So many answers to go in here Chris but look at the dealer as you would if you were a private buyer as there’s nothing wrong with asking for discounts, in particular if your adding extra’s at your expense. On my current car I only added £425 in extra’s and with the way car deliveries are at the moment did not go down the road of asking for a discount as I had such a hard job of even choosing a suitable car and was happy just to get an order in.
For the past two or three years the dealers have had the upper hand with private customer prepared to pay above the odds for new cars so discounts are hard to come by, more so for Motability customers so don’t be disappointed if none are forthcoming.
With deposits they may or may not ask for one and its up to you if you pay one but I paid the £425 deposit in good faith on my current car to cover the extra I had added but paid nothing for the car itself that had an AP of £3,199. On a previous order I gave the dealer a deposit on extra’s I had added to the car that I cancelled three months later and as the car had not been built at that time they gave my deposit back to me with no problem.
Be prepared for long delivery times or lookout for deals that have immediate delivery that get posted here by the likes of members like BigDave but bare in mind that you will be lucky if a car turns up in a deal that you happened to have on your short list.
Good luck in your search.