comes out you will lose money on the old look no matter if it is one of the last ones as a 2013 car or a 2010 one...

But enjoy the very, very short wait!!!

I know, Johann, you speak with the voice of logic but ... where a new toy is concerned ... ! I still think that having a 2-year-younger 'old' model to trade in eventually (especially when obtained at an exceptionally good exchange rate) will be worthwhile (at least, that's what I've convinced SWMBO!).

Well done!!! My next one will be white too for sure.

BUT as much as I think I will also get a great price for mine now (not even 22,000 on clock, Nov 2010 model) I would prefer to get less for this one and get a facelift one as my next Yeti. You must remember that as soon as the facelift comes out you will lose the money anyway on the one you've just ordered as it will look like a car from 2009.... So does not matter what you have, once a facelift comes out you will lose money on the old look no matter if it is one of the last ones as a 2013 car or a 2010 one...

But enjoy the very, very short wait!!!

Need the prices to stay firm until April, as that's when we will be selling our Yeti

After almost 6 months of indecision I've finally ordered a Yeti. I too have ordered an L&K (though 170 tdi manual). This is some way off where I started (i was thinking Elegance 110 2WD with a few options), but I've been hanging on for DAB, and I've somehow used this to justify significant scope creep. I'm hoping the drop in economy will be worth the extra fun. It has been a long journey, but I couldn't hang on for the facelift because getting our baby boy in and out of a 2 door car is getting more difficult and my other half is losing patience. I suspect I'll be gutted when the facelift comes out, but I'm hoping I don't like it.

If anyone is interested, I added the spare (though expect I'll really need the boot space), the removeable towbar (because I know in reality the car is really too small for us but I'll get a bar rack and roof box), and the 12 speaker upgrade. Oh and it'll be steel grey

I've got questions about whether you can get electrically adjustable seats on the L&K, but I think there was another post on that, so I'd better not confuse things.

Thanks for all the advise so far it has been really helpful.