I had the same experience. The dealer knew I was ready to walk, but it was as simple as "computer says no lower". I sold them a car, and saw it listed the following day. My napkin math said that the margin was close to 0 on the car in the first place,once they had paid £30 to tax it and a salesperson an hour to talk to someone and take their details.
Right, that's exactly the point. There was almost 0 money in the pure sale. All of the money is in high interest loans (via kickback from the financing), waterproofing treatments, "extra" insurance, service plans managed in house. The profit on a car night be negligible, but a cheap car sold with gap insuranxe is likely a days salary!