Used car market

[Bobby Dazzler]

The used car market - and the sudden post-pandemic surge in used car values and more recent market correction - is referred to often on MBClub but it’s split across many threads.

I thought it time to have a thread on the subject. The trigger was some chatter on a WhatsApp group I’m part of - someone bought a brand new Porsche 992 Turbo S with a £40k discount from list price.

A few months ago the same car would have been trading at £40k over list on the secondhand market, having been dragged upwards by all the people who wanted a GT3 but couldn’t get an alllcation.

Cue concerns in used value. There are examples of McLaren Artura and a Maserati MC20 which have been listed for sale since summer and asking price in both cases have reduced by £70k and still unsold.

McLaren have asked dealers to sell all used Artura stock by Christmas and so even bigger discounts are available for those looking to buy now - a sub- £140k Artura is a real possibility right now.

What’s that I hear, McLarens have also dropped like stones, and it’a better to put your hard earned into something with a prancing horse in the nose and the engine in the middle somewhere?

Well there are examples of the much lauded Ferrari 296 GTB which have been for sale for months, and their sticker price have dropped to the same tune of £70k too. Many owners didn't see that coming.

I’ve not looked closely enough at the market to know whether the same relative reductions are across the board, however posts on MBClub have mentioned dramatic reductions in valuations recently.

It was inevitable that the used car market would be corrected at some point - and the cost of finance has accelerated the correction since supply chain issues have largely been resolved now.

The supercar market will be in shock because depreciation hasn’t been a concern for the last decade, which is all many supercar buyers will know with the surge in new supercar in that period.

Have you seen or heard similar horror stories in other parts of the market?

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi Bobby Dazzler , someone mention Porsche values might fall a few months ago.

I was considering purchasing a 4x4 recently but will hold fire and see what the future holds.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Hi Bobby Dazzler , someone mention Porsche values might fall a few months ago.

I was considering purchasing a 4x4 recently but will hold fire and see what the future holds.

Like all cars on the second hand market, Porsche have indeed been falling in value for a while now.

Last night a friend of a friend said that yesterday his Ferrari main dealer offered him £175k for his Ferrari 296 GTB which he had paid (them) £296k for earlier this year.

That’s a £121k loss, 41% less than he paid for it new less than a year ago. It was a part-exchange so there’s margin in there, but it was new and so didn't pay “overs”

He had enjoyed the car and was part-exchanging it (closed top) for a Ferrari 296 GTS (open top). He declined their offer and withdrew from the deal on the GTS.

Makes the percentage depreciation on Golf GTE and Taycan look jolly reasonable!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Has anyone regularly tracked their own car’s value over the last year or two, to see the dramatic real world increase in decrease in values?

 

[ALFAitalia]

I think anyone who has bought an over priced used car or a new car at OVER RRP (something you should NEVER do on anything other that super rare low volume collectors cars.....IMO!) in the last 3 years has got it coming to them if they want to change in the near future.....and if they did then they either have the sort of money that they don't care (fair enough)....or don't have two brain cells to rub together. It was public knowledge that the COVID pricing on new and used cars was always going to be a temporary glitch and not only would they have to come back down to where prices were before COVID , they would have about three years worth of depreciation to subtract from that as well!. Add to that the high interest charges and current financial situation....then big losses are inevitable. If you could not see that coming I've got some magic beans you might be interested in!
Friends in the trade selling even run of the mills cars (Fords, Nissans etc) are having very difficult conversations with people who have bought cars in the COVID times.....trying to sell them a new car....whilst at the same time explaining why they have lost 15k on a car they might usually lose 5k on is a tough sell! Part of that is the dealers own fault.....lots of the cars were bought in a not far off book value......but then stupidly priced to take advantage of the circumstances. Cant say I would not have done the same.......but now its coming back to bite them....HARD!!!

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Has anyone regularly tracked their own car’s value over the last year or two, to see the dramatic real world increase in decrease in values?

I’ve noticed the valuation of our C Class estate dropping consistently every month from the summer.

I’ve had my eye on this:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

But seeing as the value of our car has dropped significantly it’s not going to happen. In hindsight I should have sold in the summer and managed with the can for a while. Would have put us in a nice position to collect a bargain such as the S5 above.

 

[BlackC55]

Its all over the place. The cheaper end of the market, the price is still high as people are keeping their older cars so they dont have to buy a battery powered thing. The repair business is soooo busy at the moment. Cars worth £2k are having £3k spent on them for example. I'm certainly not moaning.

 

[robdmarsh]

Low end of the market has been pretty good to me. I bought a w204 220 cdi estate in 2018 with 95k on the clock. I paid 7k for it. I reckon if it had the same kind of mileage today that it had in 2018 then it could be worth nearly all of that. Of course it's not worth that now cos it has 167k but I've had more than 5 years very good service out of it and very little "age and ware" depreciation.. The 12k I paid for my 220d estate (64.5k) in my profile picture I think was more than good value. In the last 6 weeks though prices of similar cars are certainly beginning to soften.

 

[Dryce]

Its all over the place. The cheaper end of the market, the price is still high as people are keeping their older cars so they dont have to buy a battery powered thing. The repair business is soooo busy at the moment. Cars worth £2k are having £3k spent on them for example. I'm certainly not moaning.

The independent we use has been very up beat as well - same sort of logic - customers figuring it's worth paying to get jobs done that they might hold off on or try and work around or get rid of the car.

 

[DITTRICH]

Low end of the market has been pretty good to me. I bought a w204 220 cdi estate in 2018 with 95k on the clock. I paid 7k for it. I reckon if it had the same kind of mileage today that it had in 2018 then it could be worth nearly all of that. Of course it's not worth that now cos it has 167k but I've had more than 5 years very good service out of it and very little "age and ware" depreciation.. The 12k I paid for my 220d estate (64.5k) in my profile picture I think was more than good value. In the last 6 weeks though prices of similar cars are certainly beginning to soften.

Similar experience. My pre pandemic purchase of a C200SE 2016 £9.3k s205 154k miles went up in value and its just started to go back down.

 

[Crispian22]

I think it's just the extortionate way the government are trying to claw back all the bogus covid loans,gas and electricity hikes at the start of the year,the extra revenue for the suppliers go's straight to the government in the form of extra tax.

But everyone needs gas and electricity so no one escapes that.

Recent car insurance increases,same as above.

Folks are being spanked hard at the minute at every level of income,making frivolous purchases such as a new/used cars put of the last on the list list of priorities, the demand drops,hence the prices of cars follows suit.

 

[Darrell]

Small vans appear to be dropping.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I’ve noticed the valuation of our C Class estate dropping consistently every month from the summer.

I’ve had my eye on this:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

But seeing as the value of our car has dropped significantly it’s not going to happen. In hindsight I should have sold in the summer and managed with the can for a while. Would have put us in a nice position to collect a bargain such as the S5 above.

That’s a handsome car Ant but your C-Class is an absolute corker too. Blooming hindsight; I wish I could invent a hindsight to foresight converter!

 

[Will]

I think cars at nearly £300k will have totally different factors affecting their values than general public with cars at £30k or even £3k.

I think older/lower end cars seem to be fairly strong in value, especially durable cars that are ULEZ compliant and lower tax too.

I didn’t buy my GL63 for resale and have had it for 4 1/2 years now, but that was before the pandemic and before the rise in interest rates etc.

It lost about £63k or so before I bought it as an approved used car with 21k miles.

I think in the last 4 1/2 years it has probably cost around £10-15k in depreciation depending on how you look at it (I bought it retail with 2-years warranty, no doubt a WBAC price would be on the lower end of resale value) but just run it though every now and then for entertainment and they’re valuing about 20% less in the last 2 months so I guess there is definitely some softening of value (just before Christmas this always happens to a degree anyway)

It’s a bit like house prices though - only really relevant if you’re buying or selling

And whatever happens to the value of my car, I can never lose as much as the original owner did anyway

 

[rf065]

I’ve noticed the valuation of our C Class estate dropping consistently every month from the summer.

My C Class, Premium Plus model with absolutely every option picked when new, was worth around £20,000 according to the Mercedes dealer around 18 months ago. At that time similiar, but lesser specced cars were advertised close to £30k. Now, the same cars are for sale around £15,000, I doubt Mercedes would even offer £10,000.

 

[KennyN]

I’ve had my eye on this:

Auto Trader UK - New and Used Cars For Sale

Find your next car with Auto Trader UK, the official #1 site to buy and sell new and used cars. Over 400,000 cars online. Simple, easy, quick!

www.autotrader.co.uk

But seeing as the value of our car has dropped significantly it’s not going to happen. In hindsight I should have sold in the summer and managed with the can for a while. Would have put us in a nice position to collect a bargain such as the S5 above.

If you are considering one in the future then do some research regarding "rocker arm failure" on the Audi V6 motors , they revised them from `19 onwards so it may be better holding out for a later one to save any future potential hassle.

Nice and tuneable too as GAD are quoting a healthy increase of 60 + 160.

K

 

[HappytalkAgain]

My C Class, Premium Plus model with absolutely every option picked when new, was worth around £20,000 according to the Mercedes dealer around 18 months ago. At that time similiar, but lesser specced cars were advertised close to £30k. Now, the same cars are for sale around £15,000, I doubt Mercedes would even offer £10,000.

It’s shameful that factory options don’t count for much when valuing used cars. My car is fully loaded too. It’s the very reason I was attracted to it.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

If you are considering one in the future then do some research regarding "rocker arm failure" on the Audi V6 motors , they revised them from `19 onwards so it may be better holding out for a later one to save any future potential hassle.

Nice and tuneable too as GAD are quoting a healthy increase of 60 + 160.

K

Thanks Kenny. Thats really appreciated as S5 sportback or S4/6 Avant is certainly on our future car wishlist. Must haves are the lovely Virtual cockpit, flat bottomed steering wheel and Matrix headlights

 

[rf065]

It’s shameful that factory options don’t count for much when valuing used cars. My car is fully loaded too. It’s the very reason I was attracted to it.

Spot on, we sold the wifes SLC, another car that had every option picked from new. The offers were frankly derisory, valueing the car alongside others that were poverty spec at best. Makes you wonder if any nicely specced car is worth buying at all.

 

[Darrell]

Makes you wonder if any nicely specced car is worth buying at all.

Of course they’re worth buying.