The biggest car discounts ahead of the March plate change - how to save up to £12,000

Car dealers are offering as much as £12,000 off some new models as they look to shift stock ahead of the registration plate change.

With new ‘20’ plate registrations due to be issued from March 1, research into the biggest savings has revealed a significant increase in discounts being offered and the brands and models where buyers can land the biggest bargains.

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The average saving uncovered by What Car?’s research is 8.99 per cent but several models are being sold with discounts of more than 20 per cent.

The Fiat Tipo offers the biggest discount overall, with 28.66 per cent off - equivalent to £4,350.

While the family hatchback offers the biggest saving as a proportion of its value, the largest cash saving is on the BMW 4 Series Convertible. What Car? found savings of £11,974 (22.13 per cent) on the drop-top in 435d xDrive M Sport guise. The Nissan Qashqai - regularly on among the UK’s best sellers - is also being offered with up to £5,563 (21 per cent) off.

Top brands for discounts

BrandCash saving as % Cash savingCitroën16.44%£4431Seat15.56%£4071Nissan14.11%£3667Skoda11.68%£3222Suzuki11.61%£2375Volkswagen11.09%£3613Mercedes-Benz11.02%£5076Smart10.99%£1834BMW10.41%£4758Vauxhall9.09%£2168

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Across all brands, Citroen is offering the biggest reductions, discounting new models by 16.44 - or £4,430 on average. Other mainstream brands offering significant savings are Seat (15.56 per cent), Nissan (14.11 per cent), Skoda (11.68 per cent) and Suzuki (11.61 per cent).

At the opposite end of the scale, budget brand