Mostly I buy second-hand cars. And recently, we opted for two electric bikes instead of a second car, so it’s been a while since I’ve bought a car, full stop.

The last time I bought a car was actually a surprise for Trish for our 10-year wedding anniversary. And as it turned out, I didn’t have much time to make the purchase. I was on the way home from a meeting in the city and knew that I only had about twenty minutes before I needed to leave so I could pick up Scarlett from day care.

So I called the dealer while I was on the way. I said I was about fifteen minutes away, I wanted to buy this model for my wife, would they have someone available when I arrived. Turns out they would.

I arrived and Simon, the sales person, was expecting me. Would you like a test drive, he asked. No thanks, I said, it’s a new Mercedes Benz, I’m sure it drives fine. The thing is, I need to leave in twenty minutes to pick up my daughter. This is the model I want. I don’t want any extras. And this is how much I want to pay.

To Simon’s credit, he didn’t try to talk me into anything else, or do much, rather than look a bit surprised. Let me see if I can get that approved, he said.

Three minutes later he came back with the paperwork saying yes, that was all fine, you just need to sign here, here and here.

There is a good lesson from Simon in this. Yes, you probably have a whole sales process worked out. But if someone comes already ready to buy, just shut up and say yes, like Simon did.

(And interesting post script to the story. My best friend Michael picked up the car and delivered it in the middle of the night to the cottage where we were staying to celebrate our anniversary. And while the sales team knew that Michael was picking up the car, apparently the service team did not. So he rocks up on his bike in full lycra to a strip of red carpet and a big sign saying “Congratulations Trish”. He took the wheels off his bike, put it in the boot, and drove off in the new car).