I found that I could barter a new car down significantly if you are flexible about what you want, about a year we got a seat altea XL, brand new list price £16,500, we paid £13k and then got a grand more for the car we traded in that they were selling on autotrader for. I am a firm believer that the scrappage scheme is a method for dealers being able to convince people they are getting a good deal so they dont haggle!
Best thing is to look at a car then walk away, ring them up and do the bartering, its much easier when you are on your own turf and not theirs! Start off with getting the extras you want, then go for discount, then the interest rate, then the servicing, then finally go for the gift cabinet. I got a Lexus IS250, new in Sept 2008, list price with extras was £28k, I paid £23,500 and got 4% flat rate finance, 3 years free servicing and then got the Lexus wallet and watch as a final deal swinger.
You just have to be willing to haggle haggle haggle, plus have an idea what your part ex is worth by seeing what they are selling on Ebay, autotrader etc for.
As for the puma and its battery - I am not a mechanic but have done a fair bit of car tinkering in the past, measure the battery and see it is at 12V ish, then start the car and measure again, it should be 14V, if any less then its the alternator. If it is 14V or higher, remove the negative from the battery and put a multimeter in between the -ve cable and the battery terminal, see what current is being drawn with everything off, I am no expert but I would imagine it should be less than 50mA. Then remove a fuse at a time till it goes to zero, that will tell you what the leakage is and give you an idea what circuit to look at - worst case, you can remove that fuse when you leave the car! If there is a leakage all the time no matter how many fuses you remove, I would say the diodes in the alternator are shot - a new alternator should sort that - however I find it hard that a good auto electrician couldnt do all that!
It may also be worth just trying another battery - if the old one was dud due to age and you buy a new one - it might be the new one that is also dud - it wouldnt be the first time.
Hope this helps.....
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