Elise prices. What's going on?
Discussion
Highway is correct we very seldom do Finance on the Lotus cars unless its a V6
Prices are under pressure for these older cars due to cost of living/mortgages increasing etc the guy that 10 years ago had some fun money probably doesn't now. Add in insurance which is often now quite expensive and the fact is that a lot of people just dont have 20k for a toy. People with toy car money are now at 50/60k buy in prices. I think people live in fear of getting a bill as well so the older cars become even less appealing.
In reality everything is struggling at the moment the big cars that need finance are falling say no more about the Emiras dropping down 30k .Cars have enjoyed a status as investments since 20099. In the Lotus world this is less so although prices were solid for 10 years before Covid but bear in mind they are still not at pre Covid prices yet. I dont think there is a car on the market today that's a good investment in the short term. Medium to long term is very very rosy but there's no point sugar coating that the market is in a dire state at the moment but you need to take a long view. I know my RGB is going to be a smart buy and I also have a GT4RS coming which is a generational standout but a terrible investment to buy new today.
Prices are under pressure for these older cars due to cost of living/mortgages increasing etc the guy that 10 years ago had some fun money probably doesn't now. Add in insurance which is often now quite expensive and the fact is that a lot of people just dont have 20k for a toy. People with toy car money are now at 50/60k buy in prices. I think people live in fear of getting a bill as well so the older cars become even less appealing.
In reality everything is struggling at the moment the big cars that need finance are falling say no more about the Emiras dropping down 30k .Cars have enjoyed a status as investments since 20099. In the Lotus world this is less so although prices were solid for 10 years before Covid but bear in mind they are still not at pre Covid prices yet. I dont think there is a car on the market today that's a good investment in the short term. Medium to long term is very very rosy but there's no point sugar coating that the market is in a dire state at the moment but you need to take a long view. I know my RGB is going to be a smart buy and I also have a GT4RS coming which is a generational standout but a terrible investment to buy new today.
Had a day off today. Called one main dealer, they were busy and their Exige 410 specialist was on annual leave. Went to another, stood in the showroom for 15 mins, not a soul anywhere, wandered around, sat in a new Emira at £90k(!) and looked long and hard at a yellow Emira and Exige 420. Went home. It may be tough to sell but it's no walk in the park to buy either it seems.
Jamie is an obliging chap and Bell and Colvill.
Must be a challenge for those in car sales, especially specialist stuff. For everyone entering the showroom,
Without a pre booked appt, who may be a serious prospect I envisage there are no end of time wasters. Telling them apart probably requires some skill.
Must be a challenge for those in car sales, especially specialist stuff. For everyone entering the showroom,
Without a pre booked appt, who may be a serious prospect I envisage there are no end of time wasters. Telling them apart probably requires some skill.
Frimley111R said:
Had a day off today. Called one main dealer, they were busy and their Exige 410 specialist was on annual leave. Went to another, stood in the showroom for 15 mins, not a soul anywhere, wandered around, sat in a new Emira at £90k(!) and looked long and hard at a yellow Emira and Exige 420. Went home. It may be tough to sell but it's no walk in the park to buy either it seems.
If you want to appear serious you really need to book an appointment for a specific car. No sales guy is going to prioritise a walk in hardly any cars of this type are sold in this way any more. fridaypassion said:
Frimley111R said:
Had a day off today. Called one main dealer, they were busy and their Exige 410 specialist was on annual leave. Went to another, stood in the showroom for 15 mins, not a soul anywhere, wandered around, sat in a new Emira at £90k(!) and looked long and hard at a yellow Emira and Exige 420. Went home. It may be tough to sell but it's no walk in the park to buy either it seems.
If you want to appear serious you really need to book an appointment for a specific car. No sales guy is going to prioritise a walk in hardly any cars of this type are sold in this way any more. We went in to Ferrari garage with a nearly new 992, got ignored.
Went to Hyundai garage to look at new model Ionic 5 with an Ionic 5, got ignored.
Went to Polestar, drove loads of cars, sales guy didn’t have info, said he’d call, didn’t.
I think the art of customer service / selling has been lost.
bennno said:
He said he’d called one dealer?
We went in to Ferrari garage with a nearly new 992, got ignored.
Went to Hyundai garage to look at new model Ionic 5 with an Ionic 5, got ignored.
Went to Polestar, drove loads of cars, sales guy didn’t have info, said he’d call, didn’t.
I think the art of customer service / selling has been lost.
Re read his post. And you're doing it wrong. Nobody going round kicking tyres buys cars this is why slowly dealers are all closing on Sundays and Saturdays might not be far behind. We went in to Ferrari garage with a nearly new 992, got ignored.
Went to Hyundai garage to look at new model Ionic 5 with an Ionic 5, got ignored.
Went to Polestar, drove loads of cars, sales guy didn’t have info, said he’d call, didn’t.
I think the art of customer service / selling has been lost.
Especially with a Hyundai or polestar just buy one online you might want to check out the rear seat space in person but they are appliances with 100 YouTube reviews telling you every detail there literally no point going round all the dealerships it's just a waste of life. Go take the Mrs or kids out instead for gawds sake!
You'll very very rarely be taken seriously as a walk in. Last I heard our local Ferrari dealer have a weekend crew of greeters just to gatekeep and pass serious enquires on. Great system that is polite and attentive but without wasting the time of key staff. Modern Ferrari sales don't give two hoots if you turn up in a base 911 or whatever I'm pretty sure when I bought a 458 I went in my work clobber in my van. These guys just want to know what car you want - your PX scenario and your financial position first then you might get a test drive. They all quite rightly qualify leads and will sell the car majority of cars without any test drive and in many cases will never even meet their customer in person.
Edited by fridaypassion on Wednesday 28th August 21:07
Yes, to clarify, I did a walk in a month or so ago and got told they couldn't help/bother with me.
So, next time I swapped a few emails with a salesperson there and then got some finance quotes from them. I then called to say I had the day free but the person wasn't there. The person I spoke to said he was stacked and could open the car up but nothing else.
The second place was a walk-in again but 15 mins in the showroon without a soul around was possibly worse than there being one there and telling me they CBA.
I do appreciate it is a tough job in sales but everyone knows the deal.
So, next time I swapped a few emails with a salesperson there and then got some finance quotes from them. I then called to say I had the day free but the person wasn't there. The person I spoke to said he was stacked and could open the car up but nothing else.
The second place was a walk-in again but 15 mins in the showroon without a soul around was possibly worse than there being one there and telling me they CBA.
I do appreciate it is a tough job in sales but everyone knows the deal.
fridaypassion said:
Re read his post. And you're doing it wrong. Nobody going round kicking tyres buys cars this is why slowly dealers are all closing on Sundays and Saturdays might not be far behind.
Especially with a Hyundai or polestar just buy one online you might want to check out the rear seat space in person but they are appliances with 100 YouTube reviews telling you every detail there literally no point going round all the dealerships it's just a waste of life. Go take the Mrs or kids out instead for gawds sake!
You'll very very rarely be taken seriously as a walk in. Last I heard our local Ferrari dealer have a weekend crew of greeters just to gatekeep and pass serious enquires on. Great system that is polite and attentive but without wasting the time of key staff. Modern Ferrari sales don't give two hoots if you turn up in a base 911 or whatever I'm pretty sure when I bought a 458 I went in my work clobber in my van. These guys just want to know what car you want - your PX scenario and your financial position first then you might get a test drive. They all quite rightly qualify leads and will sell the car majority of cars without any test drive and in many cases will never even meet their customer in person.
Disagree, plenty do, if you want to sit in, or drive a car, to check it’s specification or condition if its a used one.Especially with a Hyundai or polestar just buy one online you might want to check out the rear seat space in person but they are appliances with 100 YouTube reviews telling you every detail there literally no point going round all the dealerships it's just a waste of life. Go take the Mrs or kids out instead for gawds sake!
You'll very very rarely be taken seriously as a walk in. Last I heard our local Ferrari dealer have a weekend crew of greeters just to gatekeep and pass serious enquires on. Great system that is polite and attentive but without wasting the time of key staff. Modern Ferrari sales don't give two hoots if you turn up in a base 911 or whatever I'm pretty sure when I bought a 458 I went in my work clobber in my van. These guys just want to know what car you want - your PX scenario and your financial position first then you might get a test drive. They all quite rightly qualify leads and will sell the car majority of cars without any test drive and in many cases will never even meet their customer in person.
Edited by fridaypassion on Wednesday 28th August 21:07
I’ve brought some very expensive cars and just had them delivered, equally sales guys sat at their desks ignoring walk in customers are missing an opportunity. Takes 3-5 minutes to sound out a customer and / or to initiate a potentially long term beneficial relationship.
I brought about 10 BMW’s from one very good sales guy, through 3 different dealerships. I’ve seen case studies in service excellence based on dealerships which have near 100% repeat business success - it’s not by chance.
Sales is being disaggregated by the internet and agency model - dealer sales teams need to be more on the ball than every, but few are.
I purchased my s1 Elise 111s last October via Pistonheads, private sale, just over 26k miles for £21,800, although I had some work done prior to purchase by a specialist, split the £1400 bill with the seller, had a C service earlier this year and I bought an OEM hardtop a few months ago. I have no intention of selling until I am unable to get in it 
Edited by paul13 on Monday 2nd September 20:45
It is the facelift model , so I think an S3 body but with S2 running gear , I found it really tricky doing to lotus driver training at Hethel as I kept hitting the rev limiter in their cars , it didn’t feel right , that’s when one of the engineers told me I had an extra 800rpm or so , definitely more fun with more rpm
Currently running an Evora 400 but fancy a change to an Elise or possibly VX220, so reading this thread with interest, How closely are VX220 values tied to the Elise or is it a separate market? There seem far fewer of them around, so are they likely to be a safer bet in terms of residuals, or a worse bet because of the badge snobbery?
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