Spoke to Sam AT Manor Garages in Altrincham and agreed to proceed with the purchase of an M3 subject to an independent inspection. Offered to put down a substantial deposit TWICE, but Sam assured me that this was not necessary and I was first in line. Sam suggested Darren Wood, a well respected, local BMW specialist and the car was booked in. The next day, Sam said his “boss” had told him that he was showing the car to one of his friends so effectively he could no longer honour our agreement. He said he was just the middleman, an employee and inferred that his “boss” had put him in a difficult position, but what could he do. Turns out his boss is also his father, so not quite a typical employee - employer relationship. Anyway, I asked for the owner of the business to call me back, which is when things got truly bizarre. Bob stated that he was overruling his son’s undertaking to sell me the car because I was based in London and therefore it was not practical for me to acquire the vehicle. After talking to me for less than a minute, he declared that I was not an ‘enthusiast” and he wanted to sell the car to someone who was prepared to get under the vehicle to fix things. Oddly, he pitched the whole thing as if he was doing me a favour. Bob suggested that he was unhappy with the way Sam had handled negotiations, in particular, he felt I was asking too many questions about the history of the vehicle and Sam should’ve avoided going in to too much detail. He then went on to declare that the arrangement was not practical because the warranty supplied was capped at £1,000 and whomever he sold the car to had to "shake his hand" and assure him that if, for example, the SMG gearbox seized up within 2 weeks there would be no recourse to his business. So, if you want to do business with a motor dealer who tries to circumvent your consumer rights, doesn’t like you asking too many questions and reneges on their commitments then Manor Garages in Altrincham is the place to go. Lucky escape...