Strange times at the moment.
I once went to buy an approved used porsche boxster S, it had lovely spec, colour the works, mileage was good and ticked every box. So i went into my local dealership at the time, East London Porsche. They told me the car was in Colchester, so they arranged for them to show me the car but they would not bring it up to London unless i paid a deposit.

So I went all the way down there, no biggie for me.
Said i will take it. Shook the mans hand and came back to East London to complete the deal (as they were the original dealership).

When i got into the dealers, he looked down and said, i'm sorry it's sold - apparently they didnt know that a buyer had already paid a deposit. All a bit odd but hey ho.
i asked all the questions and showed that i had the hump over it.

He apologised and offered me a brand new on the forecourt top spec Boxster S with a massive (by Porsche standards) discount of 13% I took it because I loved the car and had never bought new in my life.

Long story short but, i ended up selling after just 18 months and regretting it, I still lost bundles, as it was a funny time but i was buying a new house, so couldnt keep the car at the time.

That's the closest i have ever got to buying and approved used and ending up with an approved new.

I think these things just somehow fall into place, the one that gets away was probably not meant to be and you can search for a lifetime and get a bad one or buy on total impulse (my usual habit) and get a goodun.

If I were really wanting an approved used car, i would probably just get my head around my spec, find what i want and go for it. don't rely on the dealers suddenly having a downturn and giving the car away at a bargain price. there are so many punters buying used at the moment. they don't need to discount. If the time comes when the bottom falls out of the market, you probably won't want one then anyway

You say “so many punters buying used at the moment”

But only 1 out of approx. 10 vehicles I’m watching have sold in the last three+ months, or am I missing something?

You're watching the wrong (or wrongly priced) vehicles?!

About 80% of the ones I saved to my Autotrader list 4 weeks ago have been sold, the only ones left are overpriced and the 750 I traded in sold in 2 days. MY23 Panamera E-Hybrid
MY19 SDV8 Autobiography - Sold

I’m only looking at the approved used on Land Rovers site.

Ahhh, OK, although all the RRs I saved on Autotrader were at main dealers and there is only one left. MY23 Panamera E-Hybrid
MY19 SDV8 Autobiography - Sold

Goodfella wrote:

You say “so many punters buying used at the moment”

But only 1 out of approx. 10 vehicles I’m watching have sold in the last three+ months, or am I missing something?