My CAR has £XXXX in Add ons
My CAR has £XXXX in Add ons
Author
Discussion

mubmoh

Original Poster:

48 posts

52 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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Hi,

This could be a newbie questions but I have always been curios. When looking at cars on Autotrader, or any platform I notice that the best specced vehicles have statements such as '£12,000 in Add ons'. I know this can be calculated by looking at individual spec details and just summing up, but where do people get these figures from? Are they just made up? I am referring to people who didn't buy their car directly from the dealer themselves.



Thanks

VS02

2,411 posts

88 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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They’re usually all wrong.

samoht

7,154 posts

174 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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Presumably they have the 'build sheet' or spec code listing which options were fitted to that particular car, and a copy of the brochure for that year listing the prices, and have added them up.

I think it's a bit silly, as someone could have paid some stupid amount of money eg to have the car specially painted in a terrible colour, that wouldn't add any value to me.

Just say it's 'high spec', and then list all the individual options correctly in the full description.

h0b0

9,006 posts

224 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
quotequote all
The US has the concept of the “window sticker”. It is required on all new cars and is a physical paper that is stuck to the window of new cars. It shows the base price and the cost of all options fitted to the car.

It is possible to retrieve the original window sticker or just the details. In the example below, the details were posted in the sale listing but could easily be downloaded. This car has $30k of options. It doesn’t tell you what the buyer paid but there is little discount at Porsche.



Edited to say this car was originally sold in Canada but is now for sale in the US

Edited by h0b0 on Tuesday 10th January 01:33

ashleyman

7,284 posts

127 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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Love ads that say stuff like ‘Fully Loaded’ or ‘Top Spec’ and then you look at the photos and there are zero options and then you check the car description and it says things like ‘central locking’ on a 2020 year car.

Excellent work! The ads that have the £X,XXX in options at least get me interested over other ads with the above descriptions.

Flumpo

4,024 posts

101 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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ashleyman said:
Love ads that say stuff like ‘Fully Loaded’ or ‘Top Spec’ and then you look at the photos and there are zero options and then you check the car description and it says things like ‘central locking’ on a 2020 year car.

Excellent work! The ads that have the £X,XXX in options at least get me interested over other ads with the above descriptions.
One of the best I’ve seen was, ‘super rare spec’ jaguar xj with cloth seats. The advert suggested that was worth a premium.

Truckosaurus

13,158 posts

312 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
quotequote all
Flumpo said:
One of the best I’ve seen was, ‘super rare spec’ jaguar xj with cloth seats. The advert suggested that was worth a premium.
I might be, to a vegetarian.

Finding out options on used cars is a nightmare. At least with things like upgraded stereos people have got used to taking pictures of the branded speakers even if they don't put the words in the text for you to search on.

I think the Autotrader site pre-populates a lot of the spec which is why everything lists electric windows for example.

Lord Help You if you want to find cars fitted with 'invisible' options such as LSDs (eg. Golf GTis)

vikingaero

12,944 posts

197 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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The more chavvy dealers do this:

"This car has £582 of add ons" which turns out to be metallic paint.

I could state my car is worth £999,999, but to you today is £29,999.

Auto810graphy

1,611 posts

120 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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For most premium brands HPI and Autotrader now list factory options based on VIN along with the prices. The information is normally accurate but occasionally there are small errors or equipment packs get listed as individual options.

996Keef

435 posts

119 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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My 2008 Audi R8 has a lot of extras ticked but really they should have all been standard, looking at the car you would assume its boggo. Around 7k options on list

must be a lot of base models out there.

Aunty Pasty

786 posts

66 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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I assumed that this was more for cars where the owner had self-upgraded their car from standard to a non standard spec such as fitting a K&N filter or bigger turbo or phat exhaust etc.

joropug

3,024 posts

217 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
quotequote all
Best bet is trying to locate a sales brochure pdf online.

I recently bought an S5 and it was interesting to work out what it actually has standard, what was specced individually and what was part of a 'Pack'

for instance mine had a comfort and sound pack (one pack with multiple options), but had things like memory seats and virtual cockpit specced individually.

Audi did provide the full spec when I asked, interestingly they failed to mention half of it in the advert when I bought it - had to find out myself.

Doofus

34,080 posts

201 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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I have the original invoice for a 2001 car I own, which details the options.

List price £44,190. Options £11,142.79 (25%!) Total £55,332.79

coldel

10,790 posts

174 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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It could be a multitude of things. '20 grand spent' could be anything from someone spending stupid money on some crap aesthetic to having a factory fitted rare option which makes it very desirable.

Do your own homework and check the specs, its really that easy.

mikeyr

3,336 posts

221 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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Had an E36 a long time ago which had been fitted with £3.5k of AC Schnitzer options on top of any options they'd specced directly from the manufacturer. Which nowadays isn't much but then was about 10% of the purchase price.

Front spoiler (£364)
Rear apron (£265)
Sports mirrors (£398)
Roof spoiler (£166)
17" Type II alloys (£323 each!)
Stainless steel sport rear silencer (£613)
Lowered spring kit (£171)
AC Schnitzer chrome interior plaque
M Tech Steering wheel (airbag)
Remote BMW alarm
(subtle) Schnitzer decals

Don't they reckon Porsche owners spend upwards of £15k on options on average? I can see why owners mention it

fflump

3,363 posts

66 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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Some car manufacturers are so stingy when it comes to standard spec that the ££ in add-ons is a good way of getting a serious buyer to look further. Porsche would option steering wheels if they could so it's always good to look at what boxes were ticked rather than find the car bought new for £100k doesn't have keyless entry or heated seats.

Whataguy

1,129 posts

108 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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I had a Volvo V40 once, ex-management car.

They always used to tick crazy amounts of options on those.

My car had a base price of £24k but they had added nearly £12k of options! Panoramic sunroof, twin tone leather, DVD player, etc.

It was easy to calculate from the options price list.

When it comes to selling, they don't really add anything to the trade in value unfortunately though.

66HFM

859 posts

53 months

Tuesday 10th January 2023
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A couple of years ago I had a Mini Clubman, which was about 10 years old when I purchased it.
Surprisingly it still had the original bill of sale and the price of all of the options ticked... and the list price of each...

jdoubleu

332 posts

76 months

Thursday 12th January 2023
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HPI has a "spec check" that will show optional equipment, and list the RRP of those options. I can't vouch for how accurate it is.

Edit - just noticed I repeated what Auto810graphy said above...