Reducing supply of used Vantages?

[nickv8]

I'm ashamed to admit that since taking the plunge in May with my first AM, I've kept an eye on Autotrader. I've always been checking <25k mile manual Vantage (base V8 to GT8) examples, I suppose to reassure myself my guess of not buying into a depreciating nightmare was roughly true.

I'm not connected with the motor sales trade so there could be many factors at play, but I am definitely noticing a reduction in available stock across the U.K. for the first time since I started looking seriously a couple of years ago. Apart from the relative abundant number of GT8's which don't appear to be shifting over the past months, there also appears to be a definite halt or even slight climb in prices.

Now that the last supply of Vantages have been allotted, are we on the cusp of a transition from "should have been replaced years ago" image to "this'll be a classic and end of era car"?

I think the availability of a manual in the replacement Vantage is a good thing, but I'm really appreciating the relative simplicity of the original Vantage. It just feels and looks so right and timeless. Really glad I got one when I did

Still room to be proven wrong but interested to learn of thoughts on this!

[rovcallum]

I reckon there are more and more garage queens than ever, thus less on the road and less being driven.
It's a catch 22 - I bought mine to enjoy but will knock some value off it with the extra miles. Oh well......!!!!

[RL17]

The UK registrations in 2006 were high and then fell each year by 250-300 until 2010 when stabilised at around 400 with a bit of a small uplift recently. (Vantage combined per How Many Left).

20-30k on a 2006-2009 still pretty low mileage (typical for non-daily drivers without many long road trips).

Given the high percentage of Vantages registered 2009 and before (around 60% of cars up to 2016) is the reduction due to these cars even with low annual mileages creeping over the 25 k limit and a higher rate than more recent years (originally sold in much lower numbers) ones coming up for sale?

[Jon39]

RL17 said:

The UK registrations in 2006 were high and then fell each year by 250-300 until 2010 when stabilised at around 400 with a bit of a small uplift recently. (Vantage combined per How Many Left).

What the figure for 2009 does not reveal, is it was a time of difficulty for Aston Martin.
In 2008 there were many cancelled orders, due to the economic crash.
There were redundancies at Gaydon.
Quite a number of the 2009 new registrations, were 4.3 models built prior to September 2008.
The reality therefore, was fewer new Vantages were built in 2009, than the registrations indicate.

As already mentioned, not too many of the high production year Vantages, will be under 25,000 miles now.

[sundayjumper]

My recently acquired early 2007 will reach 25k miles soon, and I will only do 1-2k miles pa in it. I never regard cars as investments but if it maintains its value I'll be more than happy

[NickXX]

RL17 said:

The UK registrations in 2006 were high and then fell each year by 250-300 until 2010 when stabilised at around 400 with a bit of a small uplift recently. (Vantage combined per How Many Left).

20-30k on a 2006-2009 still pretty low mileage (typical for non-daily drivers without many long road trips).

Given the high percentage of Vantages registered 2009 and before (around 60% of cars up to 2016) is the reduction due to these cars even with low annual mileages creeping over the 25 k limit and a higher rate than more recent years (originally sold in much lower numbers) ones coming up for sale?

Looking at howmanyleft suggests there are only around 500 v8 vantage roadsters on the road. Surely that can't be right?

[ace of the base]

Each to their own but I can't understand the point of having a car like an Aston Martin and not driving it in the hope that it will maintain a certain value.
It's supposed to be something that is fun to drive not a museum piece.
They work much better if you drive them regularly in the way they were intended to be used.

[shinjuku]

Ace is bang on.

I'd go out and drive mine now if I didn't have other things to do, but I will be driving it to work in the morning anyway

[bogie]

NickXX said:

RL17 said:

The UK registrations in 2006 were high and then fell each year by 250-300 until 2010 when stabilised at around 400 with a bit of a small uplift recently. (Vantage combined per How Many Left).

20-30k on a 2006-2009 still pretty low mileage (typical for non-daily drivers without many long road trips).

Given the high percentage of Vantages registered 2009 and before (around 60% of cars up to 2016) is the reduction due to these cars even with low annual mileages creeping over the 25 k limit and a higher rate than more recent years (originally sold in much lower numbers) ones coming up for sale?

Looking at howmanyleft suggests there are only around 500 v8 vantage roadsters on the road. Surely that can't be right?

In the UK, it could be right...about 4-5k total Vantages in UK, 10% Roadsteres .....dont forget, Aston only went past 10k units of all Vantage derivatives a couple of years back ....worldwide, inc US, China etc

either that or many Roadsters are not registered as such on the V5, maybe just "Vantage V8"

[Herbs]

Doesnt sound right to me (although I'm not saying you are wrong). I have a N400 roadster which is 1 of 240 made - if there were only 500 in total then almost 1 in 2 roadsters would be N400's.

I've only ever seen 2 others come up for sale so makes me think there must be more standard roadsters out there.

[RobDown]

Herbs said:

Doesnt sound right to me (although I'm not saying you are wrong). I have a N400 roadster which is 1 of 240 made - if there were only 500 in total then almost 1 in 2 roadsters would be N400's.

I've only ever seen 2 others come up for sale so makes me think there must be more standard roadsters out there.

I don't know how widely available the n400 was,, but keep in mind the UK only accounts for just over 20% of Aston Martin sales generally, so you might only expect 50 out of a 240 car run to be UK (assuming it followed the global pattern of sales)

[nickv8]

rovcallum said:

I reckon there are more and more garage queens than ever, thus less on the road and less being driven.
It's a catch 22 - I bought mine to enjoy but will knock some value off it with the extra miles. Oh well......!!!!

Oh - I couldn't agree more. There is a certain academic element to keeping an eye on prices. I utterly think that buying any car of this ilk (let's face it, nobody can ever claim that an AM on the drive is "essential") is all about smiles/miles. Yes, they are gorgeous to stare at on a daily basis, but the "miles" bit is critical to making the most of the ownership experience.

Thankfully these cars are as good to drive as they are to gaze at

[BassFlyer]

I do love looking at mine but prefer to drive it. I am reckoning on 10k per annum so any excuse for a blat!

[shinjuku]

10k a year here, too. 35k now... loving every mile. Commute is not so bad and I'm not sure I could do it in a Micra or something. You only live once.