We used drivethedeal for our Aygo. It's almost four years ago, but the service was excellent.

Choose your car, place your order and pay £500 deposit. DTD identify the supplying dealer and pass on the details to you. This is the only contact you have with DTD. After this all contact is with the supplying dealer.

One possible downside is the supplying dealer may be some distance away (especially for marques which don't discount much) which leaves the dilemma of you having to pay for it before inspection, or travelling some distance to inspect, pay and collect it.

Ours was 200 miles from us, but we saved 10% on the car - the dealer offered a 3% discount.

We've had two warranty claims and both were dealt with by a local dealer with no quesitons asked about where the car came from.

Have a look at Autobytel - part of Inchcape Retail. Inchcape Retail operate their own dealerships - Toyota, Kia, Ford, etc.

Many thanks for your replies. I am still nervous about spending about £15-£16k on a new Nissan Qashqai as the most I have ever spent before is £4k on my current Toyota Avensis - hence my need to get it right first time. I will look at some dealers further afield and also Autobuytel. Thanks also for the warranty info as this has never been something I have had to worry about before!!!

Apologies - a post from MLJ seems to have been hidden accidentally alongside one which was almost certainly advertising.

MLJ said "Brother-in-law bought his A4 from Carfile, no problems and full of praise. They are offering between 1.5K and 2K off the Nissan at preent. Lots of folk visit their local dealer armed with an online quote: some dealers will match it if they can."

A personal experience like this is of course fine, but we have to delete any posts which appear to be plugging a particular trader or product.

Sorry MLJ.