Value of my GL320CDI

[peterg1965]

Was thinking about selling the GL320, Mar 08(08), it doesnt get used as much as I anticipated and my wife loves her Mini Cooper. Was going to trade down to a Volvo V70 on the Motability scheme (some very good deals at the moment) to be used when my disabled son needs to be transported in the car and was looking at a used Jag X Type (see other thread) as my daily car.

Realise that it is not necessarily a sensible thing to terminate a PCP deal early but nevertheless I enquired with a Volvo dealer as to the value of the GL. I knew that it would cost me a bit to settle to finance on it and that the climate for big 4x4s is not good, however! The car was bought VAT free, as it had a hoist fitted for my sons wheelchair, and the PCP deal included a £7K MB deposit contribution and a 4.2% APR finance rate over 2 years. So a £57K list price GL320 cost me £41K. The future guaranteed value is £33,100 after 2 years.

So, the best price the Volvo dealer offered was £32K!! £1.1K less than the 2 year GMFV after just 6 months! I fell off my chair!!! Looks like its going nowhere until Mar 10, MB will take a serious 'hit' when I hand it back. But then again they make the car in the US and sell it at half the price over there so they will still make money even when I give them the keys back!

 

[A210AMG]

Hello


You only need to look at the second hand market, ML's are bad but the GL's take a right hit.

Also its even worse looking to change so soon. Never a good plan.

Imagine if it were a GL420CDI

Some great buys if your in the market.

You might as well use it and enjoy it

 

[st4]

Hello


You only need to look at the second hand market, ML's are bad but the GL's take a right hit.

Also its even worse looking to change so soon. Never a good plan.

Imagine if it were a GL420CDI

Some great buys if your in the market.

You might as well use it and enjoy it

Or a GL500

 

[Rory]

The car was bought VAT free,

Can you sell at anytime without having to pay the VAT?

 

[SilverSaloon]

sad reality of buying this type of vehicle in todays climate.

Surly you must of known about the resale value of these big 4x4s when you purchased earlier this year!?

 

[peterg1965]

Can you sell at anytime without having to pay the VAT?

I do not have to repay the VAT, the car was rated zero VAT at the time of purchase as it was converted to disabled use.

 

[peterg1965]

sad reality of buying this type of vehicle in todays climate.

Surly you must of known about the resale value of these big 4x4s when you purchased earlier this year!?

I am not totally naive (I think ) but to loose £25K of' 'value' (43%) from list price in just six months defies belief and must be a record of some sort!

We shall just have to enjoy it!!

 

[raymont]

I am not totally naive (I think ) but to loose £25K of' 'value' (43%) from list price in just six months defies belief and must be a record of some sort!

We shall just have to enjoy it!!

Yes, that's a lot of money to lose from the list price, but in reality no one paid list price in the first place. At least I hope they didn't! Discounts of around £12k were, and still are, available.

Even so, quite a hit.

 

[Mudster]

I am not totally naive (I think ) but to loose £25K of' 'value' (43%) from list price in just six months defies belief and must be a record of some sort!

We shall just have to enjoy it!!

A large proportion of that value was VAT, which was never part of the "Value" of the vehicle, it's tax, paid directly to the government.

So the vehicles value is actually a percentage of the retail list price less VAT.

It really bugs me when this figure is included in the depreciation, it's nothing whatsoever to do with the value of a vehicle.

If you buy a house for £250,000 and pay stamp duty of 1% (£2,500) you don't say your house was worth £252,500 ....vat's no different, it's a tax that's dressed up in a socially acceptable "Retail price" so you don't feel as though you're handing over a large chunk of your already taxed income in more tax....It's not depreciation its TAX!

 

[st4]

A large proportion of that value was VAT, which was never part of the "Value" of the vehicle, it's tax, paid directly to the government.

So the vehicles value is actually a percentage of the retail list price less VAT.

It really bugs me when this figure is included in the depreciation, it's nothing whatsoever to do with the value of a vehicle.

If you buy a house for £250,000 and pay stamp duty of 1% (£2,500) you don't say your house was worth £252,500 ....vat's no different, it's a tax that's dressed up in a socially acceptable "Retail price" so you don't feel as though you're handing over a large chunk of your already taxed income in more tax....It's not depreciation its TAX!

never has a wiser word been said, car prices i.e OTR price includes VAT & IIRC car retailers can't express the price of the car without VAT and then show the VAT part of the price as it will allow people to see that the government are taking such a chunk of their hard earned.

Thats why buying used is so good, as the VAT has already been fully paid - giving in theory a 17.5% discount.

 

[Mudster]

True...but it's also what makes buying new viable for businesses...as we get all the vat back on commercial vehicles and pool cars and half of it back on personal cars.

 

[raymont]

A large proportion of that value was VAT, which was never part of the "Value" of the vehicle, it's tax, paid directly to the government.

So the vehicles value is actually a percentage of the retail list price less VAT.

It really bugs me when this figure is included in the depreciation, it's nothing whatsoever to do with the value of a vehicle.

If you buy a house for £250,000 and pay stamp duty of 1% (£2,500) you don't say your house was worth £252,500 ....vat's no different, it's a tax that's dressed up in a socially acceptable "Retail price" so you don't feel as though you're handing over a large chunk of your already taxed income in more tax....It's not depreciation its TAX!

Whilst I understand your point, if I buy a car for £10k (incl VAT)and sell it for £6k as far as I am concerned I've lost £4k and the fact that some of the original price was tax doesn't affect my loss one way or the other.

For better or worse, starting from a VAT inclusive figure when calculating depreciation is the way the industry works when calculating depreciation percentages.

From a personal perspective I'm not really interested in percentage depreciation, I'm much more focussed on the actual number of pounds lost.

 

[st4]

True...but it's also what makes buying new viable for businesses...as we get all the vat back on commercial vehicles and pool cars and half of it back on personal cars.

Lucky Sod, but you get it back if you buy a computer etc for your business too, but the prices of a computer are expressed differently for example.

 

[Mudster]

Whilst I understand your point, if I buy a car for £10k (incl VAT)and sell it for £6k as far as I am concerned I've lost £4k and the fact that some of the original price was tax doesn't affect my loss one way or the other.

For better or worse, starting from a VAT inclusive figure when calculating depreciation is the way the industry works when calculating depreciation percentages.

From a personal perspective I'm not really interested in percentage depreciation, I'm much more focussed on the actual number of pounds lost.

I take your point, but in your example your £10,000 purchase has actually cost you £8510.63 and you've paid £1,489.36 in tax for the privilege of living in a democratic society.

If you sell for £6,000, you've lost £2,510.63 in depreciation......you've still paid £1,489.36 in tax.......

So your depreciation is a little over 25% and not 40%

We have a government that makes a big deal out of transparency, arguably the Northern Rock fiasco was triggered buy this very obsession. They just seem to choose to be transparent when it suits them.

 

[Mudster]

Lucky Sod, but you get it back if you buy a computer etc for your business too, but the prices of a computer are expressed differently for example.

Ahh but...I pay business rates, corporation tax, employers national insurance contributions and I'm an unpaid VAT collector for HMRC......swings and roundabouts.......

 

[peterg1965]

VAT on the GL was around £9K. Even taking that off the list price still gives it a £16K loss in 6 months.