One should never tempt fate. On Christmas day I was discussing motoring at a party and I announced that I had never had an accident in thirty years' driving. I also mentioned that I had had my car for over a decade and had no intention of changing it: the subtext of my remarks - I'm a careful driver, careful with my cash!

Although I have little interest in cars and even less in car salesmen, I was therefore forced to enter the car market. The prospect of having to descend into the netherworld of Swiss Tonies, Arthur Daleys and puffa-jacketed spivs didn't appeal to me at all..

And last but not least there is the problem of haggling. Why is that that the purchase of a car, either new or second hand, means having to haggle with the salesman as if we were transported back in time into a medieval bazaar? Some people no doubt like the mind games involved in the haggling part. I suspect many others dislike it intensely, not least because car salesmen do it for a living and have a lot more experience and finesse at playing these mind games than we do. No wonder therefore that many people don't feel comfortable about entering car showrooms.

An example, based on my own experience, is Motorpoint of Derby. It is a car supermarket, which means it sells a variety of new and nearly new cars. Most seem to be either imported from Europe (the new vehicles) or are ex-fleet vehicles from the UK (with a few thousand miles on the clock) A similar operation is Direct Cars of Sheffield. I visited this too, and found it to be very similar to Motorpoint, but as I ended up buying from Motorpoint I will confine my assessment to this firm.

No pushy salesmen: this is another attractive feature of Motorpoint. One of the salesmen told me that they only get a very small amount of commission on every new car sold, so there is no great incentive for them to push a sale. In any case, at these prices, the cars more or less sell themselves. I found the salesman I dealt with to be helpful and informative, without being overbearing. The way the system works is that, if you see a vehicle you like, you ask for the keys and you can have a good look at it inside and out (although without having a test drive). I had already read a lot of car reviews and so knew more or less what I wanted.

When I visited, I was looking for either a Ford Focus Ghia or a Toyota Corolla T3, either new or nearly new. They had no Corolla T3s left, but they did have a new Ford Focus Ghia in the colour I wanted. I bought the car for just under £10k, whereas the list price in the UK is about £13.5k. The deal only took a few minutes. This involves putting a £300 deposit on the car. As the car is an import (from Belgium) you get a European warranty, valid in the UK, which is likely to be two years from the date it was first registered in the country of origin. This is of course less than the three years warranty you would get from a UK sourced dealership. However, if you take into account the considerable savings on the list price, it is in my opinion well worth it (you can also buy an extended warranty, although I didn't bother). When I got home I noticed that the bill included a £52.80 valeting charge which I had not agreed to. I didn't think a new car would need valeting. I rang up Motorpoint and without any quibble they removed the charge: I was impressed with the speed and courtesy with which they dealt with my minor complaint.