12C Buying Price Assistance

12C Buying Price Assistance

Author
Discussion

AdamR83

Original Poster:

22 posts

70 months

Monday 24th June 2019
quotequote all
Hi guys,

My first foray into the world of McLaren (hopefully) and I'm looking to call on the collective knowledge of PH please biggrin

I'm cool with the warranty stuff, the depreciation, etc - I just want to have a solid car that I can enjoy.

I've read and heard all the recent blurb about "buyer's market" but unsure what this actually means in my position - what will dealers offer in order to shift a car?

The one I'm looking at is a 62 plate 12C Spider up at 90k. It was a McLaren launch car so has many option boxes ticked (carbon key backs, carbon seat backs, carbon diffuser and splitter, etc) so the spec is pretty desirable I would say. It drives spot on and has all the history to back this up. Appreciate it will have been nailed in the early years of its life, but I am confident any issues would have been discovered and sorted out by now.

The dealer has had it since October last year, had it serviced since, and I can see the price has been revised a few times on eBay - it was up at 96k in February, for example. The car has done reasonable miles between MOTs (~1800) and will be inspected by Thorney Motorsport before sale. The seller is also prepared to use John for the warranty rather than Warrantywise or someone similar (for info - Warrantywise were quoting £2.5k+VAT for 12 months).

We had agreed a deal in principle to trade in my F430 against it, but I have done some more digging and found a couple of places willing to buy this off me for not far off the trade in value (only £2k less). So, now I'm wondering if being a cash buyer might put me in a better position overall.

Also, niggling me is the question of why hasn't the car sold? Been too expensive up until now? Launch car putting people off? Been sat too long?

Any thoughts and experiences from similar situations would be gratefully received.

Cheers!
Adam



Edited by AdamR83 on Monday 24th June 13:19


Edited by AdamR83 on Monday 24th June 13:27

Drl22

767 posts

66 months

Monday 24th June 2019
quotequote all
From watching the 12c market a little myself I’ve seen a lot of cars sit for a long time, even the well specced ones. I think this is because the cars still command quite high running costs despite their “lower” price these days.

My experience of cash buys is that there is often less flexibility. You are basically giving the dealer less room to make money. They are only making their margin on the car you buy from them and not the one you trade in too. However, that’s not to say that the deal you can get with cash won’t work out better if you can get the private value you want. I always thrash out the details of a cash deal first then ask the question about trade in second and weigh it up.

Good luck they are awesome cars.

jamieo

180 posts

213 months

Monday 24th June 2019
quotequote all
Cash buyer will always help you.

Go look at, and talk to, Alastair Bols. I know he has a great 12C in at the moment

12pack

1,559 posts

169 months

Tuesday 25th June 2019
quotequote all
jamieo said:
Cash buyer will always help you.
Not really - compared to finance, or if the dealer actually knows if they can do well with your part ex.

familyguy1

778 posts

133 months

Tuesday 25th June 2019
quotequote all
why not speak to the dealer and see if cash or finance, would help the deal.

CTE

1,488 posts

241 months

Tuesday 25th June 2019
quotequote all
If you are not worried about depreciation (which these and all cars will) etc, just get the best p/x deal you can and get on with it before the summer is over. The car is a noticeable step un on an F430, and a better more rounded car than a 458...oh yes and quicker! Oh yes and there are lots of high end cars sitting around these days, this is nothing unusual.
I`d concentrate on getting it checked over by Thorneys and any upgrades or issues sorted within the deal...and get his warranty for the first year.

indapendentlee

403 posts

100 months

Tuesday 25th June 2019
quotequote all
Is it the Ice Silver one? if so lovely colour in real life - was P1 Job 1 colour and a launch colour for 570GT. That or fire black for me when the time comes!

AdamR83

Original Poster:

22 posts

70 months

Thursday 27th June 2019
quotequote all
Thanks for all your comments chaps (and chapesses?)! A mix of re-affirming what I'd already worked out and some good suggestions, too.

It is the Ice Silver one Lee, yes, and the colour is lovely in the flesh. Very understated and a great brilliance to it in the light. I really love the oranges and reds but there's only one other at the budget I've set myself and that's been sat for over a year, has a cruddy MOT history and the dealer just put the price up by 5k!

I would have liked to pop to see Alastair but it's a 10 hour round trip (there are people up North have money, who knew? laugh) - also not keen on black for some reason, perhaps it's because of the outgoing vehicles colour being the same. That one he has does look great though, loving the extended paddles and shift lights.

Anyway, the dealer seems a decent guy so we had an open chat about it all - for him it made no difference. To save me some effort, and leave him with another nice car to sell / make some money on (ha), it makes sense to trade in. We just need to finalise the details - one major one being he needs to see my 430, as it's been in for warranty work for almost the last month, d'oh.

The car was down at Thorney for inspection today as 'stage 1' of the warranty, so hopefully that all went as planned and we can seal the deal next week. Nice timing as my car nut dad is up for the weekend (very rarely see him).

Insurance-wise, Jack at Manning came back with a good quote under £900 including unlimited UK track day cover (10% excess though, haha) - a good £500 less than anyone else I tried (NFU wouldn't quote, AIB £1400, Nowell & Richards £1600, comparison sites similar to the Manning quote but don't fancy using Aviva).

Thanks again to those who have chipped in thumbup

threespires

4,298 posts

212 months

Thursday 27th June 2019
quotequote all
I look forward to pix and your experiences.
Congrats.. assuming you do a deal.

BlackR8

459 posts

78 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Sounds like you are getting closer to the McLaren by the day, good luck with the next stage.

Would you mind sharing your experience on the trade-in and how far off the dealers have been compared to advertising prices for equivalent car on the market? I am itching to get a McLaren too, but the only thing stopping me taking it any further at this stage is getting my pants pulled down at trade-in due to the general state of the market and the reluctance of dealers to take in stock.

AdamR83

Original Poster:

22 posts

70 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Thanks gents!

Absolutely happy to share my experiences. I am absolutely nowhere near an expert with this sort of thing, but here's my take on it.

Firstly, I absolutely emphathise with the feeling of 'pants being pulled down'. However, I've become more at ease with that recently. I don't think you would be concerned if someone was intending to buy a second hand pair of jeans off you for £7 to try and sell them at £9, yet add some 000s on the end and we can get a bit funny about it.

These guys (well, the honest ones!) are just making a living and not being greedy. They are 'car guys' just like us, and stumping up a large amount of cash in the hopes of turning it into a bit more. It's a business. If they are ill and can't work, they don't get paid. If their kids are off school and they can't work, or for whatever reason they can't really be arsed to function that day and just sit at their desk fecking about on Facebook, a bank transfer doesn't get magically dumped into their bank account with metronomic frequency.

Enough about human factors - back to the car. I think one thing always stands up - there is always a good market for good cars. However, one thing that a couple of dealers have said recently is that they seem to shift the really expensive stuff (£150k+) easily, but the 'bottom end' of the 'supercar' market is a bit slow. They cited people tightening purse strings, perhaps the B-Word related, perhaps the general feeling that something doesn't feel right with the economy at the moment, I don't know. But either way they recokned that people with buttloads of cash are still spending it, yet those trying to 'stretch up' are hanging onto it due to some sort of uncertainty.

Now to some numbers... my 430 Spider is a tidy example, all the right bits, low to average miles, impeccable service history, carbon brakes, recent clutch and manifolds. I reckon a dealer would price that car somewhere around £85-90k depending on how quickly they wanted to move it on. I paid £85k for it a year ago, funded from a rental property sale, and had intended to hang onto it as a bit of an investment, but something I could enjoy too. Bricks and mortar is great but doesn't have a V8 howl ;-) And things change (see below).

Trade ins I've been offered are mostly £70k give or take a smidge. One bidded £75k but I have a feeling they really, really wanted rid of the 650S I had enquired about - they've had it nearly a year and lopped close to £20k off the price in that time. The place I bought it from offered me £68k as a straight buy-back. They put a good warranty on it when I bought it and it's had a few bits done in the last year, but they know the car well and it is solid, so I think that is a top end value. When discussing this with them, they said they'd look to re-advertise at the same as what I paid for it.

Seventeen thousand pounds I hear you scream! Well. Yes, that is a lot of money. But it needs a service now - that's a grand. Give it a once over, perhaps a bit of tittivating, that's a few hundred quid. Pay the tea boy to wash it 100 times while it sits in the showroom for a few months. Have £70k tied up for... potentially into next spring or summer? Consider what else you could buy with that £70k and turn through in that same time. Stick a decent warranty on it for the next owner, 3 grand. Pay corporation tax on whatever profit is made. They might come out with £7k, ~10% gross profit. My business would not operate with that margin (though the average sale is far less! laugh ).

Also, from my side... even after insurance, tax, MOT, fuel and some time getting it to and from the dealer for small warranty niggles; trading the car in for £70k means I've 'rented' the thing for under £20k for the year. A touch under £10 a mile in my case. I have no idea where you can rent a supercar for that sort of money, and have it on hand 24/7/365 for your every whim. And even if you could, you didn't actually own the thing, so you'd be lying to your grandkids.

Could have tried a private sale - perhaps it would be straightforward to get rid of the car for £75k to someone who sees they can sit on it and flip it for 10 grand more next summer, but there are a lot of time-wasters out there and I wouldn't really be able to use it in the meantime without it costing me £100 extra per viewing for another proper valet!

The other option is SOR (sale or return) - find a trusted dealer you know well, they'll advertise and try to sell the car for you for a fee. In my case with Supercar Clinic that would have been £2500. I could have stuck it up at £80k to see what happened, or even £75k to try and get a really quick sale... but there's no guarantees. And it's summer. And my MX-5 failed it's MOT so I'm really missing roofless driving. And my cheating slutbag of a hopefully-soon-to-be-ex-wife's solicitor is angling at trying to take me to the cleaners so I might as well a) enjoy life a bit and b) spaz some money away while I still have any wobble

bit blunt there, but point being everyone is in a different situation. I'm happy with renting a Ferrari for a year for £10 a mile.

BlackR8, perhaps in your situation the SOR is the best route? You can just sit with the car for sale for a bit, get the best price possible, and peruse the McMarket while doing so. If something really special or cheap comes up, flog the R8 pronto at less than you'd hoped and go for it, otherwise wait til the R8 sells then count your beans and start again. As I said, I am absolutely nowhere near an expert with this sort of thing...

BlackR8

459 posts

78 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83 said:
Thanks gents!

Absolutely happy to share my experiences. I am absolutely nowhere near an expert with this sort of thing, but here's my take on it.

Firstly, I absolutely emphathise with the feeling of 'pants being pulled down'. However, I've become more at ease with that recently. I don't think you would be concerned if someone was intending to buy a second hand pair of jeans off you for £7 to try and sell them at £9, yet add some 000s on the end and we can get a bit funny about it.

These guys (well, the honest ones!) are just making a living and not being greedy. They are 'car guys' just like us, and stumping up a large amount of cash in the hopes of turning it into a bit more. It's a business. If they are ill and can't work, they don't get paid. If their kids are off school and they can't work, or for whatever reason they can't really be arsed to function that day and just sit at their desk fecking about on Facebook, a bank transfer doesn't get magically dumped into their bank account with metronomic frequency.

Enough about human factors - back to the car. I think one thing always stands up - there is always a good market for good cars. However, one thing that a couple of dealers have said recently is that they seem to shift the really expensive stuff (£150k+) easily, but the 'bottom end' of the 'supercar' market is a bit slow. They cited people tightening purse strings, perhaps the B-Word related, perhaps the general feeling that something doesn't feel right with the economy at the moment, I don't know. But either way they recokned that people with buttloads of cash are still spending it, yet those trying to 'stretch up' are hanging onto it due to some sort of uncertainty.

Now to some numbers... my 430 Spider is a tidy example, all the right bits, low to average miles, impeccable service history, carbon brakes, recent clutch and manifolds. I reckon a dealer would price that car somewhere around £85-90k depending on how quickly they wanted to move it on. I paid £85k for it a year ago, funded from a rental property sale, and had intended to hang onto it as a bit of an investment, but something I could enjoy too. Bricks and mortar is great but doesn't have a V8 howl ;-) And things change (see below).

Trade ins I've been offered are mostly £70k give or take a smidge. One bidded £75k but I have a feeling they really, really wanted rid of the 650S I had enquired about - they've had it nearly a year and lopped close to £20k off the price in that time. The place I bought it from offered me £68k as a straight buy-back. They put a good warranty on it when I bought it and it's had a few bits done in the last year, but they know the car well and it is solid, so I think that is a top end value. When discussing this with them, they said they'd look to re-advertise at the same as what I paid for it.

Seventeen thousand pounds I hear you scream! Well. Yes, that is a lot of money. But it needs a service now - that's a grand. Give it a once over, perhaps a bit of tittivating, that's a few hundred quid. Pay the tea boy to wash it 100 times while it sits in the showroom for a few months. Have £70k tied up for... potentially into next spring or summer? Consider what else you could buy with that £70k and turn through in that same time. Stick a decent warranty on it for the next owner, 3 grand. Pay corporation tax on whatever profit is made. They might come out with £7k, ~10% gross profit. My business would not operate with that margin (though the average sale is far less! laugh ).

Also, from my side... even after insurance, tax, MOT, fuel and some time getting it to and from the dealer for small warranty niggles; trading the car in for £70k means I've 'rented' the thing for under £20k for the year. A touch under £10 a mile in my case. I have no idea where you can rent a supercar for that sort of money, and have it on hand 24/7/365 for your every whim. And even if you could, you didn't actually own the thing, so you'd be lying to your grandkids.

Could have tried a private sale - perhaps it would be straightforward to get rid of the car for £75k to someone who sees they can sit on it and flip it for 10 grand more next summer, but there are a lot of time-wasters out there and I wouldn't really be able to use it in the meantime without it costing me £100 extra per viewing for another proper valet!

The other option is SOR (sale or return) - find a trusted dealer you know well, they'll advertise and try to sell the car for you for a fee. In my case with Supercar Clinic that would have been £2500. I could have stuck it up at £80k to see what happened, or even £75k to try and get a really quick sale... but there's no guarantees. And it's summer. And my MX-5 failed it's MOT so I'm really missing roofless driving. And my cheating slutbag of a hopefully-soon-to-be-ex-wife's solicitor is angling at trying to take me to the cleaners so I might as well a) enjoy life a bit and b) spaz some money away while I still have any wobble

bit blunt there, but point being everyone is in a different situation. I'm happy with renting a Ferrari for a year for £10 a mile.

BlackR8, perhaps in your situation the SOR is the best route? You can just sit with the car for sale for a bit, get the best price possible, and peruse the McMarket while doing so. If something really special or cheap comes up, flog the R8 pronto at less than you'd hoped and go for it, otherwise wait til the R8 sells then count your beans and start again. As I said, I am absolutely nowhere near an expert with this sort of thing...
That's a really good insight thank you! Sounds like on a £80-90k retail car a 20% hit at trade in is what you have experienced, and whilst it is does from where I am standing feel painful, you seem to have made peace with this, and your logic on renting costs vs having owned a Ferrari does make sense.

I think its fair to say I am one of those people who are at the bottom end of the supercar ladder and yes any purchase is a stretch but being a car guy with a strong man math calculator handy I don't intend to shy away from taking the plunge when the time is right. Now where is that link to the classifieds ... hehe


tyrrell

1,670 posts

209 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83 just love your honesty !! Good luck in getting your car, they are fantastic machines.

Kananga

1,101 posts

157 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83: tried to send you an email but your account doesn’t accept incoming messages. Drop me a message with contact info - may have a lead that could be interesting for you.

AdamR83

Original Poster:

22 posts

70 months

Saturday 29th June 2019
quotequote all
BlackR8 - you're welcome. Just realised there's a typo in my post but I think you got the idea anyway :-) Good luck with your search and don't forget the manculator biggrin

tyrrell - Thank you. I feel pretty excited by all of this so hope it works out too!

Kananga - I've just updated my forum preferences, but popped you a message too. Thanks in advance.

AdamR83

Original Poster:

22 posts

70 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
Well, plans changed a bit - I now have a 650S sat on the drive! And what a machine it is. Even from a motorway run, a short blast last night and a trip to the gym this morning I can tell I'm going to love this car.

Huge thanks to a fellow forum member and car nut for a truly pleasurable experience throughout. Who knew that buying a car remotely from someone who isn't even in the country at the time of sale could be so easy? The whole process has been confirmation for me that there is no need to worry when buying an expensive car privately. I figure both parties will either be really switched-on people, or drug dealers, and the latter will be easy to work out quite quickly laugh


BlackR8

459 posts

78 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83 said:
Well, plans changed a bit - I now have a 650S sat on the drive! And what a machine it is. Even from a motorway run, a short blast last night and a trip to the gym this morning I can tell I'm going to love this car.

Huge thanks to a fellow forum member and car nut for a truly pleasurable experience throughout. Who knew that buying a car remotely from someone who isn't even in the country at the time of sale could be so easy? The whole process has been confirmation for me that there is no need to worry when buying an expensive car privately. I figure both parties will either be really switched-on people, or drug dealers, and the latter will be easy to work out quite quickly laugh
Wow that took a bit of a twist...you are a lucky man to have ended up with a 650S, enjoy in good health.

look forwards to the mandatory pics!

anonymous-user

55 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83 said:
Well, plans changed a bit - I now have a 650S sat on the drive! And what a machine it is. Even from a motorway run, a short blast last night and a trip to the gym this morning I can tell I'm going to love this car.

Huge thanks to a fellow forum member and car nut for a truly pleasurable experience throughout. Who knew that buying a car remotely from someone who isn't even in the country at the time of sale could be so easy? The whole process has been confirmation for me that there is no need to worry when buying an expensive car privately. I figure both parties will either be really switched-on people, or drug dealers, and the latter will be easy to work out quite quickly laugh
Welcome to McOwnership. Get £50.00 and join the McLaren Owners Club UK. Really friendly, great advice / support, and lots of social gatherings. Over 350 members.

355spiderguy

1,476 posts

172 months

Friday 5th July 2019
quotequote all
AdamR83 said:
Well, plans changed a bit - I now have a 650S sat on the drive! And what a machine it is. Even from a motorway run, a short blast last night and a trip to the gym this morning I can tell I'm going to love this car.

Huge thanks to a fellow forum member and car nut for a truly pleasurable experience throughout. Who knew that buying a car remotely from someone who isn't even in the country at the time of sale could be so easy? The whole process has been confirmation for me that there is no need to worry when buying an expensive car privately. I figure both parties will either be really switched-on people, or drug dealers, and the latter will be easy to work out quite quickly laugh
Yup.....your gonna love it!

Congrats on the new car...looking forward to seeing pics. thumbup

jamieo

180 posts

213 months

Saturday 6th July 2019
quotequote all
mickpsu said:
Welcome to McOwnership. Get £50.00 and join the McLaren Owners Club UK. Really friendly, great advice / support, and lots of social gatherings. Over 350 members.
Do this