Used car prices - madness across the board including with Lotus

[ChrisJ]

Must admit dealing with WBAC went very smoothly, I think that they have matured a bit from the image I had of them 3-4 years ago. Based in the car park of our local Morrisons. Motorway were a similar price, but it was the simplicity of dropping the car off immediately that sold it to me.

[2GOOD]

I think it’s a generation thing, younger customers quite happy to use them, the older customers reluctant and frosty if we can’t/won’t match

[andydclements]

My brother just traded his pckup in, used the initial value from WBAC as the starting point for trade-in value, but he knew that if he did go to WBAC he'd face the "we found xxxx defects, that will be £yyy less" and the admin fee (always feels disingenuous to state a price less and admin fee, why not just state a price?), so knew that if the dealer came close it was a reasonable trade-in value.

[pete]

a lot of traders use wbac to get a trade in value

[2GOOD]

No, no they don’t, most use CAP live these days 🙂

[Phaeton91]

Just tapping into anyone’s experience of selling to WBAC or Motorway.  I’ve been asked by the latter to provide a copy of my V5 and driving licence.  I’ve no problem with the licence but covered the document numbers on the V5 given that all you need to do is go online enter those and hey presto, the V5 is changed.

Im expecting Motorway to complain but until the money’s with me I don’t want to reveal the document number.  Note this is also the DVLA’s advice.
 

Any thoughts welcomed.

[jep]

You must not reveal the document number under any circumstances. DVLA had to change the V5 to add a caution in this regard. Prior to a few years ago, there was no warning. 

A valuable number plate was stolen when an unsuspecting owner sent a copy of V5 to fraudsters. They changed the ownership address, got a new V5 and sold the number plate. 

Justin

 

[philcool]

Yes don't give anybody the document number until you have the funds deposited in your account .

And your correct you can change the cars ownership on line in about 4 minutes 

[Mark Blanchard]

Was a Race Retro today.  A Sierra RS 500 sold for £600,000.  And a Fiat Abarthe sold for £155,000.  Doesn’t seem that long ago cars like this were hooning around Council estates.

[Escape]

Nice cars, but incredible prices...

[Barrykearley]

The lotus esprit V8 was knocked down for £31k - an absolute steal

my mates Melling - which was one of the earlier lots - £13500 - he lost an absolute shit ton on money on that car

[Mark Blanchard]

Never heard of one of those before.  You learn something new every day.  Someone got a steal.

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/2008-melling-wildcat-rec12183-1-stoneleigh-0223?el=19743&pn=1&pp=100

[NAC63]

4 hours ago, Barrykearley said:

The lotus esprit V8 was knocked down for £31k - an absolute steal

my mates Melling - which was one of the earlier lots - £13500 - he lost an absolute shit ton on money on that car

I've never heard of a Melling either but looking at the info on the auction site someone got a real bargain I'd have give him more than that for it 😉 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Not me. Looks like a badly designed replica of the beautiful TVR Griffith, so why not just buy one of those?

[exeterjeep]

Not heard of this either, should imagine spares may be an issue. Also as said above does like a bit like a TVR especially side on, the dash may take a bit of getting used to.

[Rambo]

The Griff's ugly duckling 😕

Much cheaper though 👍

[Mark Blanchard]

On 26/02/2023 at 07:25, Barrykearley said:

The lotus esprit V8 was knocked down for £31k - an absolute steal

75,000 on the clock probably put people off.  And it was an early 1996 car, the later V8s seem to command more money.  As you know, people worry about liners issue, though I'm sure they would have been sorted years ago on this car.

Stunning look car though.

[LotuStuart]

The TG Patagonia Esprit was N269 KNG

[Kimbers]

Was thinking of upgrading my Evora this year. But there is a huge lack of Evora's on the Market. Especially 400's and those there are are way over £50k. Remember when there were some advertised 2 years ago at early £40's?. Knew I should have got one! Idiot!

[Bibs]

Nope, I don't think many, if any 400's have dipped below £50k mate.

We do even have a topic about their prices, madness I know

 

[jep]

A few have been sub-£50k. One sold for £38k, Targa Florio bought it and sold it for £46k, this was 2021 I think. 

Personally, I think the NA is the best Evora to drive, day in, day out in UK. There is something just so right about it. 

Justin

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Exactly 3 years ago today, my wife bought a 6 month old 68 plate VW Polo Beats (current model) from a UK main dealer. She paid £12,500 cash. Just for fun, I have today looked up the asking price of the same model, age and similar current mileage on Autotrader. There is one car that fits the bill. It’s up for sale at an independent dealer for £15,500! The Autotrader algorithm even claims this to be a “Good Price”.

That’s insane. To think that after 3 years of motoring and the car now being out of the original factory warranty period, it is now worth £3000 more than she paid for it!

[C8RKH]

Small hatches seem to be doing very well, plenty of other cars still tanking 

[Kimbers]

Not really Tanking Andy.

We are seeing a dip in prices due to supply rising but only in certain models and even then they are still way above values from 2020 before Lockdown 1 and never really gone back. 

Much of this is because even though new supply is better its still about 2/3 of what was available a year ago and 1/2 of 2019. As an Example, if you want a Kia Ceed or Sportage you have a 4 month wait. If you want a Sportage (except entry levels) we are talking September. Kia Niro is March 2024 (new model out has proved very popular). Some Citroen we ordered in January are only now starting to turn up. Likewise my colleagues are ordering VW etc for next year now. What this means is the market for Nearly new is short now. 1-3 year old cars are very hard to find due to not being built during our COVID times of 2020-2022. 

On New values, I am currently trading 8 month old Sportage about £2-4000 ahead of trade. And Trade itself is £6000 above where it was 2019 (but on an older model). However Peugeot 208 and Kia Rio sized cars are making book trade values and that value is circa £1500-3000 ahead of where it was in 2019.

Strangely enough those that are tanking (apart from Electric Vehicles which are now seeing a 50% drop in 8 months) are the Big German cars. Mercs, BMW's and Audi we are struggling to get near book and book has gone back to where it was. We assume this means they were overpriced before. 

So values are still strong overall. But there are some bargains to be had if you know where to look! Cazoo have made huge losses on huge losses since 2019 because they use an AI algorythm instead of someone like myself to do their values and trading. If you can catch one of their overage cars nearing its 90 or 120 day limit before it goes to auction you can often save £4-5000 over buying off a dealer. 

But beware many of those who look cheap insist on high rate finance and you also have to pay an admin fee, so they get you one way or the other!

As for our cars (Lotus). I subscribe to the Mike Kimberley School of thought. "Don't sell your Lotus that goes "Vroooom" because when the company goes pure electric (Which we are more and more seeing isn't the way to go) your Engined cars will go through the roof in Value as everyone will want one!