What is the average markup of a used car sold by dealer/lot?

[AUDIHenry]

Hello all,

Following from the R8 trade-in thread, what is the average markup of a used car sold by a dealer or a car lot (forecourt)? Is it 10%? 20%? 25%? 30%? More? Less?

Let's say a car under 5000 pounds.

[V88Dicky]

It just so happens I got a straight £5000 for my old car when I traded it in, and iirc it was sold on for £6495. About 35% mark up then

[300bhp/ton]

AUDIHenry said:

Hello all,

Following from the R8 trade-in thread, what is the average markup of a used car sold by a dealer or a car lot (forecourt)? Is it 10%? 20%? 25%? 30%? More? Less?

Let's say a car under 5000 pounds.

It would depend on many things. What sort of price range, how much was paid for it. Mood of the manager or price setter, what it owed to the company, model, spec, condition.

[Elskeggso]

I would have thought that the cheaper the car, the more the mark-up (in terms of percentages).

[AUDIHenry]

300bhp/ton said:

AUDIHenry said:

Hello all,

Following from the R8 trade-in thread, what is the average markup of a used car sold by a dealer or a car lot (forecourt)? Is it 10%? 20%? 25%? 30%? More? Less?

Let's say a car under 5000 pounds.

It would depend on many things. What sort of price range, how much was paid for it. Mood of the manager or price setter, what it owed to the company, model, spec, condition.

Sure, it is not a solid figure. But what is an industry average, so to speak?

[nosongnodance]

MINI Cooper S, sold to main dealer at £14150.

Advertised 2 days later at £15850.

Front tyres were getting shagged, so wipe £350 off. I don't think there was any other work needed doing to it other than prep.

I reckon they made £1100-1500 roughly, as it sold 1 week later.

All depends on supply and demand.

[JR]

300bhp/ton said:

AUDIHenry said:

Hello all,

Following from the R8 trade-in thread, what is the average markup of a used car sold by a dealer or a car lot (forecourt)? Is it 10%? 20%? 25%? 30%? More? Less?

Let's say a car under 5000 pounds.

It would depend on many things. What sort of price range, how much was paid for it. Mood of the manager or price setter, what it owed to the company, model, spec, condition.

No it doesn't. That's the beauty about averages.

[JR]

V88Dicky said:

It just so happens I got a straight £5000 for my old car when I traded it in, and iirc it was sold on for £6495. About 35% mark up then

Sounds about right. Remember the trade in includes a discount that you might have got on the car that you were buying so the true markup is higher than 35%.

[Chris_w666]

nosongnodance said:

MINI Cooper S, sold to main dealer at £14150.

Advertised 2 days later at £15850.

Front tyres were getting shagged, so wipe £350 off. I don't think there was any other work needed doing to it other than prep.

I reckon they made £1100-1500 roughly, as it sold 1 week later.

All depends on supply and demand.

So valeter paid £20/25 quid, 2 tyres @ £200, VAT on the margin £200, commission to salesman £100 (I have no idea how right that would be), risk of warranty claim £x, overhead of spangly showroom £x. Then there isn't much left in it, I assume most dealers get a premium for selling some kind of finance product and pushing extras/aftersales work.

[nosongnodance]

Chris_w666 said:

nosongnodance said:

MINI Cooper S, sold to main dealer at £14150.

Advertised 2 days later at £15850.

Front tyres were getting shagged, so wipe £350 off. I don't think there was any other work needed doing to it other than prep.

I reckon they made £1100-1500 roughly, as it sold 1 week later.

All depends on supply and demand.

So valeter paid £20/25 quid, 2 tyres @ £200, VAT on the margin £200, commission to salesman £100 (I have no idea how right that would be), risk of warranty claim £x, overhead of spangly showroom £x. Then there isn't much left in it, I assume most dealers get a premium for selling some kind of finance product and pushing extras/aftersales work.

The point is supply and demand. I had a car they knew they could punt on very quickly, they even had a customer lined up before I dropped off the car. To have it sat around for a week isn't bad going. If they can turn over stock this quickly then they're doing pretty well.

The car was only 18 months old so I doubt they're worried about warranty claims too much, as they'll get paid anyhow. I realise that when PXing cars outside of their warranty then it's a bigger risk to the dealer though.

No doubt they'll make money on pushing finance on to somebody, as well as the bks supaguard etc. I reckon this is where a lot of the money is made too.

[Craigwww]

...with reference to the SUPAGUARD, I worked for Audi many moons ago and they used to charge £180 for the treatment. They bought the pack for £18 + 2-3 hours labour for a valeter@ £7/hr (£21)= a very healthy profit.

[RobM77]

I've had two experiences with BMW dealers which have caused me to get a trade in quote within a month or two of buying a car (both were mis-sold to me and I had my money back refused). The first was bought for £15850 and I was offered £8500 trade in (I got £10k in the end from somewhere else), and the second £22,500 and I was offered £17k trade in (I've still got the car, and will probably sell privately soon).

[pilchardthecat]

JR said:

300bhp/ton said:

AUDIHenry said:

Hello all,

Following from the R8 trade-in thread, what is the average markup of a used car sold by a dealer or a car lot (forecourt)? Is it 10%? 20%? 25%? 30%? More? Less?

Let's say a car under 5000 pounds.

It would depend on many things. What sort of price range, how much was paid for it. Mood of the manager or price setter, what it owed to the company, model, spec, condition.

No it doesn't. That's the beauty about averages.

Are you refering to the mean, modal or median?

I wonder what the 70th percentile is.

Variance anyone?

[Stitch]

JR said:

V88Dicky said:

It just so happens I got a straight £5000 for my old car when I traded it in, and iirc it was sold on for £6495. About 35% mark up then

Sounds about right. Remember the trade in includes a discount that you might have got on the car that you were buying so the true markup is higher than 35%.

And that just because your old car is stickered up at £X it won't necessarily sell for that.

[nosongnodance]

Craigwww said:

...with reference to the SUPAGUARD, I worked for Audi many moons ago and they used to charge £180 for the treatment. They bought the pack for £18 + 2-3 hours labour for a valeter@ £7/hr (£21)= a very healthy profit.

When I sold the car I told them it had SUPAGUARD on it. Of course, it hadn't. Could they tell? Could they fk.

It makes much more sense to spend £40 on a decent pot of wax and do a miles better job yourself. Plus you've the pot left over for 10+ more applications.

[pilchardthecat]

RobM77 said:

I've had two experiences with BMW dealers which have caused me to get a trade in quote within a month or two of buying a car (both were mis-sold to me and I had my money back refused). The first was bought for £15850 and I was offered £8500 trade in (I got £10k in the end from somewhere else), and the second £22,500 and I was offered £17k trade in (I've still got the car, and will probably sell privately soon).

Is that the Z4M..... ?

BMW are bds for stty trade-in prices though. I've bought 3 cars from BMW main dealers and have felt a suspicious rawness around the rectal area on all 3 occasions, which usually only surfaces a few months later

[nosongnodance]

pilchardthecat said:

RobM77 said:

I've had two experiences with BMW dealers which have caused me to get a trade in quote within a month or two of buying a car (both were mis-sold to me and I had my money back refused). The first was bought for £15850 and I was offered £8500 trade in (I got £10k in the end from somewhere else), and the second £22,500 and I was offered £17k trade in (I've still got the car, and will probably sell privately soon).

Is that the Z4M..... ?

BMW are bds for stty trade-in prices though. I've bought 3 cars from BMW main dealers and have felt a suspicious rawness around the rectal area on all 3 occasions, which usually only surfaces a few months later

What happened a few months later, if you don't mind me asking?

[pilchardthecat]

nosongnodance said:

pilchardthecat said:

RobM77 said:

I've had two experiences with BMW dealers which have caused me to get a trade in quote within a month or two of buying a car (both were mis-sold to me and I had my money back refused). The first was bought for £15850 and I was offered £8500 trade in (I got £10k in the end from somewhere else), and the second £22,500 and I was offered £17k trade in (I've still got the car, and will probably sell privately soon).

Is that the Z4M..... ?

BMW are bds for stty trade-in prices though. I've bought 3 cars from BMW main dealers and have felt a suspicious rawness around the rectal area on all 3 occasions, which usually only surfaces a few months later

What happened a few months later, if you don't mind me asking?

Usually i just see or hear of a car that's very similar to mine at another dealer with a price on it that's £1500 less than what i paid, or of someone that got a 15% discount when i only got 3%

Maybe i'm just really st at negotiating!?

I'm going through it again at the moment, although I've walked away from 2 cars now. Both are still for sale so i might try again at an even lower price

[RobM77]

nosongnodance said:

pilchardthecat said:

RobM77 said:

I've had two experiences with BMW dealers which have caused me to get a trade in quote within a month or two of buying a car (both were mis-sold to me and I had my money back refused). The first was bought for £15850 and I was offered £8500 trade in (I got £10k in the end from somewhere else), and the second £22,500 and I was offered £17k trade in (I've still got the car, and will probably sell privately soon).

Is that the Z4M..... ?

BMW are bds for stty trade-in prices though. I've bought 3 cars from BMW main dealers and have felt a suspicious rawness around the rectal area on all 3 occasions, which usually only surfaces a few months later

What happened a few months later, if you don't mind me asking?

The higher priced car was my current car, a non M Z4 Coupé 3.0si. It was £22,500 in November because it has only done 11k miles and still smelt new. Lovely car.

The problem was concerning a roof rack. I rung up my local BMW dealer telling them I'd just sold my 328i Sport Coupé and wanted a car with a roof rack for my kayak, but one that was still good to drive like the 328i was. I expected them to suggest a 335i, M3 or 135i (I was in fact looking at a 135i at another dealer that weekend), but they said they had a lovely Z4C in and they'd check about the roof rack. I told the salesman I wasn't interested unless it had one, and we ended the call. The salesman phoned back half an hour later to tell me that he'd checked with parts and it did have one, so I popped over for a test drive. The following day I test drove the 135, and the Z4C was my clear favourite of the two, so I popped over and bought it. This was in November. I start kayaking again in March (I hate the cold and am a wuss), so in mid February I rung up parts to order the roof rack, and was told no such thing existed. I called the salesman straight away, and at first he apologised. When I said that I wanted my money back, he got really defensive and said, I quote: "you can't expect me to know such details about all our BMW models", to which I simply said "yes I can, that's your job, you're a BMW salesman". I pursued it with his manager and BMW UK but got nowhere.

I'm currently looking at making myself feel a bit better by buying my Dad's '07 320d off him in a few months time at close to trade in price, and selling the Z4C privately. I nearly sold the Z4C last month actually, but I had a big Euro trip coming up and chickened out hours before a serious buyer was travelling up to see it... I really like the car, but needs must - it doesn't do what it's supposed to and as such doesn't get much use. My neighbours even take the piss out of me for waxing it more than I drive it

Sorry for the long story, but it really wound me up, especially as I lost my job soon after buying it and needed the money!

[nosongnodance]

There are some wild variances in prices, especially if you're talking about BMW.

I bought a new 118i SE for £15500, had it for just over a year, px'd and the dealer put it on the forecourt for £15600.

Ironically I found Park Lane MINI to offer the best deals!