Has the arse really fallen out of the used car market?!

[jsc15]

RX8's are an odd one. If they had a "normal" engine I think the secondhand market would embrace them a bit more, a la 350Z, but they seem to have a stigma hanging over them due to MPG, engine quirks, and oil change regularity

It's a shame really as I was this )( close to getting one when they came out, but clearly I dodged a bullet on the depreciation

[NiceCupOfTea]

Anybody else gone to the classifieds to salivate over a 530i Sport at those prices?

[sleep envy]

[Dunk76]

Witchfinder said:

The problem is that a used car is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. I reckon my lovely ST220 is worth next to nothing now, so I'm going to just have to keep it.

Which is the conclusion I drew a while back with the B3.

Anything a little unusual and of the fuller cyclinder capacity? It'll be peanuts then.

As DeR mentioned, I have a theory that the actual value of anything like this is nil. Nobody will buy my B3, therefore it is worthless.

It's supposed value is somewhere between £7,000 and £9,000, depending on a variety of things, but in reality?

Nah.

Still, not an issue, as the flipside of the plummeting market is that I can supplement the old crate with something equally irrelevant.

Such as an E65 745i, maybe an X5, or a W12 Phaeton, or an E55 AMG, or whatever...

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

[bowboy]

swerni said:

A friend of mine was looking at chopping her low millage RX8 (54 plate) in against an MX5.
This is the same dealer who sold her the RX8 in the first place.

She was offered £7k.

As you can imagine, she didn't take him up on the offer

Edited by swerni on Saturday 19th July 21:11

Thats a good part ex, I was offered £7k for my 55 plate RX8, Ended up selling it privately for £8k.. Only took 6 months to sell it privately!

[chris_w666]

f1stoxfan said:

sleep envy said:

just as a laugh can one of the traders please give me a price for an A3 2.0 TDi sport, manual with leather, 54 plate with 40k (just serviced and needs nothing)

Sounds about 9k only because it has leather

As a comparison, what would a late 06 plate 1.6tdci fiesta zetec s, In black, with leather and AC, 30k miles, FSH, also needing nothing but a valet be?

Trade and retail.

[sniff petrol]

Dunk76 said:

...Nobody will buy my B3, therefore it is worthless....£400 VED is a nonsense anyway....

Thought Alpinas were a 'small' manufacturer so get classed at £185 VED?

[lost in espace]

There seem to be a fair few low mileage RX8's on ebay about £8.5k, no bids on them ever appear. I wonder if I can lpg one, now theres a challenge!

[Strawman]

Dunk76 said:

Witchfinder said:

The problem is that
a used car is only
worth what people
are willing to pay
for it. I reckon my
lovely ST220 is worth next to
nothing now, so I'm
going to just have
to keep it.

Which is the conclusion I drew a
while back with the B3.



Anything a little
unusual and of the fuller
cyclinder capacity?
It'll be peanuts then.


As DeR mentioned, I have a theory that
the actual value of anything like this
is nil.
Nobody will buy my
B3, therefore it is
worthless.


It's supposed value
is somewhere between £7,000 and £9,000, depending on a
variety of things, but in reality?



Nah.


Still, not an issue,

as the flipside of
the plummeting
market is that I can
supplement the old
crate with something equally irrelevant.


Such as an E65 745i,
maybe an X5, or a
W12 Phaeton, or an E55 AMG, or
whatever...




£400 VED is a
nonsense anyway, and
the public at large working themselves
into a state about
it is almost
hysterical.


I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;


a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly
400 miles of
motoring


or



b) One 255/35/ZR18
Michelin Pilot Sport
tyre



or



c) two decent meals
out with the Wife

+1
It will take a while but markets will settle down again. The problem is that you have 3 factors, uncertainty over how VED will effect car prices long term, rising crude oil prices are they a speculative bubble or just a taste of future trends, the economic downturn / credit crunch.

Here in Ireland tax on anything over 3litres was over £1000 annualy and before the boom cars were mostly modest but when people started to make good money so the quality of cars improved. Now they've launched a new emissions based tax and confusion reigns, but it's still modest compared to say the depreciation on a new car.

[Plug550]

Dunk76 said:

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

I quite agree. However, not everyone is as well heeled as your good self. One might also consider:-
£200 is a 100% increase in duty.
£200 is a weeks wages if you are on the minimum wage.
£200 is 2 weeks groceries for the average family
£200 is almost 6 years duty on a Clio Diesel.
£200 is a fine pair of Church's brogues...

[sniff petrol]

Dunk76 said:

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

That's how the Government want you to think about it, that it's nothing much, not enough to make you change your habits and just pay up.

[disad-vantage-d]

sniff petrol said:

Dunk76 said:

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

That's how the Government want you to think about it, that it's nothing much, not enough to make you change your habits and just pay up.

Exactly!! This should never be accepted. If it is, it gives them carte blanche!!

[Fiddlemesticks]

I am abroad and not familiar with the new rules, but is the Golf Gti the OP was looking to buy also affected by the depreciation issue due to its engine size/VED cost?

And has it therefore fallen in cost lately also?

To the OP, i can understand your annoyance, but you wanted maybe 5-6000 for the BMW, but isnt the Golf at 17k only worth 12k in part ex this time next year? So not only have you lost your 3k extra you would have got but also the full amount of the BMW in due course?

Keep the BMW as you feel very smug about it in the long run. i think the dealer did you a favour!

[Darkslider]

Dunk76 said:

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

Two decent meals? Last I checked you could get a hundred Happy Meals for £200

[Xaero]

glad I have a pair of old cars in a time like this, neither have dropped in price

[[TW]Fox]

A big problem with this car that nobody has picked up on is that its absolutely base spec.

This isn't as bad as it sounds as like you say Sport spec is pretty high as standard anyway (The rain sensor is standard) but most buyers of this sort of car, rightly or wrongly, want at least leather. And there are plenty on the market with leather.

This means that rather than pay less for one without leather, they simply ignore the cars without it. This means there is a far smaller market for a 530i Sport with cloth/alcantara interior.

This is probably why you've had the problem you've had. FWIW I've had higher offers for mine (Although I'm not dreaming of parting with it) from the trade when test driving cars and although mine is 6 months newer, it also has double your mileage.

I really think the lack of leather is what is causing the problem here, combined of course with the lack of interest in this sort of car.

Frankly, keep it. It's a damn good car. I actually went for a Golf GTI test drive a few weeks ago and as good as it was my 530i Sport felt the better car when I got back into it. I'd certainly not dream of changing it for one. Incidently the VW dealer offered a £1k discount on the GTI and £3500 for my 530.

Edited by [TW]Fox on Sunday 20th July 00:33

[Pheo]

jsc15 said:

RX8's are an odd one. If they had a "normal" engine I think the secondhand market would embrace them a bit more, a la 350Z, but they seem to have a stigma hanging over them due to MPG, engine quirks, and oil change regularity

It's a shame really as I was this )( close to getting one when they came out, but clearly I dodged a bullet on the depreciation

On te flip side thats why I'm looking at one for my next car. They're going for peanuts, all considered.

[Jaguar steve]

Dunk76 said:

Witchfinder said:

The problem is that a used car is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. I reckon my lovely ST220 is worth next to nothing now, so I'm going to just have to keep it.

Which is the conclusion I drew a while back with the B3.

Anything a little unusual and of the fuller cyclinder capacity? It'll be peanuts then.

As DeR mentioned, I have a theory that the actual value of anything like this is nil. Nobody will buy my B3, therefore it is worthless.

It's supposed value is somewhere between £7,000 and £9,000, depending on a variety of things, but in reality?

Nah.

Still, not an issue, as the flipside of the plummeting market is that I can supplement the old crate with something equally irrelevant.

Such as an E65 745i, maybe an X5, or a W12 Phaeton, or an E55 AMG, or whatever...

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

All very true, but £200 is a lot if you havn't got it, and you can't afford to swap your barge for somthing cheaper 'cos it's worth fk all.

[Dunk76]

sniff petrol said:

Dunk76 said:

£400 VED is a nonsense anyway, and the public at large working themselves into a state about it is almost hysterical.

I mean, the £200 increase is the same as;

a) two tanks of petrol, or roughly 400 miles of motoring

or

b) One 255/35/ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sport tyre

or

c) two decent meals out with the Wife

That's how the Government want you to think about it, that it's nothing much, not enough to make you change your habits and just pay up.

Yeah, but it isn't much is it?

If you're tearing around in a Phaeton/Cayenne/760iL/etc, then £200 really is insignificant.

Similarly, if you're a hard-up family with a petrol People Carrier, then a mild bit of cutting back will realise £200 - even if you just avoid driving the thing for 400 unnecessary miles during the year.

It's a case of weathering the storm until someone in Govt sees sense and scraps 'improved' system.

[sniff petrol]

Dunk76 said:

It's a case of weathering the storm until someone in Govt sees sense and scraps 'improved' system.

I wouldn't hold your breath.