Second hand prices over the last year or so

[dibbly_dobbler]

Idly browsing through autotrader and came across this : 2008 330i, manual, no nav, 15k miles - a snip at £23k.

I bought a virtually identical car a year ago : 2008 330i, manual, no nav, 3k miles - £22k ?!

I know prices have firmed up a bit but that still seems a bit surprising - theoretically (ok probably not in reality) I could sell it on for zero depreciation after a year ?!

[gizlaroc]

Definitely.

I bought an A6 avant 3.2fsi Quattro auto with 29k on it last January from a main dealer.
It now has 56k miles on it and I have been offered more than I paid for it from a well known Audi specialist.

Also, I bought the 123d m-sport auto last September, 58 plate and it is now booking in glasses as a trade in at £1400 more than I paid for it.

[dibbly_dobbler]

gizlaroc said:

Definitely.

I bought an A6 avant 3.2fsi Quattro auto with 29k on it last January from a main dealer.
It now has 56k miles on it and I have been offered more than I paid for it from a well known Audi specialist.

Also, I bought the 123d m-sport auto last September, 58 plate and it is now booking in glasses as a trade in at £1400 more than I paid for it.

Wow. Scary stuff - I guess you could either have done very well or very badly depending on the timings. I keep thinking I can't afford to trade up due to current prices but I suppose the cost to change is probably less than I might have imagined

[ChasW]

I bought my 2008 130i M Sport from a BMW dealer last June and sold it privately in December for more. This has only happened to me twice before, once on a 72 Camaro (paid $350 and sold for $500 when I was on a gap year in US in 1979)and then on a 1994 Mitsubishi Spacewagon in 1997 (bought for £10400 and sold for £10850 a year later). Just the way the market moves I guess.

[Flat6]

I've always bought wisely and never lost too much money but the last year or so has been very unusual, and not worked out great for me.

I sold my 130i Msport exactly at the wrong time - last Feb when the market was on it's arse.

I took a fair old hit thinking values wouldn't recover and I should cut my losses (well how often have relatively new cars increased in value in the past??!)

The car's just been sold again (very quickly too) a year later, for the same price as I sold it for but with 12k extra on the clock. I could have had 12 months extra "free" motoring in one of the most enjoyable cars I've had. Would have eased the pain of the previous years loss slightly!

[gizlaroc]

When I bought the A6 I actually only went to the dealer as they had an S6 avant for sale, it was a 2007 with only 29k miles on it and they were asking £26k for it, that is a main dealer, this was back in Jan last year.
He had the 3.2 up for £17,950 and we agreed on £13k with full service, 4 new pilot sport tyres and the AMI ipod interfeace fitted. They were desperate to move some stock, they had 11 cars that they couldn't get out as no one was buying.

But the S6 at £26k was a steal, there is only one S6 avant up at the mo on autotrader under 3 years old, that is an 07 with 23k miles on it and they are asking £38,000 for it.

[ChasW]

I suppose I have learned a couple of lessons. Next time there is a credit crunch, or similar downturn, buy off an overstocked dealer. Private prices appear to take longer to adjust. It also appears that the scrappage scheme depressed used values for a while as well. Fleet operators didn't like it because it channeled used car buyers into new car showrooms and hence dampened demand for ex-lease vehicles. Finally I researched the market for some months before buying. Kept an eye on what was selling and what was sticking so when I saw a good value car I was confident enough to pounce on it with speed. The internet is brilliant for this. I was recently tracking another BMW which had been on the forecourt for 3 months before I went to see it. I knew the dealer was very keen to move it on and the price dropped accordingly. Didn't buy in the end because my wife preferred an Audi instead. Again waited another month checking the Audi website and Autotrader a couple of times a week. Bought a fully loaded 7 month old Audi A4 ex-management car at the weekend at £9k below original list.

[Silver993tt]

In December 2009, I bought a very well loaded E91 330D on a 59 plate with 4k on the clock registered in October 2009 for £13k under the list price from a main BMW dealer. That's almost a 30% discount for a 3 month old car compared to the new price.

[5unny]

gizlaroc said:

When I bought the A6 I actually only went to the dealer as they had an S6 avant for sale, it was a 2007 with only 29k miles on it and they were asking £26k for it, that is a main dealer, this was back in Jan last year.
He had the 3.2 up for £17,950 and we agreed on £13k with full service, 4 new pilot sport tyres and the AMI ipod interfeace fitted. They were desperate to move some stock, they had 11 cars that they couldn't get out as no one was buying.

But the S6 at £26k was a steal, there is only one S6 avant up at the mo on autotrader under 3 years old, that is an 07 with 23k miles on it and they are asking £38,000 for it.

Did you take the salesmans shoes and shirt too.

Jokes aside, that's incredible value. Good stuff.