What's the longest a dealer has kept a car for unsold?

[Viper_Larry]

A local independent has a BMW Z4 for sale that was for sale before we moved out of the town 4 years ago and is STILL on the forecourt. I estimate 5 or 6 years its been for sale there. So unless it's the owners car, but right now it's back in the showroom. Used to be up for £15k IIRC and now under 10k

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_popup.js...

So just how long will he keep it I wonder?

[Bungleaio]

Thats very expensive and not all that desirable spec. I think he'll be keeping it for a while yet.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Viper_Larry said:

A local independent has a BMW Z4 for sale that was for sale before we moved out of the town 4 years ago and is STILL on the forecourt. I estimate 5 or 6 years its been for sale there. So unless it's the owners car, but right now it's back in the showroom. Used to be up for £15k IIRC and now under 10k

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_popup.js...

So just how long will he keep it I wonder?

Blimey, that's a long time for a mainstream model - are you SURE it's the same car, not similar ones?

There's one I see in Classic Car type mags - I think the dealer is 'School Garage' or something?

Anyway he's had a silver Ferrari 308 GT4 for sale in his ads for easily 6 years - still up for the same price as when I first saw it - £18,500.

It's described with phrases like 'rarely do you see them like this' and 'the nicest one we have ever seen.'

I would add 'rarely do you see them for such an unrealistic, stratospheric price in such an unloved, unpopular colour'

[CYMR0]

Would have been a pretty high miler for a car like that, too, if only two or three years old when first put on sale ...

Could it not have been sold and come back into stock when the buyer traded it in at the same place?

That said, apparently this has been in stock for over ten years:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/audi/...

[barmonkey]

I'm almost certain this Primera was for sale when I bought my current car in Sept 2009:

http://www.bartontownley.co.uk/useddisplay.asp?ref...

[Ozzie Osmond]

A prudent trader would eliminate the emotion.

Namely: unsold after 90 days = off to auction. At least convert the problem into cash.

The alternatives are all unpleasant; if you have the nerve to face them, either you

• paid too much for it
• deeply unattractive colour/specification
• asking too much for it.

And in every case the answer is the same. No, you're not a very good second hand car trader....

[2ky]

http://www.jlscars.co.uk/vehicle_info.php?products...

This has been for sale for a good 6-7 years at a local garage. He also has a couple of others that seem to have been on the forecourt for years(Clio V6,Sierra cosworth,E-type jag,Bentley).
The Merc was advertised as the directors own car and over 100k new!

[rohrl]

I just compared the ads in the back of the Sept 2008 copy of Motorsport with this month's issue.

An Oxfordshire classic dealer has at least three cars still in stock since then, valued between £14K and £27K, all having appreciated in value in the dealer's estimation.

Maybe some of these non-selling cars are for sale on behalf of customers or as said above dealers will shift a car on through the trade if it doesn't sell within 90 days or so.

[PaulB81]

Theres that dealership, I think its in a America that was abandonned in the 60's with all the cars still left in it. I think the owerner died and his wife kept it preserved exactly as it was

Actually, just found it and pretty much every one of my facts above was totally wrong

here http://jalopnik.com/5632032/the-mystery-of-flickrs...

[iva cosworth]

I worked in a SAAB dealer and a few overpriced tired used cars hung about for 2-3 years

but not as bad as some posts here.

Some even became peoples company cars as they REALLY wouldn't shift.

Automatic 99 with lime green paint anyone ?

I even remember the reg .How sad is that ?GGK 270 T where are you now ?

[CraigyMc]

How long was the Park Lane McLaren F1 in the dealer's window for?

C

[redgriff500]

Depends on the dealer.

I love the fact the the people who work for modern dealerships assume all dealers work on the same principals they do.

My Dad deals in classics has around 50 in stock from £700 - £200K, he owns all the cars, he owns the facility he sells them from, he has no direct employees.

If a car hangs around for a while it really doesn't matter or have any real cost (perhaps 2% in lost interest).

I suspect he has some that he's owned for 5+yrs and never even got around to advertising.

[Viper_Larry]

Definitely not been sold and come back. It used to be a joke before we moved but I only passed the garage occassionally, since we moved 4 years ago I pass it every week and have a chuckle.

55k miles - must have been really high mileage when it was first up but now is reasonable. Still over priced...

[eldar]

redgriff500 said:

Depends on the dealer.

I love the fact the the people who work for modern dealerships assume all dealers work on the same principals they do.

My Dad deals in classics has around 50 in stock from £700 - £200K, he owns all the cars, he owns the facility he sells them from, he has no direct employees.

If a car hangs around for a while it really doesn't matter or have any real cost (perhaps 2% in lost interest).

I suspect he has some that he's owned for 5+yrs and never even got around to advertising.

Sounds odd to me. 50 cars in stock, say average £3k, plus the £200k one, thats £350k stock, which is going to cost you 5%, so £17k, plus somewhere to store 50 cars with some security, plus insurance, rates, utilities, staffing, advertising, VAT and depreciation and working 24x7. I'd guess £200 per day, every day.

Must be huge margins!

[AndrewW-G]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Blimey, that's a long time for a mainstream model - are you SURE it's the same car, not similar ones?

There's one I see in Classic Car type mags - I think the dealer is 'School Garage' or something?

Anyway he's had a silver Ferrari 308 GT4 for sale in his ads for easily 6 years - still up for the same price as when I first saw it - £18,500.

It's described with phrases like 'rarely do you see them like this' and 'the nicest one we have ever seen.'

I would add 'rarely do you see them for such an unrealistic, stratospheric price in such an unloved, unpopular colour'

Would that be the Mondial 8 he's had for almost a decade? . . . . . over priced by £10k!

[k-ink]

It seems clear some of these dealers are not good business people!

[Snowboy]

Garage near me has had the same Merc SLK in stock for at least 6 years.
A little bluey-purple auto job.

I occasionally wonder if it’s some sort of tax deductable asset jobby that he keeps on the books for tax reasons.
The sort of thing he can just depreciate at tax time as losses to let him get cash out the company.
Or perhaps it’s used as collateral for loans to buy other cars.

It just seems nuts that he’d keep it as stock for sale for that long.

[Captain Muppet]

Ozzie Osmond said:

A prudent trader would eliminate the emotion.

Namely: unsold after 90 days = off to auction. At least convert the problem into cash.

There was a mk2 MR2 in 90-day-yellow that spent two years moving slowly round all the secondhand dealers in Norwich.

I bought a blue one with a knackered clutch instead, because clutches are cheaper than re-sprays.

[Froomee]

I went to buy a Z4M Roadster that a dealer had owned for 9 months or so and was going to purchase for £12500 and trade in my ST for £10.5k. Didn't buy it as the service history wasn't present, he was dragging his heals and then wanted me to pay £300 to cover warranty cost for the first month until the BMW one kicked in.

I got my deposit back and a week later I sold my ST for £12k. The car was readvertised for £14500 with FSH in Jan................ 3 months later its still there (total of a year at least)

If you are a dealer and a car sits there your money could have been invested in the bank @ minimum 2% interest or in another car that would sell so you are losing one way or another especially considering inflation was about 5% last year.

[Biker's Nemesis]

There's s guy on the Focus Rs site that bought one from a dealer that only had deliver miles on it.

It had stood in his showroom for nearly 9 years. The guy who has bought it has it in his garage that was custom built in a big plastic bubble. He still hasn't driven it. (it was delivered by lorry)