The final choice of which car to purchase became quite clear when the dealer directed us to one of his special offers. He needed to move some cars at the price he paid for them to gain some cash flow for his business. Yes, we are aware of car salesman’s con tricks all over the world and no doubt this dealer was going to make some clear profit on our purchase, but the price he suggested for the Ford Focus eventually purchased was extremely inviting compared to the Mazda 3, which we also liked, but was some $8000 more.

The new car salesman may have in fact been telling the truth. Barbados is a small island with a relatively small population and only a few of those people are buying new cars. Cash flow is very important in a small business and while we may not have exactly got the deal we originally agreed having got over the shock of the price of a car in Barbados, the deal looked good.

We had stepped into the Mercedes dealer’s office previously. For a few years in the UK, I kept my eye on the purchase of a Mercedes C class model. The base model was often around the £21,000 mark in the UK. The local dealer told me that the C class would start at around $170,000. Also he didn’t stock the base model so we were looking at $200,000 for a new Merc. We changed our sights and set off for the Ford dealer.

He had four cars he needed to shift from his stocks. One car was red; I’ve never liked red and even if I was buying a Lamborghini it would not be in red. They had one available which they called ‘tango’ color. This is a blend of red and orange so it doesn’t look red, but equally does not look orange. In hindsight this been a marvelous choice and it doesn’t particularly show the dirt that is picked up regularly in a dry dusty country.

By coincidence we have seen three other Ford Focus tangos on the island, probably all part of the same deal. Unfortunately, we saw one involved in a complete write-off and then there were three. At the least the driver stepped out okay.