As Brits hit the high street for post Christmas sales, new research has revealed an emerging ‘haggling class’ – a demographic of savvy shoppers, willing to negotiate on price throughout the year. Where once traditional British reserve would have considered talking about money a taboo, 1 in 10 (10.3 per cent) Brits have driven a better deal in the last month alone. Over the course of a year, this clued-up clan claim to have saved an average of £1,347.19. The most popular item to haggle was a car, followed by an entertainment package, holiday, mobile phone plan, and house, respectively.

The study of 2,000 consumers by car buying service webuyanycar.com shows the penny-wise middle classes are the most eager to barter down for the best deal. One in three earners (29 per cent) bringing home £30,000 – £60,000 a year have bartered in the last month, with the average individual in the ‘haggler class’ earning £40,843 per year.

In the much smaller bracket of top earners pulling in £60,000 plus, driving a bargain is more of an established fact of life, with 39 per cent of the monetary elite admitting to getting money off purchases.

Britain’s hagglers are most likely to be located in Gloucester, where the average yearly savings negotiated are five times more than the national average at £6,683.75. Newcastle and Southampton rank respective second and third.

The average age of the best bargainers is 52 with men and women equally as likely to be active in driving down prices wherever they can.

A clear sign of the times, 62.6 per cent felt compelled to negotiate because of the cost of living. A quarter (24.4 per cent) of those surveyed also attributed their negotiation prowess to trips abroad, while 64.4 per cent liked the financial ‘rush’ of getting money off.

Yet while this emerging haggling class is making big savings, 89.7 per cent of Brits are still failing to barter a better price on a regular basis.

This is despite Brits realising that certain products are overpriced in anticipation of negotiation. For example 77.0 per cent of the 2,000 consumers interviewed felt car dealers up-weighted the ticket price for that reason.

This January, webuyanycar.com is arming consumers with the negotiation skills they need to secure the price they deserve, empowering through the ‘Negotiation Academy’ – a series of live events and web-based resources available at http://www.webuyanycar.com/academy.

Richard Evans, webuyanycar.com comments: “It’s inspiring to see Brits finally shake off the shackles of the time-honoured financial stiff upper lip and begin to negotiate for the bargains there to be had. However this haggling class is still in the minority. Armed with a few basic skills, the 90 per cent currently struggling, can be transformed into savvy shoppers saving the equivalent of 5% of the average worker’s £27,000 pay each year.”