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[Viral_Jim]

Just pondering this (slow day in the office).

Its possible to see on Autotrader and manufacturer's own websites how much new cars "lose" in value during the first years of their lives, but what isn't apparent is the "spread" between what a dealer offers you in part-ex (or if you sold them the car come to that) and what the car goes back on the forecourt for once its been valeted.

Just wondered if anyone had any kind of idea on this? I appreciate its a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question as it will vary by the value of the car being traded in but any direct experience would be great.

[deviator]

It really is how long is a piece of string. Different dealerships have different types/ages of car and markup.

You best bet would be to get a copy of the latest Glasses guide. This is what the trade use to price cars.

[tunnie]

Also depends how much the dealer needs to meet their target for that month, meaning they might make a small loss on a P/X to get a new car/used sold.

Generally as a rule though, you get more on a private sale, but the % difference can vary by huge amount.

When I bought my GS from a BMW dealer, I was offered a price on my part-ex bike which was a Yamaha MT-03. I got £500 more selling it myself 

[Viral_Jim]

Agreed, private sale will clearly yield you more money. However given the problems with fraudsters etc, depending on the value of the car, I don't know if it would be worth the potential problems.

Reason I'm asking is that there's a potential new job in the offing and part of the package is 20% discount on new Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford products (wonder if yo can guess which company its for ) and I'm trying to value that benefit as part of the package.

What I'm wondering is whether by buying one at 20% off, if it was a premium brand car that's popular e.g. Evoque or the upcomming Jag F-Pace whether you'd run one for basically nothing by trading it in regularly.

[Kevin Wood]

As said, depends on the dealer, their overheads, the value of the car, the value of the sale they are making, the discount they've got to offer against how much you've already beat them down, whether the part-ex car is saleable for them, or just something they've got to pay someone to transport to the auctions, how much support / warranty "added value" they will add to the car if selling on and so on.

[mka306]

I have a friend who works as a mechanic in a local garage that also sells a small number of cars, he told me the average mark up on a car is £1500 more than the purchase price, that said if it were an extremely expensive car the mark up can double.

A dealership would normally look to add £2000 onto the purchase price as I've seen myself when I traded a car in and a couple of days later it was marked up £1999 more than I got as a trade in.

All that said it does depend on the garage or dealer as to what mark up they set.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Unless you've got something actually worth buying as a part ex (eg: one bloke a number of years ago took his mint Mk 1 Ashtray GTE back to the dealer he originally bought it from as a part ex on a brand new Astra, the dealer then used the vehicle as a display/advert, rather than just flogging it on) then generally they're going to just throw your old car in the auction, and it makes what it makes. If it breaks even, then happy days (and even happier IF it makes a profit) on the other hand, if they give £500, and it auctions for £400, well, that great deal you had of £1000 off your brand new car, plus your old as part ex means they really 'lost' £1100 on that car/took off £1100 off it, for them. I offered to take a grlfriend's car off her hands, rather than the 'paltry' £400 she got offered as part-ex. What did I eventually sell it for? £415 after a lot of stress. So not always are their part-ex offers unfair.

So I'm not going to rant about how evil dealers are etc.. theyve got to sell things for more than they buy them for, that's how it works, of course. The token amount of money they offer for a part ex is whatever they can spare, effectively, but like I say, generally the car will just get wheeled into the auction, and whatever it makes, it makes. And as said, the only exceptions are when it's actually worth keeping, tarting up and selling again. 

[RossPhim]

Agreed, private sale will clearly yield you more money. However given the problems with fraudsters etc, depending on the value of the car, I don't know if it would be worth the potential problems.

Reason I'm asking is that there's a potential new job in the offing and part of the package is 20% discount on new Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford products (wonder if yo can guess which company its for ) and I'm trying to value that benefit as part of the package.

What I'm wondering is whether by buying one at 20% off, if it was a premium brand car that's popular e.g. Evoque or the upcomming Jag F-Pace whether you'd run one for basically nothing by trading it in regularly.

Correct me if I'm wrong but as stated they are offering 20% off a new car.
So this means that you won't be losing the 20% VAT, that Joe Bloggs would driving the same car off the forecourt.

In my eyes, no money to be made there....you just won't be losing as much!

Just my tuppence worth! 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The problem I  have with dealers is that they screw you in all three orifices.

1......They underpay you for the car you are trying to PX. It is always the wrong colour and specification and  therefore worth SFA. In fact your benevolent dealer  is doing you a favour by offering  a pittance for your pride and joy. You should pay him for 'taking it off your hands.'

2.....They overcharge for the sack of shit that has been cluttering up their forecourt for the last nine months.
 
3......As already mentioned, your thoroughly undesirable PX is once again 'exactly the colour and specification combination' that everybody wants. It's a miracle . The simple act of a  damp cloth  being applied by a spotty youth apparently transforms the car and the dealer adds a grand or two for his effort.


Many dealers buy low mileage Motability cars from the auction and then sell them to you for a ridiculous profit.

My advice is to bid yourself, if you feel confident enough.

[05omegav6]

Be able to tell you on Monday... E Class is going through the mill then, so will find out what it sells for and then later when it pops up on Autotrader, what is being asked for it...

[Viral_Jim]

Agreed, private sale will clearly yield you more money. However given the problems with fraudsters etc, depending on the value of the car, I don't know if it would be worth the potential problems.

Reason I'm asking is that there's a potential new job in the offing and part of the package is 20% discount on new Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford products (wonder if yo can guess which company its for ) and I'm trying to value that benefit as part of the package.

What I'm wondering is whether by buying one at 20% off, if it was a premium brand car that's popular e.g. Evoque or the upcomming Jag F-Pace whether you'd run one for basically nothing by trading it in regularly.

Correct me if I'm wrong but as stated they are offering 20% off a new car.
So this means that you won't be losing the 20% VAT, that Joe Bloggs would driving the same car off the forecourt.

In my eyes, no money to be made there....you just won't be losing as much!

Just my tuppence worth! 

I see your point on the VAT but I don't think its as straightforward as that.

E.g. Buying an Evoque SE tech auto (list £36,600) for £29,280, run it for 2 years and put 10,000 miles on it. A quick scan of Autotrader showed this is the cheapest one which you can buy that roughly matches that spec. Actually that's the spec below SE Tech but has a few added toys and its £26,500. So in this instance, the car has only lost £2780 in two years (excluding the VAT), that seems pretty low to me. It would mean (in my case) that running it cost about £116/ month. Given it probably only needs 1 service and would never need tyres, other work (due to warranty etc) that seems pretty reasonable!

However I suspect doing  the sums with a Ford focus would probably be a lot more frightening due to the amount of money that drops off them!

The problem with the above model is that it involves selling the car yourself, which involves dealing with timewasters and potentially people who want to rob and defraud you! Hence my question on what you would expect to get part ex.

Harris: Great! 

[zirk]

From a Vat point of view, Dealers used to get stuffed on the Vat when selling traded in cars, the payable Vat element would be hidden in the margin as there would be nothing to claim when buying (trading in) from a Private Individual.

That's now changed, as they can use a 'Vat Margin Scheme' similar to Antique Traders, so Vat is only payable on their margin (1sr gross profit), meaning in theory if you can find out the true Vat element you can work their margin.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Be able to tell you on Monday... E Class is going through the mill then, so will find out what it sells for and then later when it pops up on Autotrader, what is being asked for it...

Good luck, Al.

It may do better than you think.

[aaronjb]

Good luck Al!

I've been looking at Autotrader to see if my old M3 pops up.. no sign of it yet though unless I missed it.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Good luck Al!

I've been looking at Autotrader to see if my old M3 pops up.. no sign of it yet though unless I missed it.

M3 soft top........you old poseur you, Aaron.